Philippines Football League champion United City FC is set to hold its future home matches in New Clark City after the two sides agreed on an LGU partnership.
The club made the announcement Monday, June 14 after UCFC president and co-founder Eric Gottschalk received an endorsement letter from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority senior vice president for corporate services group Arrey Perez.
Under the agreement, the club will be renamed United Clark FC upon the conclusion of the PFL season.
“This is a historic day for all of us within the organization as we are finally able to announce New Clark City as our permanent home,” Gottschalk said following months of discussions with BCDA officials led by president and CEO Vince Dizon.
“This has been in the works for several months, and we would like to thank Vivencio B. Dizon, President & CEO of BCDA, and his team for their support in bringing professional football to the Province of Pampanga and New Clark City.
“Our move to Pampanga has a lot to do with the already existing sports mentality within the community, especially the love for football, and since the PBA has no foothold in Clark, UCFC will be the only professional sports franchise in the province,” he added.
UCFC will temporarily hold its home matches at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium in Capas, Tarlac until a football stadium has been completed, with plans for a friendly before the start of the PFL campaign.
Also in the works is the formation of a football academy which the club hopes can start by the end of the year.
“Our community work will start right away with many plans already developed. The UCFC football academy will take shape before the end of 2021, and we continue to finalize the location for our future football stadium,” said Gottschalk.
“We have already identified a prime location, and we are just waiting to complete the paperwork before the plot will also be announced. In the meantime, the newly built 20,000-seater athletics stadium will serve as our home venue, with our inaugural friendly match planned for early August.”
“We are very excited to move our entire operation to New Clark City slowly and to start building our local fan base. To demonstrate our full commitment to the region, we will undergo a final name change following the 2021 PFL season. We will replace ‘City’ in our crest with ‘Clark’ and from then onwards will be known only as United Clark Football Club.”
United City is currently in Dubai as part of preparations for its AFC Champions League campaign which starts later this month in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.