Norman Fegidero was named as the interim head coach of the Philippine men’s national football team following the sudden departure of Tom Saintfiet, the development was announced hours apart on the same day, Aug. 29.

The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) tasked Fegidero to lead the Pinoy booters in the upcoming 2024 Pestabola Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sept. 4 to 8 just hours after the announcement of Saintfiet’s decision to leave for Africa. 

Fegidero was one of Saintfiet’s assistant coaches during his brief tenure in Philippine football that produced four losing matches. 

With the pressure to deliver a decent campaign for this camp alone and fill the void of the Belgian’s leaving, Fegidero will be receiving much needed help from Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso and his coaching staff. 

“With the upcoming Merdeka Cup just days away, the Philippine Men’s National Football Team has tasked Norman Fegidero to take charge as interim Head Coach,” said director for senior national teams Freddy Gonzalez in a separate statement.  

“For this camp only, he will be supported by coaching staff of the Philippine Women’s National Team, with Mark Torcaso, Andrew Durante, Sinisha Cohadzic, and Garrath McPherson all committing to join and support our men’s team during this campaign,” he added. 

Fegidero previously called the shots for the Nationals in the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in Iloilo to become the only unbeaten coach at the senior level, where team captain Neil Etheridge made his international debut.

“Given the circumstances, we needed to act quickly. Norman was the assistant coach in the last four games and was the obvious choice to take charge in the interim. With some of our staff departing along with Tom, we needed to bring in additional support,” Gonzalez said. 

Saintfiet signed with Malian Football Federation on a two-year bond bringing along with him his deputies, leaving Torcaso and his aides, who just conducted a Manila camp for the women’s side, to provide as much help as needed. 

“Luckily for us, we have a great staff on the Women’s side that was more than willing to answer the call for this tournament. It’s unusual to see a crossover of staff from separate teams, but it’s a situation that required a novel solution. This temporary fix will give us much needed time to pin down a permanent head coach.”