Another powerful means of developing grassroots football players is exemplified by a Catholic priest who organized the Oratorio San Lorenzo Football Club in the remote fishing villages of Talao-Talao and Dalahican in Quezon Province. Here, I quote freely from an article written for the press by Fr. Martin Mroz, a priest of the Sons of Divine Providence congregation, entitled “How a World Cup Dream Changed the Lives of Hundreds of Children in a Small Fishing Village.” The article opens with what we can consider the mission-vision statement of his football club: “Football is never just about football. It teaches children to dream, to persevere, to respect others, and to believe that their future can be different.”

These inspiring words remind me of why I took a special interest in the sport while living for a few years as a Visiting Professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona. (As an aside, Real Madrid fans will forgive me for being a Culé.) While residing in Spain’s industrial capital, I lived on the 10th floor of an apartment building in the Les Corts district, overlooking the famous Camp Nou stadium—the home of FC Barcelona. From my apartment, I could look down and watch the games live. It is no wonder I got hooked on this champion Spanish team, especially on Lionel Messi, who was only 19 when I started at IESE (2006 to 2008) and was just beginning to mesmerize the entire football world. Interestingly enough, Lamine Yamal—the youthful member of Barca and the Spanish national team—started at an even earlier age and seems to be following a similar trajectory.

Although I never played the sport in my youth (I was never athletic), as an educator interested in a whole-person approach to forming students, I saw in football the very same traits Fr. Martin articulated in his mission-vision statement. With the right coaching, players develop human virtues like tenacity, courage, and perseverance, alongside social virtues such as teamwork, cooperation, and concern for the common good—virtues often lacking in the average Filipino. Watching Messi and others nurtured in Barca’s famous tiki-taka culture, I saw that an assist is treated as just as important as a goal. From all my exposure to basketball in the Philippines and the US, there is an obsession with individual scoring, which fosters a "prima donna" complex—the last thing we need to encourage in a society notorious for the predominance of buayas (crocodiles) in politics, business, and other walks of life.

Let us continue with Fr. Martin’s account. While some football clubs are measured by their trophy cabinets or famous players, the Oratorio San Lorenzo Football Club tells a different story. Its greatest victories are found in the lives of hundreds of children who grew up in Talao-Talao and Dalahican. They learned not only how to kick a ball, but also how to become responsible young men and women. The Oratorio was created to form whole individuals; through football, some have earned college scholarships, while others have become coaches, teachers, parish volunteers, and responsible parents. Most importantly for their long-term happiness, many continue to practice the Christian virtues nurtured in them during every training session.

The San Lorenzo Football Club actually owes its origins to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. As Fr. Martin recalls, he was spending his annual holiday in his home country of Argentina in July 2014. On the day he traveled to the airport to fly back to Manila, he crossed paths with the Argentine National Football team returning from their final defeat in the World Cup. The streets were overflowing with people welcoming their idols—Messi, Lavezzi, Di María, Romero. Though they missed the title, the players were welcomed as heroes for unifying an entire nation. Watching from his bus, a question began to take root in Fr. Martin: “If football could unite an entire country, could it also change the lives of poor children in a small fishing village in the Philippines?” The seed of the Oratorio San Lorenzo Football Club had been planted.

Fortunately, Fr. Martin found a ally in Jimmy Aquino, a socially conscious Lucena entrepreneur who provided the financial support needed to launch the countryside club. Jimmy owns and manages the COMFAC Global Group, a long-established Filipino business group specializing in technology, workplace facilities, office fit-outs, and IT services. COMFAC serves as a model enterprise, moving beyond simple importing to ensure Filipinos upskill themselves in systems integration, engineering, manufacturing, and tech services. Its subsidiary, Cornersteel, manufactures customized office furniture locally, while the group continuously expands its IT and cloud capabilities.

Beyond his contributions to the IT sector, Jimmy Aquino sets an example by addressing the needs of marginalized rural communities where poverty is highest. In committing to Fr. Martin's vision, he supplied footballs, shoes, training equipment, and locally fabricated goalposts built to his own design. Rather than a one-time donation, Jimmy and the COMFAC Global Group became faithful partners in a mission that has inspired young people for over a decade.

The setup serves as a role model for private collaboration, showing how a parish priest and a business leader can partner to promote sports as a vehicle for values formation. As Fr. Martin concludes in his epilogue:

“Every four years the world becomes captivated by the FIFA World Cup. For a few unforgettable weeks, football reminds us of its extraordinary power to inspire. In a small corner of Quezon Province, however, that inspiration did not end when the final whistle blew in Brazil in 2014. It became a lasting mission. A dream carried across oceans by an Argentine missionary. A dream embraced immediately by a generous Filipino businessman. A dream nurtured by parents, teachers, volunteers, and coaches. Above all, a dream brought to life by hundreds of children who dared to believe that a football could open doors to a brighter future. Perhaps that is the greatest lesson of the Oratorio San Lorenzo Football Club. The most important goals in football are not always scored between two goalposts. Sometimes they are scored in the human heart.”

May many more hearts across civil society, religious communities, and the business sector join in ensuring our Men’s National Football Team grows strong enough to qualify for the World Cup by 2030. Fr. Martin and Jimmy Aquino have already done their part.