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Anton del Rosario partners with Skechers to introduce 7s Super League

Anton Del Rosario is a prominent figure and an honored Philippine National Football Team member. The former Azkals defender is an icon who contributed to Philippine football’s rise and hopes to do more to unite the community.

His vision of a united football community in the Philippines transcended his imagination, putting the 7s Super League to life and partnering up with Skechers as the league’s official footwear partner.

“Well, honestly, I had taken some time off from football. I was playing two times a week with some friends. People you might know like Nico Bolzico, Dan Matsunaga, my brother,” Anton reminisced about their friendly matches. However, there came a time when the group wanted to get their competitive spirits up again.

“Then we wanted something more competitive, and this was back in 2018. So, I said I’m going to put 8 friends together, have them all make teams, and ended up doing that in 2018,” said Anton. “And then it just turned into something fun that we all enjoyed.”

Differentiating normal football from the 7s Super League, Anton said: “11 is normal football. Ours is 7 versus 7, which is much smaller. Our fields are about a quarter the size of a normal football field.”

He compared the 7s Super League to basketball’s 3×3 leagues and shared that they wanted to be a similar version of football. Anton also added, “[The game] becomes a lot more exciting, engaging, end-to-end action; we average about six goals a game, and the rules are a little bit different. It makes it more interesting.”

The rules of the 7s Super League are slightly different. Anton shared a scenario in which the opposing team receives a yellow card.

He explained, “Let’s say the other team gets a yellow card. Then, they go down one player for two minutes, and we get a power play, right? Because we’re playing 7 versus 6. There are no ties, so every game ends with a goal.”

“Even our formats for our games, it’s 20 minutes, 20 minutes, and then there’s a 3rd period automatic. Let’s say that you’re beating me 2-1. They add one goal to the higher score, so it would be a race to 3. So I could come back to the 3rd period, score two goals, and win the game.”

“You just have to score 1. But after 3 minutes, if nobody scores, one player comes off, so it goes 6-on-6. 3 minutes later, 5-on-5. 3 minutes later, 4-on-4, or so, until 2v2,” he excitingly said.

Anton admired the football community for continuing to be a growing sport. From the continued rise of the professional league, he also wanted to acknowledge how Philippine Women’s Football has also risen. However, Anton recognizes that the problem with the community is the lack of unity, which is why he is introducing the 7s Super League.

“When it comes down to the community, it definitely is growing. Like I mentioned earlier during the press conference, it’s growing, but we’re not united,” he said. 

“This is where us, the Sevens, we want to unite the community, setting up events in different cities and then just speaking one voice.”

Returning participating teams are SINILOAN, PARANAQUE, BONIFACIO GLOBAL CITY, PASIG, ALABANG, and PAMPANGA. Meanwhile, BINAN, BULACAN, CARMONA, and CAVITE will join the tournament for the first time.