MANILA—When the Philippine Football Federation was looking for a kit sponsor for the men’s national team five years ago, Master Sports Corporation responded to the call with little apprehension.
After all, the company built by sportsman Benny Gopez has been helping out athletes in need, especially golfers with potential but lacking in support. Master Sports distributes the Japanese apparel and sports equipment brand Mizuno in the Philippines and while the brand has established a name in golf, it was also trying to make its presence felt in football.
The Azkals were not a household name as they are now when Master Sports took the responsibility of sponsoring the team’s uniforms, track suits, playing boots and cross-training shoes.
“We took it upon ourselves to support the team,” said Benny Gopez, whose family owns Master Sports. “We were only reluctant at the start because they had not been winning.”
Soft spot
But Gopez, who has a soft spot for poor but deserving athletes, was convinced the team was worth it.
Master Sports was also supporting the Ateneo football team at that time and the Blue booters claimed three successive crowns in the UAAP.
“They say we brought luck to Ateneo,” said Gopez. “Now we were hoping we could also do the same with the national football team.”
“It was an easy decision. A lot of us in Mizuno are football players and we are really passionate about the sport. When we saw the lineup, we saw that some of the players are our friends,” Paolo Cagalingan, the Mizuno general manager, said. “We were supporting Ateneo at that time and they won three straight titles in the UAAP. The PFF said maybe Mizuno can bring some luck to the team.”
Three straight wins
After the partnership was sealed, the Azkals cruised to three victories in Bacolod during the AFF Championship Qualifiers in Bacolod City, wearing their blue Mizuno kits for the first time. When the losses piled up though, Master Sports stuck with the team, readily offering what was needed as long as they were available.
Unknown to many, it wasn’t Mizuno that was really sponsoring the Azkals, according to Gopez. It was Master Sports, which was paying for the equipment and apparel in Japan for the Azkals to use.
The Azkals’ profile have skyrocketed since their historic run to the semifinals of the AFF Suzuki Cup in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Mizuno was also reaping the benefits of their support to the Azkals as the game jerseys sold out quickly after the team’s victories. Cagalingan noted they sold 3,000 jerseys in a span of two to three weeks.
Master Sports may be focused on helping out the Azkals, but the company is also involved in efforts of uplifting the sport in the country in general. They have held football camps and tournaments in different cities in the country, including football hotbed Barotac Nuevo, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.
“For us this is just the start,” said Gopez’s son, Lovell, who is president and CEO of Master Sports. “This is a long-term thing for us. Our support doesn’t end with us helping the national team with jerseys and equipment. We want to help in the grassroots level.”
Merchandising
Also in Mizuno’s plans is to expand the merchandising of the Azkals for individual players.
“We are promoting the sport. We want to help specific players also earn with merchandise,” said Gopez. The plan is to give players a percentage of the proceeds of the individual jersey sales. “We want to raise the level of merchandising for the team.”
The relationship between the Azkals and Mizuno though hit a controversial turn in June when the team used their training jerseys for a match against the UFL All-Stars. Benny Gopez admitted being hurt by the gesture, but said the incident is behind them now.
One thing’s for sure though, Lovell Gopez said, Master Sports is pulling out all the stops to fix kinks in the supply chain that has contributed to the delay in the release of apparel to the team. The sponsorship of Master Sports is also picking up believers as the head office of Mizuno in Japan has actually shown interest in also supporting the team. In fact, the apparel of the team is more technologically-advanced than the ones sold as replicas as it was made in Japan.
“We only want the best quality for our team,” Lovell Gopez said.