Ceres FC vows to represent ‘in the best way possible’
By Adrian Stewart Co

Ahead of next week’s AFC Champions League qualifying playoffs, where three-time Philippines Football League champions Ceres-Negros FC will face 2019 Myanmar National League champions Shan United FC on Tuesday, January 14, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, Ceres head coach Risto Vidaković said the club will give their best in the competition.
“We cannot promise anything but we will represent the country in the best way possible,” said the head coach. “We are going to fight until the last minute to reach the next round—it’s a very hard competition.”
“We are going to try,” he added. “We will give our best so I hope everyone will support us.”
The face-off is a rematch of the 2018 qualifying playoffs, where the two also met in the first preliminary round.
Ceres won 1-1 (4-3) on penalty kicks and followed it up by defeating A-League club Brisbane Roar, 3-2, in the second preliminary round. However, in the playoff round, one step away from making the Champions League group stage, the Negrense club fell 2-0 to Chinese Super League club Tianjin Quanjian FC.
This year, the winner then plays Port FC, who finished third in the 2019 Thai League 1, in the second preliminary round. Subsequently, the winner of that match then meets FC Tokyo, the 2019 J1 League runners-up, in the playoff round./ASC, WDJ