The Loyola FC-Victorias booters with coaching staff and club owner Keith Buyco (left) at the Meet and Greet event at the Victorias City National High School on Tuesday.*Nico Delfin photo
It will be tremendous pressure for the Loyola FC-Victorias standouts as they represent Victorias City and Negros Occidental in the Philippine Football League 2025 season.
“I know there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it because the fans are unbelievable,” said team captain Curt Dizon who played for the Ceres-Negros FC champions in 2018.
His former club currently named (United City FC) was a four-time PFL champion and Asian Football Confederation Asean Zonal League champion in 2018.
“I’m hoping that we can get that back. We can build something great again. That was amazing. Big things to live up to for sure,” Dizon said.
Coach Roxy Dorlas admits it will difficult battling with the top four teams. But he vows to finish strong in their upcoming matches in the remainder of the season.
“We had a challenging start,” Dorlas said. “But definitely we have three remaining games and were looking to finish strong and let’s see if we can make it to Top 4.”
The team that recently entered into a partnership with Victorias City LGU is bannered by the Hawaiian-Japanese midfielder Leon Morimoto who is excited to play for the city and the Negrense fans.
“There are a lot of things to live up to and we wanted to make a lot of people proud,” he said.
Currently the team is ranked 7th in the national professional league.
They recently added Kazu Sudo, Koki Narita, Okamoto Natsu, Eugene Arriola, Macky Tobias, Tarsh Garciano, Shane Salino and young Filipino-Canadian Aaron Vasquez.
“We were just very happy having your support behind us, we can really use that to achieve new heights,” said the 23-year-old full-back.
Loyola FC-Victorias Club owner Keith Buyco looks forward to bringing the games to the newly established Victorias City Football pitch inside the Victorias City National High School.
The team held a football clinic in Victorias as they search for the addition of local players.
“This is a journey. This is not just a one season thing. We hope to give more to the community,” Buyco said.
Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez has emphasized that the partnership is not merely building a team but a legacy grounded in shared values and commitment.*