A Singapore-registered company – Riau Capital Live – has been accused of causing a top tier Filipino football club from pulling out from the Philippines Football League midway.
One of the directors of Riau Capital Live is listed as Bambang Sugeng Kajairi, a former Football Association of Singapore Council Member and a former committee member of Geylang United, according to an ACRA search done on 16 February.
United City FC announced on 16 February its withdrawal from the resumption of the 2022-23 Philippines Football League season after confirming of financial woes that hounded the club during the long break.
The club broke its silence saying that its request for a “non-participation” for the remainder of the league season was granted by the Philippine Football Federation due to legal issues with the Singaporean company which was its investor.
The company allegedly did not honour its financial agreement with the club.
“UCFC had signed a major agreement with Riau Capital Live, a Singapore based real estate & sports investment entity in mid 2021, which the same company finally defaulted under in October 2022,” United City said.
“Since RCL also failed to honour the agreed final settlement deadlines earlier this month, it has now forced UCFC to temporarily discontinue its professional football team operations and to withdraw its team from the remainder of the 2022/23 PFL season.”
A check on ACRA showed that the company had a paid up capital of $100 when it was first set up in May 2021.
UCFC declined to provide any further information to TMSG when asked about the amount which Riau Capital Live had defaulted.
“Our statement is very clear in regards to the company we dealt with,” said the club in a response to TMSG.
“The club will not comment on specifics as we have a confidentiality clause as part of the court case.”
United City made its debut in 2020 after it took over the club license of Ceres-Negros, which disbanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It won the pandemic-shortened 2020 PFL season led by Ceres holdovers Stephan Schrock and Bienvenido Maranon before adding the Copa crown in 2022 after dethroning titleholder Kaya-Iloilo.
The club also appeared in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League on two occasions in 2021 and 2022.
UCFC had been playing its home matches in New Clark City following a partnership with the Capas, Tarlac venue.
MAIN PHOTO: ABS-CBN NEWS
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