The Mendiola Football Club 1991 is a Philippine professional football club based in Imus, Cavite. The club is named after the Mendiola Street, a short thoroughfare in the San Miguel district of Manila. It is one of the founding members of United Football League, which was last competing in the 2009–10 season. The club currently plays in the Philippines Football League, the top-flight league of football in the Philippines.
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| Full name | Mendiola Football Club 1991 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Los Valientes Hijos de Mendiola (The Brave Sons of Mendiola) | |||
| Short name | MEN | |||
| Founded | 1991 | |||
| Ground | City of Imus Grandstand and Track Oval | |||
| Capacity | 4,800 | |||
| President | Ramoncito Inocencio | |||
| Head coach | Dan Padernal | |||
| League | Philippines Football League | |||
| 2024 | Philippines Football League, 10th of 15 | |||
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History
editMendiola 1991's roots can be traced back to the football program of San Beda College (now San Beda University).[1][2] It all began in the summer of 1991, the San Beda senior football team based in Mendiola Street joined a prestigious league[specify] held in Manila which was composed of the armed forces teams, various clubs and universities. Due to lack of available players, they decided to invite more players from different universities, thus forming the Mendiola Football Club, which resulted to a respectable 4th-place finish in the said tournament.[citation needed]
Following the success, the club has grown and became one of the pioneering teams joining the first semi-professional league in 1997, Manila Premier Football League.
In 1997, Mendiola joined the U19 Adidas Cup clinching the tournament's title.[3]
Since then, the club has been consistently participating in first and second division football leagues throughout the country, such as Globe Super Cup 2001, Filipino Premier League 2008, United Football League from 2009 to 2011 and in the 2011 Smart National Football Club Championship under the banner Smart-San Beda FC where they finished 2nd overall.
PFF National Men's Club Championship
editAt the 2011 PFF National Men's Club Championship, Mendiola played under the name Smart San Beda F.C. for sponsorship reasons.[4] Global Teknika emerged the champions after defeating them in a 3–2 aggregate score in the finals.[5]
In 2012, the club resurgent by joining the 2012–13 UFL Cup and defeating FC Masbate 4–0 in Stage 1.
Philippine Premier League
editMendiola was announced by the Philippine Premier League organizers as one of the seven teams of the league's inaugural season in 2019.[6] However Mendiola was ruled ineligible to play for the 2019 season by the Philippine Football Federation due to licensing issues.[7] The start of the league was delayed to April 2019 to allow Mendiola and Philippine Air Force settle their licensing issues. However, the league itself folded after the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) revoked its sanction.
Philippines Football League
editAfter the dissolution of the short-lived PPL, Mendiola along with Philippine Air Force joined the revived Philippines Football League. They debuted in the 2019 season under a provisional license and placed fifth out of seven clubs.[8]
Prior to the start of the 2020 season, the club announced that Ricardo Penson, a sponsor, is funding the construction of a stadium in San Beda's campus in Taytay, Rizal which will serve as the home venue of the club. The venue is part of the club's final requirement to acquire a full club license from the PFF.[8][9] However, for most of the 2020 season, the club held home matches at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila and is negotiation with the local government of Imus, Cavite to host later matches at the Imus Grandstand.[10]
In 2021, Mendiola secured an AFC club license for the first time making them eligible to qualify for the AFC Cup.[3]
Players
edit- As of 29 September 2024[11]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Personnel
editAs of 3 March 2020[12]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Team manager | |
| Head coach | |
| Assistant head coach | |
| Goalkeeping coach |
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
edit| Period | Kit Manufacturer | Shirt Partner |
|---|---|---|
| 2019– | FAT Indonesia | Penson & Company Inc.1 Focus Athletics 2 |
- 1 Major shirt sponsor (names located at the front of the shirt).
- 2 Secondary sponsor (names mostly located at the sleeves and at the back of the shirt).
Kit evolution
editHome
edit2019
|
Away
edit2019
|
2020
|
Honors
editDomestic
editCups
edit- PFF National Men's Club Championship
- Runners-up: 2011
Records
edit| Season | Division | Tms. | Pos. | National cup[a] | League cup | AFC Champions League | AFC Cup | Other cups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Did not participate | |||||||
| 1996 | No national league | |||||||
| 1997 | 1 | 8 | 7th | |||||
| 1998–2007 | No national league | |||||||
| 2008–09 | 1 | 8 | 4th | |||||
| 2009–10 | 1 | 8 | 8th | Quarter-finals | ||||
| 2010–11 | Did not participate | — | ||||||
| 2011–12 | 3 | 18 | 2nd | Runners-up | — | |||
| 2012–13 | 3 | 8 | 3rd | DNQ | Group stage | |||
| 2013–14 | 3 | 8 | 3rd | DNQ | Withdrew | Winner[specify] | ||
| 2014–15 | 2 | 7 | 5th | Group stage | Round of 16 | |||
| 2015–16 | Did not participate | — | — | |||||
| 2016–17 | Did not participate | Round 1[specify] | ||||||
| 2017–18 | 5 | 7 | 3rd[specify] | — | ||||
| 2019 | 1 | 7 | 5th | Semi-final | ||||
| 2020 | 1 | 6 | 4th | Cancelled | ||||
| 2021 | 1 | 7 | Cancelled | 5th | ||||
| 2022 | 1 | 7 | 4th | 7th | ||||
| 2023 | 1 | 5 | Quarter-finals | |||||
| 2024 | 1 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| This record list is updated as of April 6, 2024 | ||||||||
- ^ PFF National Men's Club Championship (2011–2015) and Copa Paulino Alcantara (2018–present)
- Key
- Tms. = Number of teams
- Pos. = Position in league
- TBD = To be determined
- DNQ = Did not qualify
Note: Performances of the club indicated here was after the Philippine Football League created (as a semi-pro league) in 1995.
References
edit- ^ "Mendiola FC Ready to Reach New Heights". Philippines Football League. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
- ^ "How Smart San Beda footballers relieve pain". The Philippine Star. 31 January 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Mendiola '91 marks 30th anniversary with breakthrough". Tiebreaker Times. 7 November 2021. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "How Smart San Beda footballers relieve pain". The Philippine Star. 31 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ "San Beda prevails but Teknika claims PFF-Smart crown". Philippine Star. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
Rizal-Smart San Beda pulled out all stops to beat Teknika FC, 2-0, but fell short of wresting the first PFF-Smart Club championship in front of an animated crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium Monday night.
- ^ Terrado, Reuben (1 March 2019). "Inaugural Philippine Premier League kicks off with seven-team cast". Sports Interactive Network Philippine. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ "PFF Club Licensing Issues Decisions". The Philippine Football Federation. 23 March 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- ^ a b Go, Beatrice (29 February 2020). "Mendiola FC aims for top 3 finish in 2020 PFL Season". Rappler. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
- ^ "Mendiola FC 1991 introduces player lineup and unveils kits for PFL Season 2020". ABS-CBN Sports. 1 March 2020. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ Saldajeno, Ivan (29 February 2020). "Mendiola in talks with Imus city government for hosting PFL matches". Dugout Philippines. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ "Mendiola FC 1991". The Philippines Football League. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ "Fortified Mendiola FC out to make waves in new PFL season". Business World Online. 2 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.