UFL: Nomads' future uncertain ahead of Preseason Cup

Nomads FC confirmed during Friday's UFL Preseason Cup press conference that they are looking to voluntarily dropping down to the UFL Second Division.

Finding the UFL foreign cap too restrictive, and lamenting the time period they were given to adapt, Nomads submitted a letter of intent to make the move. The second tier of Philippine football won’t see the cap, of a maximum of five foreign players on the pitch at any one time, for several more years, and so the club will have time to build up the team and assess their future viability under this ruling.

As a founding member of the UFL itself, Nomads will be the first club to voluntarily drop out of the First Division as they look to uphold the tradition of the team rather than release players and overhaul the squad.

Speaking of the team’s reluctance to adhere to the foreign cap and to keep their squad together, keeper Jeff Blake explained that “from a camaraderie standpoint, it’s much better for us [as an expat club]. Bringing in others changes the team, changes how the team functions overall. We want to keep our club’s values and traditions intact.”

Nomads is the oldest football club in the Philippines and will celebrate its 100th year anniversary next year.

While the letter of intention hadn’t been formally accepted, the Nomads currently remain a First Division team, but for how much longer is a matter of speculation. Given the announcements on the foreign cap and terms for the Second Division were released earlier this week, there may be a “need to check if we need to re-file [the letter of intention to drop down],” Blake said.

One touted solution to the problem would be to allow Nomads an exemption to the cap, much like Harimau Muda B, Brunei DPMM, and Albirex Niigata have in the S-League, as none of the three field any Singaporean players. Lions XII is also the current Malaysian Super League Champions, a completely Singaporean team with the goal of developing the Singaporean National team. They tooare exempt from the foreign rule in that league.

This solution was rejected however, as UFL board member Monchu Garcia said the decision is being made to develop the local league and confirmed that Nomads may well have to drop to the Second Division. Garcia said that he does “realize in other countries they have that situation [of exemptions for certain clubs]… but if you look at what happened last season, Team Socceroo won the Second Division and Stallion won the First Division… and at times they played nine or ten foreign players.”

Garcia also added that “our [the UFL's] goal is to build local clubs” and that having the foreign cap “spreads the wealth.”

Generally, support for the foreign cap has been strong and the demise of the English National team is often said to be a result of the lack of a foreign cap in the Premier League, where the top teams routinely play starting eleven's chock-full of foreigners. However there are precedents for an exemption for a club such as Nomads, and certainly as a UFL Founding Member there is support for them to be allowed to continue in the First Division. Likewise, Nomads’ traditions and recruiting policies will more than likely prevent it from "buying the league," especially with the team finishing eighth last season, without a win in their last eleven games.

However UFL chiefs may be worried of the precedent this would set, as allowing Nomads an exemption could raise the possibility of other clubs in the future filing for the same exemption under similar grounds.

Blake however noted that the club does have a successful youth system to fall back on, saying, “We’re really proud of our youth academy,” which has produced several national team players. As one impressive example, one of their girls’ youth teams is unbeaten since 2007.

But for now the future of the club remains in doubt. Having requested to drop down to the Second Division, it seems only another ruling from the UFL committee will prevent the oldest Philippine club from dropping out of the country’s top domestic league. And given the likelihood of their relegation, the next big decision for the UFL will be who will replace them in the top flight? - AMD, GMA News