United City launches logo, unveils plans for sustainability as it gears up for PFL

United City, the newcomer in the Philippines Football League, has unveiled its plans on its online launch Wednesday afternoon.

The revelation of the badge was the start of the ambitions laid out by co-founder Eric Gottschalk, whose MMC Sportz Asia led a consortium of investors that took over the license of the fabled Ceres-Negros who had won three consecutive league titles as they gear up for their inaugural campaign.

"It was a joint decision for us to take this opportunity on," said Gottschalk, whose group of five held talks with the players and the staff involved. "But we took it on because a lot of things fell in place very quickly."

One of the investors was Michael Hosking, the owner of Midas promotions whose daughter played for the Malditas, the women's national team of the Philippines.

He then bared that the players were so excited that they even cut their wages for the next three months, in which they aimed for sustainability especially with the coronavirus pandemic that wrecked the sporting scene around the world.

"The end goal is a five or ten year plan of doing something with football and the club."

Apart from that, the search for the club badge was step one of their intent to bring the newly formed side closer to its upcoming supporters.

"This is only the beginning of many fan activations, as we intend to be a club focused and dedicated to our fans."

The winning design made by Gerard Andaya seeks to pay tribute to its predecessor, while forging a new identity after shedding any reference to Ceres, who are part of the country's largest bus conglomerate.

"We are not using any reference to Ceres, but we will honor the legacy, and we're not gonna forget the heritage and where the club comes from," added Gottschalk, in which they intend to remain in Bacolod should the situation about the quarantine normalizes.

Lastly, with the signing of Stephan Schrock to lead the team as its inaugural skipper and playing-assistant manager, United City are dead serious in getting the Busmen's old staff back.

"We're in talks with Risto Vidakovic and the intent is to bring him back," Gottschalk said, referring to the Serbian who masterminded Ceres' golden era.