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| The PMNFT's new kits. Ivan Saldajeno |
TAGUIG—Freddy Gonzalez's current role as the national team director of the Philippine Football Federation is very fitting for him as he once played for the Philippine Men's National Football Team from the late 90s to the 2000s, just before the "Miracle in Hanoi" that catapulted the PMNFT to prominence.
That is why he felt he had flashbacks of his playing days when he got to see the final look of the PMNFT's home kit ahead of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
"The blue jersey is sort of a homage to our 1998 Tiger Cup (former name of the AMEC) jerseys, so if you've seen that jersey, you'll see similar elements to it. And that's the jersey that I had during my debut in the national team, so that's kinda the inspiration for this uniform," Gonzalez said when the new PMNFT kits were officially unveiled on Tuesday at the Bootcamp Football Shop along Bonifacio Global City.
"It kinda brought back some memories when we were collaborating on this."
The blue kits will be the ones the PMNFT will wear when they play their home matches in the AMEC on Dec. 12 and 18 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.
The white kits, the ones the PMNFT will wear in road matches, also have some throwback feels as they have similarities with the ones the PMNFT wore in 2014, the last time the squad wore Puma jerseys before rekindling their alliance 10 years later.
"It's kinda like a throwback Philippine jersey so to speak," Gonzalez further said.
He added that both the PFF and Puma intend to have the road jerseys, nicknamed the "Amihan", as "clean" as possible so fans can wear them for everyday stuff.
"The white one was initially supposed to be a clean white jersey that we thought fans could wear not only supporting the team but also pang-porma so to speak," Gonzalez further quipped.
Even Paolo Misa, the country manager for Puma Philippines, is happy that the PFF, especially Gonzalez, liked the throwback feels of the PMNFT's new jerseys.
"It turned out really really well, and we're very happy," Misa said, adding that it was a "good close collaboration" between the PFF and Puma.
The same blue and white kits will be the ones the PMNFT will wear for its 2025 matches, but a new set will be unveiled later that year for 2026.
Limited stocks of the new PMNFT jerseys will be made available for PHP3,000 for the t-shirts and PHP2,500 for the shorts.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
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