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Freddy Gonzalez (Filipino footballer)
Alfredo Fernando Razón "Freddy" González (born 10 January 1978 in Parañaque[2]) is a Filipino former football player. He is the current national team director of the Philippine Football Federation and the current team manager of the Philippines national team.[3] He is the current interim team manager for the Philippines women's national team, after the resignation of Jefferson Cheng. Early yearsGonzalez's mother, Terry Razón, enrolled him to Tomas Lozano's Makati Football School (MFS) at age six. He later became the high school football star of Colegio de San Agustin. Gonzalez earned himself a soccer scholarship to the University of Portland, then considered one of the most professionally run (football wise) and well coached university teams in the US.[4] He stayed there for two years (1998/99) and honed his offensive skills playing for the Portland Pilots, the school soccer team. Club careerLearning the game from Spanish expatriate, Tomas Lozano, Gonzalez tried out with French club Calais RUFC coached by Ladislas Lozano, Tomas' brother, in 2000. Gonzalez trained in France for two weeks but was sidelined due to a torn hamstring. By the time he was recovered from injury, Lozano had already accepted a coaching job in Morocco. Due to impressing team manager Nguyen Tien Huy of the V-League club Ngân hàng Đông Á (East Asian Commercial Bank FC) for his play for the Philippines in the 2002 Tiger Cup in Jakarta, Gonzalez signed a one-year contract with the club in January 2003.[5] He also played for Komodo AS of Indonesia in 2004, being the only active Filipino professional player at that time.[6] He was a part-time player in Europe and also played for Kaya in the Philippines. Unfortunately, right after his contract with the Vietnam professional club expired Gonzalez retired from playing football, concentrating more into his interest in surfing and other business ventures such as bringing in the Brazilian flip flops brand Havaianas into the Philippines. [7] Return to footballHowever, he put up the team Pachanga for the United Football League Division 2 in 2011.[8] In January 2012, for the first time in almost half a decade of retirement, he played for Pachanga. He scored in his debut in the 4-0 win against Agila in the opening match.[9] In the mid of June 2012, he led the team to the championship in Division 2 having 123 goals in the league.[10] He won the Division 2's Golden Ball and Golden Boot Awards together with teammate Kenneth Dolloso, which won the Best Goalkeeper Award.[11] LoyolaOn January 7, 2013, Gonzales transferred to Loyola before the start of 2013 PFF–Smart National Championship knockout stage and UFL 4th season.[12] International careerGonzalez made his debut for the Philippine national team in the 1997 South East Asian Games.[13] He then played in the then "ASEAN Tiger Cup," (now Suzuki Cup), in Vietnam in 1998.[6] He has, since then, represented the country in South East Asian Games (particularly the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei), in the Tiger Cup,[14] and in any other invitational and qualifying tournaments. International goals
Sports executive careerFootball
On 11 January 2024, it was announced that Gonzalez was appointed as the new national teams director of the Philippine Football Federation and team manager of the Philippines national team, succeeding long-time national team manager Dan Palami.[3][15] Personal lifeGonzalez graduated with an Engineering degree. He is married to Regina Anne Marie Arcenas-Gonzalez, Managing Director of Terry S.A., Inc. (Official distributor of Havaianas, David & Goliath, Pininho, and Dupe in the Philippines). With his varied interests, he opened "Aloha Board Sports," a shop that catered to skaters and surfers. He also owned a skate shop at the Global City in Taguig called 5-O.[13] HonoursClub
IndividualNotes
References
External linksFreddy Gonzalez at National-Football-Teams.com |
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