Defending champions Tainan TSG (Taiwan Steel Group) face a tough challenge from their southern neighbors Taipower and CPC FC when the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) season starts this weekend with four matches on Sunday.
Promoting grassroots soccer, and organizing relegation and promotion between the top and second divisions last year was important for the progression of Taiwanese soccer, CTFA chairman Chiou I-jen told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“We are going in the right direction ... and becoming more competitive” for international competitions, Chiou said.
Photo: CNA
Still the favorites, Tainan TSG have the league’s most fearsome forwards, with three international star players. The team are also captained by Wu Chun-ching, who won last year’s Most Valuable Player award, and have national goalkeeper Pan Wen-chieh between the posts.
Team manager Lo Chih-tsung has bolstered the offense by signing last year’s Golden Boot winner Ange Samuel, the Ivory Coast striker who netted 20 goals for Tatung FC to top the scoring charts last year, in one of the big off-season moves among the clubs.
Samuel is likely to feature up front, in rotation with Marco Fenelus from the Turks and Caicos Islands, Benchy Astama from Haiti, and Yu Chia-huang from Yilan County.
Fenelus came second on the scoring charts with 19 goals last year, tied with Taichung Futuro forward Joo Ik-seong from South Korea, while Astama was fourth with 16.
Wu and Pan represented the team in handing over the TFPL trophy for the new season.
“We are ready to defend our league title, aiming to repeat our winning form from last year, but other clubs have new signings and have added foreign players to strengthen their lineups,” Wu said.
“It is a very good development — for Taiwan’s overall soccer environment, and for the league — to have stronger competition,” he said.
Pan, who took three consecutive league titles with Tatung FC and moved to Tainan TSG last year, told reporters that the “Taiwan soccer championship goes to wherever I am playing, so my team can take the title again this year.”
“The other goal is for me to take back the Golden Glove award,” Pan said.
Pan had a shoulder injury last year and did not play enough games. The league’s best goalkeeper honor went to Tuan Yu of Taichung Futuro, who also pose a threat this season.
Two big clubs based in Kaohsiung are also ready to challenge Tainan TSG, Taipower, who finished second last year, and in recent decades have dominated the top division along with Tatung FC, as well as newcomers CPC.
The second-division champions from last year are financially backed by the state-owned petroleum and gas giant CPC Corp, Taiwan.
The team are led by captain Cortes Mao from Colombia, who said that he aims to reach top of the league to qualify for AFC Cup club competition, while the team’s lineup includes star Chilean midfielder Matias Godoy, and a mix of Taiwanese and foreign players from Brazil, France, the Gambia, Morocco, South Korea, Uzbekistan and other countries.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s FIFA World Cup bid, while others believe his presence would prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at UEFA Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar — yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach
Taiwanese sprinter Chen Yi-cen on Friday won the silver medal in the women’s 400m final at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, with a time of 53.16 seconds. Chen, 15, was the youngest among the eight finalists, and her performance also met the qualifying standard of 53.50 seconds for the Nagoya Asian Games in Japan in September and October. Chen first made her mark at the National Games in Tainan in 2023, at the age of 13, winning the women’s 400m final in 55.55 seconds to become the youngest gold medalist in the history of the event. Meanwhile,
RSS