The University of Makati Stadium, simply known as the UMak, is a football and track field stadium built and owned by the

University of Makati The University of Makati ( fil, Unibersidad ng Makati Pamantasan ng Makati), commonly referred to as UMak, is a public, nonsectarian LGU funded higher education institution in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was founded in 1972 as the Mak ...

Background

The stadium has hosted United Football League games as well as a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

of the

Philippines national football team The Philippines national football team ( Filipino/ tl, Pambansang koponan ng futbol ng Pilipinas, lit=) represents the Philippines in international football, governed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and has been playing internatio ...

. It also has hosted the National Capital Region F.A. Division 3 League. The stadium was assigned as the training ground of the Thailand national football team during the group stage of the

2016 AFF Championship The 2016 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016, was the 11th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). The whole tourn ...

. The Thai head coach criticized the hosts for the poor quality of the pitch before their very first game of the tournament and the long grass in the pitch had to be trimmed before the Thais began their training session. Kaya F.C.–Makati, who were set to participate in the inaugural edition of the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Foo ...

, announced in January 2017 that they have made the stadium as their home ground. However the following season, they moved to

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

Facilities

UMak has a grandstand, light towers, and a rubberized track. However the stadium has a reputation for a poor quality pitch. It is reported in 2012 that the football venue has no basic herringbone drainage system and the soil is garden-variety soil which fails FIFA standards of six layers of six layers of sand, soil and topsoil. The

Philippine Rugby Football Union The PRFU is the official governing body of the sport of Rugby Union in the Philippines. The PRFU was founded in 1998 and was granted full World Rugby membership in 2008. Philippine Rugby is a non-profit national sports association registered with ...

offered to install a drainage system for free but the offer was not accepted. By October 2018, the football field's surface has been converted to artificial grass. In 2019, an artificial pitch was installed in the stadium.

References

Sports venues in Metro Manila Educational structures in Metro Manila Athletics (track and field) venues in the Philippines Football venues in the Philippines Art Deco architecture in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Makati University sports venues in the Philippines {{Philippines-sports-venue-stub