THE Maharlika Manila Football Club tapped Arman “Biboy” Esteban as its new head coach and acquired three new players for the team’s current campaign in the Philippines Football League (PFL).
The second-year-old squad said that Esteban took over from Korean Derick Keongil Kim as head coach. Esteban, who played for University of Santo Tomas, served as an assistant coach to Marjo Allado for the Growling Tigers and was a former head coach at Mapua.
Esteban will be assisted by Lauren Bidias.
Defenders Lawrence Baguio and Alimar Job Ambong and midfielder Jappeth Piñero are now also with Maharlika Manila.
Baguio, who hails from Cebu, played for College of Saint Benilde, while Piñero is from Bacolod City and Ambong from Dumaguete City, who both suited up for National University.
Piñero and Ambong also played for the national under-19 squad that competed in the Asean Football Federation Under-19 Championshipsin Vietnam.
Ambong is also a former national youth player having been a member of the Azkals U18 squad in Cambodia.
Baguio, on the other hand, was part of the Philippine team that competed in the 2019 Asian Football Federation Under-22 in Cambodia as well as the qualifiers for the 2020 Asian Football Confederation U23 Championship in Malaysia.
The PFL season is currently being played at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Maharlika is led by Peter Varley, Michael Menzi, former Azkals defender David Basa, Zaldy Abraham and Mario Javier Clariño. The team is 0-7 in the season, last in the seven-team league. The club’s next match is on Saturday is against third-running United City Football Club (4-1-0).
Kaya FC currently is atop the table with a 5-0-1 record—its lone loss was 2-nil loss at the hands of UCFC last September 17.