“When United City FC took over the licenses from Ceres-Negros to rescue the club in July 2020, the parties signed an agreement outlining particular obligations to be fulfilled by Ceres-Negros. However, some have unfortunately not been met by the former club, as of this writing,” the club said in a social media post.

“As the successor of Ceres Negros, United City FC is now being dragged into legal disputes brought forward against Ceres-Negros, for which United City FC is neither responsible nor have caused the circumstances, as all this arose before the take-over of the club, which is undisputed,” the club continued.

United City FC also explained their withdrawal from the  Copa Paulino Alcantara 2021 was deemed appropriate as it will only affect nominations for next year’s AFC Cup if they have pushed through. 

“Since the legal actions taken against the former Club Ceres-Negros have been registered with FIFA, it has now affected the United City FC Club license application for AFC competitions, which as of writing, is ‘provisional’,” UCFC bared. 

“In the meantime, United City FC decided to pull out of the Copa Paulino Alcantara competition, as our participation would affect the outcome for the 2022 AFC Cup nominations of the other teams involved, among other factors, which had to be considered,” they added.

The pullout by the 2020 Philippines Football League champion left the Copa with just five teams, with Group A clubs Stallion-Laguna and Dynamic Herb Cebu reduced to playing one match for the top spot in the said grouping.

The club said that the matter is being forwarded now to their legal counsel, assuring that they are now working “towards an amicable solution.”

“We apologize to our fans that the ongoing Copa is, unfortunately, being played without us. However, we assure you that UCFC will be stronger and better in 2022 when we aim to defend our PFL title and to go a step further in AFC competitions,” said the club.