An end of an era has arrived in Philippine football.
United City has announced that its talismanic skipper Stephan Schrock has left the club after both parties consented to an early cancellation of the 35-year-old’s contract.
“Stephan has been instrumental in UCFC’s winning of the 2020 Philippines Football League and the recoding of a first-ever win of any Philippines football club on the AFC Champions League group stage level,” read the statement.
This development comes at a time when United City is deep into its preparations for the 2022 edition of the Copa Paulino Alcantara and its upcoming matches in the 2022 AFC Champions League.
Speculation was rife as to what’s Schrock’s status with the club as coach Frank Muescan declined to comment on the matter in a recent virtual presser and left it up to management to sort it out.
Photo from the-AFC.com
“UCFC will now take this opportunity to build the Club’s winning football philosophy, with identifying and developing local talents at its heart,” furthered the statement.
“Once again, the Club would like to thank Stephan for his contributions to UCFC and wish him all the best on his next career move.”
Schrock’s exit is the latest high-profile departure from United City, which already lost legendary goalscorer Bienvenido Maranon a few months ago to Johor Darul Ta’zim FC and defender Justin Baas to Melaka United.
Photo from UCFC
New signings such as Azkals Development Team alumni Mathew Custodio, Ivan Ouano, and Tajikistani midfielder Amirbek Juraboev are expected to step up and extend the club’s winning ways domestically and provide an improved campaign in the AFC Champions League.
There is no word yet as to what Schrock plans to do from here. His last major contribution to Philippine football was being part of the Philippine Azkals squad that competed in last year’s AFF Suzuki Cup in Singapore.
