David Alaba almost played for the Philippines national team at the AFF Cup

Austria's number 8 player, David Alaba, who is playing at Euro 2016, almost played for the Philippines national team in the AFF Cup.

It sounds like a joke, but it's 100% true for Austrian player David Alaba, 23 years old, who is playing for the powerful club Bayern Munich.

In the past three or four years, the Philippine Football Federation has tried every way to attract many players of Filipino origin to play for the national team, and David Alaba is one of them.

David Alaba has a Filipino mother and a Nigerian father who is a singer and a decent DJ, living in Austria. This is completely in line with the Philippines' policy of recruiting talent.

David Alaba (8) in Austria's 0-2 loss to Hungary on the night of June 14.

For a decade now, the Philippine Football Federation has had scouts looking for players of Filipino descent to play for the national team and they have successfully recruited many players.

Four years ago, the Philippines also tried to lure David Alaba many times, especially before the 2012 AFF Cup and this player almost… relented when he promised to play for his motherland's national team. However, Alaba's career was on the rise, so he gave up the idea and played for Austria. Now, David Alaba has no chance to play for the Philippines in the AFF Cup.

Alaba started out as a player for Aspern (Austria, 2001-2002). He then moved to Austria Vienna from 2002 to 2008. The turning point in Alaba's life came when he moved to Bayern Munich in 2008. Here, he progressed rapidly, playing for the youth team, the second team, and then straight to Bayern's first team in 2010. To date, Alaba has played 137 matches for Bayern Munich's first team. In addition, Alaba was once loaned to Hoffeinhem by Bayern Munich to hone his talent.

Alaba is a versatile player and has played for Austria's U-17, U-19, U-21 teams and is on the national team for this Euro.

Standing before the 11m penalty, this player's characteristic is still kicking Panenka style. At Bayern, Guardiola often arranges Alaba to play as a center back or left back. Sports director Matthias Sammer once commented that Alaba is one of the best left backs in the world. Stefan Effenberg also once compared Alaba to Roberto Carlos and Paolo Maldini.

According to PLO