At first glance, Mariano “Nonong” Araneta looked more like a wealthy haciendero than a well-loved international football executive.

When this writer visited him on his farm in Tagaytay, his wife, Eileen, led him to a patio beside a small bungalow with a table set and a few bamboo trees growing to somehow block the afternoon sunlight.

“I think it’s about 1.3 hectares. I bought this property two years ago,” said the soft-spoken Araneta, who remains humble despite holding an influential position in the International Football Federation (FIFA) — the biggest and the richest international sports federation in the world.

“Slowly, the farm developed. Now, we have native chickens and ducks and grow some vegetables. We would stay here at least three days a week.”

He said tending the farm is his form of relaxation, something that he’s been doing since he finished his term as president of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) after 13 long years.

“In fact, I’m already building a pond for catfish and tilapia.”

Araneta was a two-sport athlete at the University of the Philippines.

He was a basketball player and football player before he played for the national team which he also captained, something that will be useful in his stint as PFF president.

Healing president

Araneta has always been known as the president who healed the wounds of Philippine football.

Before his arrival, the PFF was in turmoil morally, politically and financially with several cases filed against its former president, the late Jose Mari Martinez.

The national men’s football team — collectively known as the Philippine Azkals — was just about to join in the AFF Suzuki Cup and Araneta used the opportunity to rally the entire country into supporting the sport where the Filipinos have a handsome chance of excelling.

With Araneta as PFF president, the Azkals made it to the semifinals of the ASEAN Championships in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018 with their star players in Phil and James Younghusband, Angel and Juani Guirado, Rob Gier, Stephan Schrock, Chieffy Caligdong and Neil Etheridge becoming commercial sensations with their skills, character and, yes, good looks.

The Azkals also clinched the bronze medal in the AFC Challenge Cup in Nepal in 2012 and even made it to the finals in the 2014 edition in Maldives. They were also able to advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup for the first time.

The success of the men’s team was surpassed by the women’s squad.

Known as the Filipinas, the national women’s squad made a historic appearance in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, prompting Araneta to break into a smile every time he recalls how under his watch, football got unprecedented success and went from being dormant into one of the most popular sports in the country that, at one point, even matched the commercial success of professional basketball and women’s volleyball.

“Not a lot of people will agree because some of them believe that nothing happened in Philippine football for the past 30 years. We were able to qualify for the Women’s World Cup and won the ASEAN Women’s Championship,” Araneta said.

“Our fans came in droves to Rizal Memorial and the men’s team even qualified for the AFC Asian Cup in 2019.”

With his impressive credentials as a football administrator in Asia, Araneta was re-elected to the FIFA Council last year, a position that he will hold until 2027.

He is also part of the executive committee of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the vice president of the ASEAN Football Federation.

Araneta admitted that his colleagues in the international football community took notice of the renaissance of Philippine football.

“What’s important to me is that we work together. I’m not saying that ‘I’m the only one good.’ A lot of people have a lot of egos so let’s not do that,” said Araneta, who also held the sensitive role as an AFC financial committee member from 2015 to 2023.

“Let’s just work together for the benefit of a bigger goal.”

“A lot of more leaders from countries that have better football programs dreamed of getting into the FIFA council but they chose us. I think we must have been doing things right to help football here.”

Araneta’s brilliance, fairness, honesty and humility as a football executive prompted PFF members to give him fresh terms in 2015 and 2019.

But it wasn’t just in football where he made his mark as a sport leader.

Historic gold

Araneta said the biggest accomplishment of his sports leadership career was when he was appointed as the country’s chef de mission to the Tokyo Olympics.

With the world feeling the pinch of the coronavirus pandemic, Araneta was given the mission of leading the country to its first gold medal after a 97-year participation in the biggest and most prestigious sports event in the world.

Araneta said he spent a lot of time conducting online meetings with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executives just to make sure that the athletes would get enough training amid the challenges and restrictions brought by the global pandemic.

“Our cooperation between PSC chairman (William) Ramirez and POC president (Abraham) Tolentino has been good. We would always brief the athletes back then that even if they were in the same unit, they could only take off their masks whenever they’re in their rooms,” Araneta said.

“Usually, the CDM shouldn’t have many meetings but at that time, every week or even after three to four days, I would attend online meetings because of the new Covid cases.”

His hard work paid off when weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz clinched the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. A few days later, boxers Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio secured silver medals and Eumir Marcial bagged the bronze, underscoring the Filipinos’ dominance after a long futility in the Summer Games.

“The officials didn’t want me there because they believed I brought bad luck so I was just in my hotel room praying. I was even asking people back in the Philippines about the result,” Araneta said.

“That night, Filipino reporters in Tokyo were inviting me to celebrate the gold medal. Even (Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president) Terry Capistrano quipped: We got the gold, our mission is done! We can all go home.”

Life after PFF

After serving the maximum of three terms, Araneta formally gave up his position as president of the PFF last year.

He didn’t ask for any role. He just simply stepped down.

For him, it’s already a mission accomplished.

“There are leaders who would ask for a lower position after their term as NSA (national sports association) president has expired,” Araneta said.

“But me, I’m already happy with my position as AFF vice president and a member of the AFC executive committee and the FIFA Council.”

“There are a lot of Filipinos who are capable of serving as officers of the PFF. My term is already done so I have to move forward and move on.”

Araneta said he is ready to help out PFF chief John Gutierrez when asked.

Although Araneta is the president of the Iloilo-Guimaras RFA, he opts not to meddle with the decisions of the new federation president and allows him to display his brand of leadership.

“Well, it’s more relaxing now since I’m not doing day-to-day operations in the PFF. I still do day-to-day operations in Iloilo after I was elected president of their football association there,” Araneta said, adding that he is also attending to the affairs of a seafaring committee, the Island Overseas Transportation Center, where he is the chairman.

“But usually, anything that is needed was just relayed to me through my phone. I only go to our office if it’s really important.”

He said he usually plays a few rounds of golf whenever there’s time.

“Of course, now I’m into golf. I play golf at least once a week, sometimes twice a week,” said Araneta, whose eyes light up everytime he talks about his rounds with friends and sportswriters.

With his athletic background, Araneta is a strong striker of the ball and also has a stellar short game, particularly on the green. That Araneta sinks one or two long putts in a round is no longer a surprise according to friends.

Yes, Araneta — the man who pumped life into Philippine football and led the country to a historic gold medal in the Olympics — is now taking it slow, happily tending to his chickens and ducks while growing vegetables on his quiet farm somewhere in Tagaytay.

It’s a fitting reward for a man who had done so much for Philippine sports.