Copa Paulino Alcantara

The Copa Paulino Alcantara,[1] also known as the PFL Cup, is an annual football tournament in Philippines, sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation. The cup's first iteration began on September 1, 2018. It replaced the PFF National Men's Club Championship and the UFL Cup as the country's top domestic cup tournament.

Copa Paulino Alcantara
Organising bodyPFF
FoundedMarch 2018 (2018-03)
RegionPhilippines
Number of teams7
International cup(s)AFC Cup
Current championsCeres–Negros
(1st title)
Most successful club(s)Ceres–Negros and Kaya–Iloilo
(1 title each)
Television broadcastersESPN5
2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara

History

Following the success of the Philippines national team in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, Philippine football experienced a renaissance. However, the country had no true national league nor a cup competition (the national cup competition was last held in 2007, to celebrate the Philippine Football Federation's centennial[2]). To help address this issue, Smart Communications in January 2011, approached the PFF with an offer to finance a new local football competition. The proposed partnership was set to last 10 years, with Smart releasing ₱80 million in funds with the aim of providing more playing opportunities for skilled football players, and the eventual creation of a national league.[3][2] Newly-installed PFF president Mariano V. Araneta subsequently approved the proposal. In March 2011, the new tournament commenced under the name PFF–Smart Men's Club Championship.[2] However, the competition only lasted for four years, with the last edition being held in 2014–15 PFF National Men's Club Championship.

After the PFF announced the creation of a new national league, the federation confirmed that a new domestic cup competition was also to be formed.[4]

Planning

The proposed competition was tentatively named as the PFL Cup, but was ultimately changed into "Copa Paulino Alcantara" in March 2018, in commemoration of former FC Barcelona legend and Filipino footballer Paulino Alcántara.[1] It was planned that the cup will be held simultaneously with the Philippines Football League regular season. However, the cup was not played in the inaugural year, in 2017, with the cup being replaced by the Finals Series, a playoff for the top teams of the regular season. Ceres–Negros F.C. won the inaugural Finals Series and the regular season.

First edition

For the 2018 season, the league announced in February of that year that cup will now proceed, but instead of taking place in the middle of the PFL regular season, it was set to be held after it.[5]

On July 15, 2018 during the PFL Fans Day, it was announced that non-franchise clubs are eligible to join the cup competition provided that they will satisfy minimum licensing requirements which will be set for the competition.[6] However no non-PFL club joined the inaugural edition. The first Copa Paulino Alcantara commenced on September 1, 2018 with Kaya–Iloilo winning over Davao Aguilas in the final.

Under the Philippine Premier League

When the Philippine Premier League was officially launched in January 2019 following the folding of the PFL, it was announced that the Copa Paulino Alcantara would be retained.[7] Although the PPL was shortlived and the PFL was relaunched within the year.

List of finals
Key
Match was won during extra time
Season Winner Score Runner-up Location Attendance
2018Kaya–Iloilo1–0Davao AguilasRizal Memorial, Manila1,230[8]
2019Ceres–Negros2–1Kaya–IloiloBiñan
2020Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[9]

Performance by club
Club
Winners
Runners-up
Winning Years
Kaya–Iloilo
1
1
 2018
Ceres–Negros
1
0
 2019
Davao Aguilas
0
1
 –

Branding

The logo for the Copa Paulino Alcantara was derived from a design competition.[10] The cup tournament's logo was that of Joel Alejo, a Nueva Vizcaya native who is an Overseas Filipino Worker based in Saudi Arabia at the time of the competition, was announced as the winner of the design competition.[11][12]

The logo design competition was organized by the Liga Futbol Inc. which ran from May 9 to 31, 2018[10] and was open to Filipino citizens. The winning design was selected by a panel of five judges selected "based on their industry background".[13]

The LFI announced that they have received more than 150 entries and would reveal the winner of the competition at the PFL Fans Day event on June 30, 2018.[14] However due to "overwhelming response" to the competition, the LFI moved the announcement of the winning design to July 15, 2018 and stated that the final judging of entries was to be held on July 13, 2018.[15] The winning design was then announced on July 27, 2018.[11][12]

Media coverage

The Copa Paulino Alcantara has been livestreamed on Facebook, from the first matches of the 2018 edition.[16] In addition, the inaugural final was broadcast live by ESPN5 on AksyonTV, as well as on YouTube.

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See also

References
  1. "LFI Board of Directors Convenes for Fourth Meeting". Philippines Football League. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  2. Olivares, Rick (March 1, 2011). "National open football tilt back after five-year hiatus". BusinessMirror. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2011. “This revives a national tournament that we have not had in a while,” Philippine Football Federation (PFF) competitions department head Cyril Dofitas told the BusinessMirror. Bacolod City hosted the last national tournament five years ago.
  3. "PFF, Smart to form Philippine football league". GMA News and Public Affairs. January 31, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011. A league for Philippine football? This will become a reality as the Philippine Football Federation has forged a partnership with telecom giant Smart Communications to finance a local football club championship. The partnership will last for a span of 10 years, with the giant telco releasing a total of P80 million for the project aimed at providing opportunities for skilled football players.
  4. Bautista, Roehl Niño (December 2, 2013). "Philippine Football Federation set to launch national league". GMA News. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  5. "PFL Season begins March 3". Philippines Football League. February 8, 2018. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  6. Dela Cruz, Jaimer (15 July 2018). "First PFL Fans Day and Soca Loca Mobile App Launch a success". Fox Sports Asia. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  7. "Philippine Premier League launched as country's new top-tier club competition". ESPN5. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  8. Estrada, Kevin (27 October 2018). "Iloilo wins Copa after edging Davao in extra time thriller". Dugout Philippines. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  9. Saldajeno, Ivan Stewart (28 May 2020). "PFF to submit protocols to GAB for possible PFL return". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  10. "Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest". Philippines Football League. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  11. "Philippines' cup competition: Copa Paulino Alcantara logo unveiled". Fox Sports. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  12. "Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest Winner Announced". Philippines Football League. Liga Futbol, Inc. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  13. "Copa Paulino Contest Terms and conditions" (PDF). Philippines Football League. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  14. "Advisory: Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest". Philippines Football League. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  15. "Postponement of Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest Winner". Philippines Football League. Liga Futbol Inc. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  16. "Copa Paulino Alcantara successfully holds first ever Facebook livestream". Fox Sports Asia. 2 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
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