The 2021 Philippines Football League (known as The Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways for sponsorship reasons) was to be the fifth season of

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Footb ...

(PFL), professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. However, the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cancellation

The league's 2021 season was scheduled to kick off on August 21, 2021, but was postponed due to the implementation of

enhanced community quarantine COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines were series of stay-at-home orders and ''cordon sanitaire'' measures that have been implemented by the government of the Philippines through its Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emer ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

and nearby provinces. It was postponed again for several times. The latest schedule for the season's start date was on October 27, 2021, provided that Cavite is under general community quarantine by October 16 and there are at least six confirmed participating clubs. The 2021 season was cancelled on October 22, 2021, and it was announced that the league cup tournament, 2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara, would be held in its place. It will start on November 7, 2021. The organization of the Copa Paulino Alcantara was previously uncertain, having not been held during the previous season.

Stadium

Like previously, all games of 2021 season were planned to be held at the

PFF National Training Center The PFF National Training Center or the National Football Center is a football ground at the San Lazaro Leisure and Business Park in Carmona, Cavite. History Plans to construct a football facility in Carmona, Cavite were announced as early as ...

Carmona, Cavite Carmona, officially the Municipality of Carmona ( tgl, Bayan ng Carmona), is a 1st class municipality located in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,256 people. Etymology When Silang ...

, under a close-circuit format due to prevailing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Biñan Football Stadium The Biñan Football Stadium is a track and field and football venue in Biñan, Laguna, Philippines. On October 28, 2015, the Biñan city government and the Philippine Football Federation signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing that the s ...

in Biñan, Laguna is being considered as a potential second venue.

Teams

Cebu F.C. Dynamic Herb Cebu Football Club (also known as DH Cebu or Cebu FC) is a Philippines, Filipino professional association football, football club based in Cebu City. The team plays in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the top-flight league of f ...

was given a provisional club license, which would have allowed the club to debut in the now cancelled 2021 season.

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

and Rapids F.C. from

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, covering ...

were the other applicant clubs.

Personnel and kits

Coaching changes

:1. Named head coach for the 2020 season but was not able to coach the team. Withe was hired for the

2020 AFC Champions League The 2020 AFC Champions League was the 39th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 18th under the current AFC Champions League title. Ulsan Hyundai won their second Champion ...

due to having the appropriate pro coaching license to lead a club in the continenal tournament. :1. Coached for the club at the

Foreign players

A maximum of five foreigners are allowed per club, with four players of any nationality and a fifth coming from an AFC member nation. This is a change from the previous four seasons which followed the AFC's "3+1" rule. This resulted from an earlier press conference dubbed ''We Are PFL 2021'', where managers of the clubs expressed a desire to increase the foreign quota from four to five. Notes
:1. Now a naturalized citizen of the Philippines. Sporting nationality change was subject to be confirmed by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

References

{{2021 in Asian football (AFC)

Philippines Football League seasons