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The 7's Football League (7s FL), also known as the AIA 7's Football League due to sponsorship with insurance company
AIA Philippines The AIA Philippines Life and General Insurance Company Inc. (commonly known by its trade name AIA Philippines and formerly known as the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company or Philam Life) is an insurance company based in the ...
, is a seven-a-side
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 in the Philippines. Established in 2018, the league already had four seasons. It has a two-tiered men's division, a women's division, and youth divisions. The league is an open tournament with participation from representative sides of the domestic football competition, the
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 ...
.


History

Former Philippine national team player Anton del Rosario led the establishment of the 7's Football League (7s FL) in 2018 and secured sponsors for the league in less than a week with the debut season's title sponsor being Go Well. The founding of the league was amidst uncertainty in the
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 ...
which saw the withdrawal of two of its eight teams from the 2017 season. The league also provided an opportunity for foreign players who played in the United Football League displaced by the imposition of the AFC 3+1 foreigner cap rule. It was intended that three 7s FL seasons be held every year. The first season began with just the men's division with six teams participating. Matches were held at the McKinley Hill Stadium in
Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig ( fil, Lungsod ng Taguig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 886,722 people. Located in the northwestern shores of ...
. The second season began in July 2018 with ten teams. By that time 7s FL became the second league in Asia to be affiliated with FIF7, the international body for 7-a-side football, with the first being India. The 7s FL began to consider holding matches outside Metro Manila and began working on partnerships in Guam and Brunei as part of a Philippine bid to host the 2019 FIF7 World Cup and set up more 7-a-side leagues in Asia. The 7sFL began accommodating youth squads in the third season which began in February 2019. with tournaments for age groups U9, U11, U13 and U15. In March 2019, the women's division was introduced with eight squads participating in the first iteration. The fourth season began with the first edition of the Kampeon Cup which was held from July 27 to 28. The league tournament proper of the fourth season began in September 2019 with 66 teams across seven divisions; Premier Division, Women's Division, Men's Division, U15, U13, U11, and U9. By the end of the fourth season, the league has already held select matches outside Metro Manila, in venues in Iloilo, Bacolod, and Davao. The league was given the Best in Sports Youth Development Program award at the 2019 SPIA Asia. The league further expanded in the fifth season with its first matches to be held simultaneously in venues in Muntinlupa, Clark, Bacolod and Davao on February 9, 2020 and in Iloilo on February 15. 24 teams will participate in the men's division, 10 in the women's division, and 48 teams in the youth divisions. However, the season was disrupted by the
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 ...
. In April 2021, the 7's Football League management announced plans to set up tournaments in Brunei and the United States.


Rules and regulations

Each team in the 7's Football League as its name suggest starts a match with seven on-field players as opposed to eleven of a regular association football match. Matches consists of two halves with 15 minute each and are played at a smaller field than the standard football pitch. There is also no restrictions on the number of foreigners a team can field or rules barring individuals with no prior professional football experience from playing.


Champions


Men's Division (Premier)

*Season 1: Super Eagles *Season 2: Super Eagles *Season 3: Ghana F.C. *Season 4: Super Eagles *Season 5: ''Cancelled'' *Season 6: Rangers FC PH *Season 7: ''TBD''


Women's Division

*Season 1-2: ''Not held'' *Season 3: OutKast *Season 4: Stallion–Hiraya *Season 5: ''Cancelled'' *Season 6:
Kaya F.C. Kaya may refer to: People * Kaya (given name) * Kaya (surname) Places * Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town *Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in cen ...
*Season 7: ''TBD''


References

{{Football in the Philippines Football leagues in the Philippines 2018 establishments in the Philippines