The Davao Aguilas Football Club (abbreviated as DAFC) is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

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 ...

club based in the city of Tagum,

Davao del Norte Davao del Norte ( ceb, Amihanang Dabaw; tl, Hilagang Davao), officially the Province of Davao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital and largest city is Tagum. The province also includes ...

. From 2017 to 2018, the club has played in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the highest level of football in Philippines. During the time of its participation in the PFL, the club was the sole

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

-based club in the league. It left from the PFL and was disbanded after the conclusion of the 2018 season, following disagreements regarding supposed successor league to the PFL. However, the club resumed operations again in July 2020, focusing on youth football development.

History

Establishment and entry to the Philippines Football League

The group behind the Aguilas have expressed their interest to play in the Philippines Football League and have submitted their letter of intent before the December 31, 2016 deadline. They were given until the end of January 2017 to complete all licensing requirements. On February 19, 2017, it was reported that Davao Aguilas FC is joining the Philippines Football League as the sole representative from

. They conducted tryouts at the Agro pitch in

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dabaw; ), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of lan ...

on February 19, 2017. Though the team's composition is already being organized as early as February 2017, Davao Aguilas lists its foundation date as March 26, 2017. In March 2017, the club participated in the

Stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

preseason cup where Ed Walohan scored the first goal for the club in competitive play. According to team officials the squad fielded by the Aguilas was not the final squad to be fielded in the inaugural PFL.

2017 season

The club hosted an official launch ceremony on March 26, 2017 at the

Davao del Norte Sports Complex The Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex (DNSTC) is a sports complex in Tagum, Davao del Norte, Philippines, and is the largest sports complex in the Davao region. It was built on the area of the former Davao Sports Complex, torn down by fir ...

, their home venue. By June 2017, the club owners secured a sponsorship deal with San Miguel Corporation and appended "San Miguel" to their official name. On September 18, with the club cut adrift in 7th place, manager Gary Phillips was sacked and replaced by Marlon Maro. The team finished 7th in the inaugural PFL season.

2018 season

In the 2018 season, the club signed in players of the Philippine national team and some foreigners to bolster the squad. Maro resigned in the middle of the season and was replaced by Melchor Anzures. In September 2018, the club signed a partnership agreement with the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

-based club team,

Shonan Bellmare is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka ...

, competing in the

J.League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successfu ...

. The partnership was formed to bolster cooperation between the two clubs, which includes the development of players and coaches, player scouting, academy and marketing. The Davao Aguilas also changed their full name to "Davao Aguilas Bellmare Football Club" to signify their partnership. The Davao Aguilas featured in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the inaugural Copa Paulino Alcantara where they lost to Kaya-Iloilo due to a solitary goal.

Withdrawal from the PFL

After the 2018 season, it was reported on December 14, 2018 that the club has withdrawn from the PFL.

Jefferson Cheng Jefferson Cheng is a Filipino businessman and association football administrator. He is the current manager of the Philippines women's national football team. Education Cheng attended Xavier School where he used to play competitive football as a ...

iterated continued support for infrastructure and grassroots development in Davao. Cheng has also cited the decision to hire Bernie Sumayao to manage the PFL despite his volunteering to take over the management of the league. However the league's inaugural season in 2017 was cut short and the PFL was reestablished once again. The Davao Aguilas were disbanded but Cheng remained involved in local football, sponsoring the youth tournaments through his company Speed Regalo.

Return

In July 2020, the Davao Aguilas announced the resumption of operations its youth department.

Crest and colors

The colors of the team are blue which represents "loyalty and brilliance" and red which represents "passion and valor". The red stripes symbolize 5 attributes of the club's players (strength, speed, agility and mentality), while the blue stripes symbolize the concepts of fair play, respect, perseverance and integrity. The colors of the club were selected as reportedly as a show of patriotism and derived after the Philippine flag. The bird's head in the crest is that of a Philippine eagle.

Head coaches

Records

Season by season record

*GS – Group stage *R16 – Round of 16 *QF – Quarter finals *SF – Semi finals *Bold denotes player currently plays for club

Affiliated clubs

(2022–present)

Notes

References

{{reflist Davao Aguilas F.C. Davao Aguilas Davao Aguilas Sports in Davao del Norte Association football clubs established in 2017 2017 establishments in the Philippines