The United Football League Division 2, often referred to as UFL Division 2 or UFL 2, was the second-tier

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league in 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 ...

. During its existence, it is the second-highest division of

football in the Philippines Association football is a developed sport in the Philippines, played by Filipino football clubs. The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of international football in the country. Football is a popular sport in the Phil ...

after UFL Division 1. Each year, the winner of the league gets an automatic promotion to the latter. The second placer, on the other hand, goes against the ninth placer of the first division in a two-legged

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. UFL Division 2 was introduced for the 2010 season. For the 2015 season,

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

and Manila Jeepney were promoted to compete in the country's top-flight division. Due to its inability to comply with the league's foreigner cap rule,

Manila Nomads The Manila Nomads Sports Club, or simply the Nomads Sports Club or the Manila Nomads, is a sports club based in Carmona, Cavite, Philippines. For much of its history its grounds was situated within Metro Manila with its last ground within th ...

volunteered to step down from UFL Division 1 before the start of the 2014 season. Thus, Manila Jeepney was also automatically promoted to the first division. The league was scrapped after the 2015 season with the 2016 season to push through with only a single division.

History

Inception of second-tier league

After the end of 2011 season, seven new clubs entered the United Football League as part of the formation of UFL Division 2. Among the clubs that participated in the inaugural run of the second division, which commenced on 14 January 2012, include Agila, Cebu Queen City United,

Diliman Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,960,048 people. It was fou ...

, Forza,

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

Pachanga Pachanga is a genre of music which is described as a mixture of son montuno and merengue and has an accompanying signature style of dance. This type of music has a festive, lively style and is marked by jocular, mischievous lyrics. Pachanga o ...

, and Team Socceroo participated in the second division.

won the first-ever UFL Division 2 title, and the club was promoted to UFL Division 1 the following season. Two other clubs from the second division were also promoted to the first division, namely:

Pasargad Pasargadae (from Old Persian ''Pāθra-gadā'', "protective club" or "strong club"; Modern Persian: ''Pāsārgād'') was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (559–530 BC), who ordered its construction and the location o ...

and

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 ...

was crowned UFL Division 2

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...

for the 2012 season. The club finished at the top of the second division, which secured the team's

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to UFL Division 1. Freddy Gonzalez, the a striker for Pachanga, was awarded the golden boot of UFL Division 2 for the 2012 season. Thus, Pachanga replaced the relegated

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

in the first division.

Expansion year and restructuring

At the start of the 2012 season, UFL Division 2 got expanded to 12 football clubs. Most of the matches for the second division were held at the Turf@BGC, a venue with an artificial football pitch located at

Fort Bonifacio Fort Andres Bonifacio (formerly named Fort William McKinley) is the site of the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (Headquarters Philippine Army or HPA) located in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is located near the national headquarter ...

Taguig City 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 league kicked off its first match between Dolphins United and Cebu Queen City United on February 9, 2013, at the Emperador Stadium. However, Cebu Queen City United did not show up in the game time. On 1 March 2013, the UFL management has officially ruled out Cebu Queen City United from participating after the club apparently withdrawn when the club’s request for home games in

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

was turned down by the league. A new promotion-relegation system was adopted by the league at the start of the 2013 season. The club that finishes second in UFL Division 2 also has a chance of being promoted via a two-legged aggregate-goal playoff against the ninth-place team in the first division, similar to the system used in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

Introduction of foreigner cap rule

For the 2014 season, relegated Philippine Air Force was replaced by Team Socceroo, the champions of the 2013 UFL Division 2. Further,

voluntarily stepped down from the first division to play in UFL Division 2 due to the club's inability to comply with UFL Division 1's foreigner cap rule before this season commenced. The UFL executive committee decided to implement a version of the foreign player rule. Under such rule, a club may only field in a maximum of five foreign players on the pitch at any given time. However, two of the six remaining players on the pitch may still be foreigners provided that they are

permanent residents Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such ...

of the Philippines for at least five years. In addition,

also made their league debut during this season.

Summary

The top club in UFL Division 2 each season receive an automatic promotion to the first division. Starting the 2013 season, the second placer also gets a chance of being promoted via a two-legged playoff against the ninth-place club in UFL Division 1. * Bold designates promoted clubs
† Lost the

promotion and relegation playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or ...

‡ Won the

and got promoted

Clubs

Honors

Golden boot winners

Golden ball award

Golden glove trophy

References

External links

*
United Football League Philippines
at Facebook.com
United Football League Philippines
at Twitter.com

{{AFC second leagues 2 2 Summer association football leagues Sports leagues established in 2009 2009 establishments in the Philippines 2015 disestablishments in the Philippines

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root te ...