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The Copa Paulino Alcantara, also known as the PFL Cup, is an annual
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 ...
tournament in
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 ...
, sanctioned by the
Philippine Football Federation The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...
. The cup's first iteration began on September 1, 2018. It replaced the
PFF National Men's Club Championship The Philippine Football Federation National Men's Club Championship was an annual football competition organized by the Philippine Football Federation and contested by Filipino clubs. It lasted for four seasons from 2011 to 2014–15. It was ...
and the
UFL Cup The United Football League Cup, commonly known as UFL Cup, was a Filipino association football competition. It was played on a multistage format that culminated in a knockout stage (single elimination). Clubs eligible to compete for the cup wer ...
as the country's top domestic cup tournament.


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 The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...
's centennial). To help address this issue,
Smart Communications Smart Communications Inc., commonly referred to as Smart (and officially stylized/ self-styled as SMART), is a wholly owned wireless communications and digital services subsidiary of PLDT Inc., a telecommunications and digital services provid ...
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
The Philippine peso sign (₱) is the currency symbol used for the Philippine peso, the official currency of the Philippines. The symbol resembles a Roman letter P with two horizontal strokes. It differs from the currency symbol used for the pe ...
80 million in funds with the aim of providing more playing opportunities for skilled football players, and the eventual creation of a national league. 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.'' However, the competition only lasted for four years, with the last edition being held in
2014–15 PFF National Men's Club Championship The 2014–15 PFF National Men's Club Championship (also known as 2014–15 PFF–Smart National Club Championship) was the 4th season of the PFF National Men's Club Championship, a Filipino association football competition organized by the Phil ...
. 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.


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 Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...
legend and Filipino footballer
Paulino Alcántara Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a football player and manager who played as a forward. Born in the Philippines, he spent most of his playing career at Barcelona, and also represented Catalonia, the Philippi ...
. It was planned that the cup will be held simultaneously with 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 ...
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. United City Football Club is a Filipino professional football club based in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, that competes in Philippines Football League (PFL), the top-tier league of football in the Philippines. From 2012 to 2020, the club was ...
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. 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. 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 The Davao Aguilas Football Club (abbreviated as DAFC) is a Filipino professional football club based in the city of Tagum, Davao del Norte. From 2017 to 2018, the club has played in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the highest level of foo ...
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 ...
.


Second edition

When the
Philippine Premier League The Philippine Premier League (PPL) was a short-lived top-flight association football league in the Philippines sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It was intended as a successor league to the Philippines Football League (PFL ...
was officially launched in January 2019, following the folding of the PFL, it was announced that the Copa Paulino Alcantara would be retained. However, the PPL was short-lived and PFL was relaunched within the year.


COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines The COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines has resulted in, as of , reported cases, resulting in reported deaths, the fifth-highest in Southeast Asia, behind Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The first case in the Philippines was iden ...
, the 2020 edition of Copa Paulino Alcantara was not held.


Third edition

The third edition was announced as a replacement of the cancelled
2020 Philippines Football League The 2020 Philippines Football League, also known as The Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways, due to the league's title sponsorship, was the fourth season of the Philippines Football League (PFL), the professional football ...
.


List of finals


Performance by club


Branding

The logo for the Copa Paulino Alcantara was derived from a design competition. The cup tournament's logo was that of Joel Alejo, a
Nueva Vizcaya Nueva Vizcaya, officially the Province of Nueva Vizcaya ( ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Vizcaya; gad, Probinsia na Nueva Vizcaya; Pangasinan: ''Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Vizcaya''; tl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Vizcaya ), is a landlocked province in the ...
native who is an
Overseas Filipino Worker Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million be ...
based in
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, announced as the winner of design competition. The logo design competition was organized by the Liga Futbol Inc. from May 9 to 31, 2018 and was opened to Filipino citizens. The winning design was selected by a panel of five judges selected "based on their industry background." 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. However, due to "overwhelming response" to the competition, the LFI moved the announcement of the winning design to July 15, and stated that the final judging of entries was to be held on July 13. The winning design was then announced on July 27, 2018.


Media coverage

The Copa Paulino Alcantara has been
livestreamed Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...
on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, from the first matches of the
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
edition. In addition, the inaugural final was broadcast live by
ESPN5 One Sports (formerly ABC Sports from 2004 to 2008, Sports5 from 2011 to 2017 and ESPN5 from 2017 to 2020) is the sports division of TV5 Network, Inc. and jointly-operated with sister company Cignal TV. One Sports supplies and airs major sport ...
on
AksyonTV Aksyon TV () was a Philippine free-to-air television network. It was a joint venture of Nation Broadcasting Corporation and TV5 Network, Inc. (international operations is under its subsidiary Pilipinas Global Network Ltd.), both under PLDT medi ...
, as well as on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. In the
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
edition,
One Sports One Sports (formerly ABC Sports from 2004 to 2008, Sports5 from 2011 to 2017 and ESPN5 from 2017 to 2020) is the sports division of TV5 Network, Inc. and jointly-operated with sister company Cignal TV. One Sports supplies and airs major sport ...
will cover the whole tournament.


See also

*
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 ...
*
PFF National Men's Club Championship The Philippine Football Federation National Men's Club Championship was an annual football competition organized by the Philippine Football Federation and contested by Filipino clubs. It lasted for four seasons from 2011 to 2014–15. It was ...
*
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 Phili ...


References


External links


Philippines Football League

Philippines Football Federation
{{National football Cups (AFC region) Football cup competitions in the Philippines National association football league cups 2018 establishments in the Philippines Recurring sporting events established in 2018