Copa Paulino Alcantara

Copa Paulino Alcantara[1]
Organising body Liga Futbol Inc.
Founded March 2018 (2018-03)
Region  Philippines
Number of teams 6
Qualifier for AFC Cup
2018 Copa Paulino Alcantara

The Copa Paulino Alcantara[1], also known as the PFL Cup, is an annual association football tournament in Philippines sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation and organized by Liga Futbol Inc.. The cup's first iteration began on September 1, 2018. It replaced the PFF National Men's Club Championship and the UFL Cup 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's centennial[2]). To help address this issue, Smart Communications on 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 ₱80 million in funds with the aim of providing more playing opportunities for skilled football players, and the eventual creation of a national league.[3][2] 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.[2] However, the competition only lasted for four years, with the last edition being held in 2014–15 PFF National Men's Club Championship.

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.[4]

Planning

The proposed competition was tentatively named as the PFL Cup, which later became the official name but was ultimately changed into "Copa Paulino Alcantara" in March 2018, in commemoration of former FC Barcelona legend and Filipino footballer Paulino Alcántara.[1] It was planned that the cup will be held simultaneously with the Philippines Football League 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. won the inaugural Finals Series and the regular season.

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.[5]

On July 15, 2018 during the PFL Fans Day, it was announced that non-franchise clubs will also be allowed to join the cup competition provided that they will satisfy minimum licensing requirements which will be set for the competition. The first Copa Paulino Alcantara is scheduled to commence on September 1, 2018.[6]

Branding

The logo for the Copa Paulino Alcantara is yet to be unveiled. Th Liga Futbol Inc. organized a logo design competition[7] which ran from May 9 to 31, 2018. The contest was open to Filipino citizens and the winning design will be selected by a panel of five judges selected "based on their industry background".[8]

The LFI announced that they have received more than 150 entries and will reveal the winner of the competition at the PFL Fans Day event on June 30, 2018.[9] However due to "overwhelming response" to the competition, the LFI moved the announcement of the winning design to July 15, 2018 and stated that the final judging of entries was to be held on July 13, 2018.[10]

On July 27, 2018, the logo design of Joel Alejo, a Nueva Vizcaya native who is an Overseas Filipino Worker based in Saudi Arabia at the time of the competition, was announced as the winner of the design competition.[11][12]

Media coverage

The Copa Paulino Alcantara has been livestreamed on Facebook in full minutes. The first matches of the 2018 edition on September 2, 2018 has been broadcast live in this manner.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "LFI Board of Directors Convenes for Fourth Meeting". Philippines Football League. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Olivares, Rick (March 1, 2011). "National open football tilt back after five-year hiatus". BusinessMirror. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2011. “This revives a national tournament that we have not had in a while,” Philippine Football Federation (PFF) competitions department head Cyril Dofitas told the BusinessMirror. Bacolod City hosted the last national tournament five years ago.
  3. ↑ "PFF, Smart to form Philippine football league". GMA News and Public Affairs. January 31, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011. A league for Philippine football? This will become a reality as the Philippine Football Federation has forged a partnership with telecom giant Smart Communications to finance a local football club championship. The partnership will last for a span of 10 years, with the giant telco releasing a total of P80 million for the project aimed at providing opportunities for skilled football players.
  4. ↑ Bautista, Roehl Niño (December 2, 2013). "Philippine Football Federation set to launch national league". GMA News. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  5. ↑ http://philippinesfootballleague.com/2018/01/31/pfl-season-2018-begins-march-3/
  6. ↑ Dela Cruz, Jaimer (15 July 2018). "First PFL Fans Day and Soca Loca Mobile App Launch a success". Fox Sports Asia. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest". Philippines Football League. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "Copa Paulino Contest Terms and conditions" (PDF). Philippines Football League. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "Advisory: Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest". Philippines Football League. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "Postponement of Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest Winner". Philippines Football League. Liga Futbol Inc. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "Philippines' cup competition: Copa Paulino Alcantara logo unveiled". Fox Sports. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "Copa Paulino Alcantara Logo Design Contest Winner Announced". Philippines Football League. Liga Futbol, Inc. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Copa Paulino Alcantara successfully holds first ever Facebook livestream". Fox Sports Asia. 2 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
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