Philippine Football Federation

History

Early history

The football body's origins dates back to 1907 when it was established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA). It was among the twelve founding Asian football associations of the Asian Football Confederation.

In 1917, the first Spanish and Filipino footballer to play for a European club, Paulino Alcántara Riestra, was selected by the Philippines to represent the country at the Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo. He helped them defeat Japan 15–2, which remains the largest win in Philippine international football history.

In 1961, stakeholders of Philippine football officially organized themselves to establish the Philippine Football Association (PFA) which was later reorganized as the Philippine Football Federation in 1982.

Adad era

In October 1996, Rene Adad was installed as PFF president after a snap election which ousted his predecessor, Ricardo Tan. In 2002, the PFF inaugurated its first regional center in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.

Martinez era

During Jose Mari Martinez’s presidency the PFF experienced a number of organizational crises affecting both management and the national teams

Under Martinez, the PFF also had a new headquarters, the PFF House of Football in Pasig, which was inaugurated by then FIFA President Sepp Blatter and AFC President bin Hammam in 2008. The PFF moved to the building after occupying the PhilSports Complex as its headquarters for decades.

In 2009, a crisis affected the Philippine women's national futsal which resulted to the ouster of women's futsal coach Emmanuel Batungbacal and long-time men's national football coach Juan Cutillas. Batungbacal was dismissed amid allegations that he led the futsal team in a tournament without PFF sanction. Batungbacal denied the allegation and said he had sanction; some players subsequently resigned from international duty in protest. Martinez said that a lack of suitable coaching license was the reason to Batungbacal's dismissal.

On 27 November 2010, at the PFF 7th Ordinary Congress at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig, Martinez was ousted by 25 Presidents out of the 29 present member associations to approve a resolution made by 8 members of the Board of Governors calling for the ousting and replacement of Martinez as PFF president.Martinez was dismissed amid allegations that he falsified public documents and misused funds. Mariano Araneta was named Interim President.

Araneta era

After serving as Interim President for about a year after Martinez's ouster in 2010, Araneta was elected as president on 26 November 2011 at a PFF congress held at the Astoria Plaza in Pasig.

On 14 October 2016, at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Pasig, the Online PFF Player Registration System was launched following a contract signing between the PFF, MMC Sportz Marketing and RSportz. The PFF described the initiative as an early example of its type in Southeast Asia. The registration system will create a database of Filipino players which will be accessible to organizers of PFF-sanctioned tournaments. The registration system was planned to be online by November 2016.

In November 2016, Araneta announced that the PFF will move its headquarters to Carmona, Cavite in 2017 where an artificial football pitch is due to be finished within the month. The new location will also house a dormitory, a natural grass pitch and corporate offices.

The PFF's registration system dubbed "My PFF" was officially launched in June 2017 and will be embedded in PFF's website on 3 July 2017 to be more accessible for registrants.

A financial dispute with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) was resolved on 14 September 2018, when the PFF remitted ₱4.8 million in unliquidated government assistance. The scope of the financial aid covers the administrations of the PFF from past 1996 to 2010.

The PFF was given the right to hold AFC ‘A’ and AFC ‘B’ Diploma Courses in the Philippines by the Asian Football Confederation starting 2019. The federation launched its first esports tournament, the PFF eTrophy which featured the video game title FIFA 21 in 2021.

On 30 July 2022, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new PFF headquarters in Carmona took place. In November 2022, the PFF decided to allow the expansion of its regional associations.

Gutierrez era

As Araneta reached the organisation’s two-term limit, the PFF held an election on 25 November 2023 to select new officials.

John Gutierrez of Bukidnon FA was elected Araneta’s successor. The other candidates were Filbert Alquiros of Stallion Laguna, and Henry Sabate of Davao-South RFA. Gutierrez garnered 30 out of 36 votes, with the other contenders receiving three votes each.

During the first eighteen months of Gutierrez’s term, several senior federation officials resigned. These include Filipinas team manager Jefferson Cheng, Pinay5 team manager Danny Moran, PMNFT coaches Albert Capellas and Tom Saintfiet, Senior National Teams Director and PMNFT manager Freddy Gonzalez, PMNFT Assistant Team Manager Mikkel Paris, and PMNFT Media Officer Jing Jamlang.

Presidents

Association staff

Member associations

There are 36 member associations, three of which are professional football clubs, under the PFF.

• Agusan del Sur – Surigao del Sur RFA
• Cordillera RFA
• Bukidnon FA
• Butuan – Agusan Del Norte FA
• RFA of Camarines Norte
• Camiguin-Misamis Oriental FA
• Central Visayas RFA
• Golden Davao RFA
• North Davao RFA
• Davao R.F.A.
• Iligan – Lanao Regional Football Association (Iligan-Lanao RFA)
• Iloilo F.A.
• Laguna – Cavite RFA
• Legazpi City – Albay Federated RFA
• East Visayas R.F.A.
• Federated F.A. of Masbate
• Central Bicol RFA
• National Capital Region F.A.
• Negros Occidental F.A.
• Negros Oriental – Siquijor RFA
• Maguindanao-Cotabato City FA
• Misamis Occidental – Ozamis FA
• Mount Apo RFA
• Oriental Mindoro FA
• Quezon – Batangas RFA
• FA of Rizal
• South Cotabato – Sarangani – Gen. Santos City RFA (SOCSARGEN RFA)
• Sultan Kudarat RFA
• Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands RFA
• Central Luzon RFA
• Zamboanga del Norte – Dipolog RFA
• Pagadian – Zamboanga del Sur – Sibugay RFA
• Zamboanga – Basilan – Sulu – Tawi-tawi FA (ZAMBASULTA FA)
• Kaya F.C.–Iloilo
• Stallion Laguna F.C.
• United City F.C.

PFF competitions

National league

• Philippines Football League
• PFF Women's League

National Cups

• Copa Paulino Alcantara
• PFF Women's Cup
• PFF National Men's Club Championship (defunct)

Youth competitions

• PFF U-19 National Championship
• PFF U-16 National Championship
• PFF National Men's U-23 Championship (defunct)
• PFF National U-22 Amateur Championship (inactive)
• PFF U-15 Boys National Championship (inactive)

Esports

• PFF eTrophy

Current title holders

National team coaches

Honors

The PFF was given the AFC President Recognition Award for Grassroots Football in the Developing Category in 2014 and in 2016.

References

References

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3. (11 July 2002). "Soccer a Sleeping Giant in RP". Philippine Star.
4. (4 August 2008). "Blatter champions football in Philippine". FIFA.
5. (3 November 2016). "PFF set to move to new HQ in Cavite". The Philippine Star.
6. (10 March 2009). "Crisis hits RP women's futsal team, PFF". ABS-CBN News.
7. (29 November 2010). "PFF Congress boots out Mari Martinez". Business Mirror.
8. (14 October 2016). "PFF Launches Online Player Registration System". Philippine Football Federation.
9. (30 June 2017). "Philippine Football Federation goes 'live' with 'MY PFF'". ABS-CBN Sports.
10. (6 October 2018). "Philippine Football Federation clears accounts with PSC". Philippine Star.
11. (25 December 2018). "PFF Christmas Message 2018". Philippine Football Federation.
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26. FIFA.com. "Member Association - Philippines".
27. "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation".
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32. "Member Associations".
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