The 2022 Copa Paulino Alcantara was the fourth edition of the

Copa Paulino Alcantara The Copa Paulino Alcantara, also known as the PFL Cup, is a football tournament in the Philippines, organized by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is contested by the clubs of the Philippines Football League (PFL), along with guest clu ...

, the domestic football cup competition of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The 2022 edition marked the first time since the

2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara The 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara was the second edition of the Copa Paulino Alcantara, the domestic football cup competition of the Philippines. It included 6 out of 7 Philippines Football League teams as well as a guest team, the Philippines U2 ...

that matches are not held in a "bubble format", and also the first season in more than two years that allowed spectators to watch the matches, all of which are held at the

PFF National Training Center The PFF National Training Center or the National Football Center is a football ground at the San Lazaro Leisure and Business Park in Carmona, Cavite. History Plans to construct a football facility in Carmona, Cavite were announced as early as ...

Carmona, Cavite Carmona (), officially the City of Carmona (), is a Cities of the Philippines, component city in the Philippine Province, province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,256 people. Carmona is also th ...

. The final saw

United City United City is a group of businesses based within Greater Manchester, England, who supported proposals for congestion charging in Greater Manchester via the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund bid for £3 billion. The bid was rejec ...

grab a narrow 3–2 win over defending champions Kaya–Iloilo in the highest-scoring final to date. As a result, United City won their second Copa title. They last won the title in the 2019, as Ceres–Negros.

Scheduling

The

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still persists as of 2022, which led to the cancellation of the league tournament in 2021 and the commencement of the 2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara in its place. The 2022 Copa Paulino Alcantara is scheduled to start in March 14 with the final set to be held on May 23.

Participating clubs

All seven clubs of the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League (PFL) is a men's professional association football, football league in the Philippines. Sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and organized by Liga Futbol Inc., it is the country's Football in t ...

participated. The

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

was cancelled and not held but the league had a new club, Dynamic Herb Cebu which already took part in the 2021 cup tournament.

and Maharlika Manila are set to make a return after foregoing the 2021 cup tournament.

Format

Competition

Unlike previous editions of the Copa, where the teams would be separated into different groups, this year's edition of the competition will see all the current teams of the

play against each other once. The 7 clubs, playing in what is dubbed as the "elimination round", will play against each other once. At the end of the elimination round, the top four teams will then meet each other in the semifinals, with the first-placed team facing the fourth-placed team, while the second-placed team faced the third-placed team, similar to the Finals Series in the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

PFL season. Just like in the 2021 edition, the losers of the semifinals will play each other in the third place match while the winners meet in the final, which will consist of a single match. The

Azkals Development Team The Azkals Development Team, commonly referred to as ADT, is a Philippine developmental football club that last competed in Philippines Football League, before officially withdrawing from the competition in May 2023. Founded in 2020, the team ...

initially finished fourth place in the elimination round, but due to the national team's participation in the

2021 Southeast Asian Games The 2021 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 31st Southeast Asian Games, 31st SEA Games or SEA Games 31, and also recognized as Viet Nam 2021, were the 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games, the biennial regional multi-sport e ...

, the ADT were forced to cede their semifinal slot to Stallion Laguna, who finished fifth above Maharlika Manila on goal difference. The competition will be held in a closed-circuit format due to the

. All matches will be held at the

Elimination round

Notes: : a Dynamic Herb Cebu was awarded a 3–0 win due to ADT's inability to compete. The ADT forms the core of the Philippine national U23 team which held a training camp in Malaysia as part of its preparation for the

Knock-out stage

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

Final

Top scorers

Awards

References

{{2022 in Asian football (AFC) Copa Paulino Alcantara seasons 2022 in Philippine football