Philippines PFL Cup

Background and planning

Following the Philippines national team's best record so far in the 2010 AFF Championship, football in the Philippines 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). To help address this issue, Smart Communications 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 ₱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 Araneta subsequently approved the proposal. In March 2011, the new tournament commenced under the name PFF–Smart National Men's Club Championship. However, the competition only lasted for four years, with the last edition being held in 2014–15.

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. The proposed competition was tentatively named as the PFL Cup, but was ultimately changed into "Copa Paulino Alcantara" in March 2018, in commemoration of the FC Barcelona legend Paulino Alcántara who also represented the Philippines national team. It was planned that the cup will be held simultaneously with the Philippines Football League (PFL) regular season. However, in the PFL's inaugural season in 2017, the cup was not played. Instead, a playoff for the top teams of the regular season, called the Finals Series, was held in its place. Ceres–Negros won the only edition of the Finals Series.

2018 inaugural edition

During the 2018 PFL season, the league announced in February that the cup competition will proceed, but instead of taking place in the middle of the 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 were eligible to join the Copa Paulino Alcantara, provided they satisfy the licensing requirements. However, no non-PFL club joined the inaugural edition. The first Copa Paulino Alcantara was held on September and October 2018. The six PFL clubs were divided into two groups that played each other in a double round-robin format. The top two teams from each group faced off in the single-elimination semi-finals, followed by the final. The winners then qualify for the following year's AFC Cup.

The first Copa Paulino Alcantara match took place on September 1, 2018 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. Kaya–Iloilo defeated Global Cebu 4–0, wherein Robert Lopez Mendy scored the tournament's first-ever goal and hat-trick. In the final on October 27, Kaya–Iloilo defeated Davao Aguilas 1–0 in extra time through a last-minute goal by Jovin Bedic.

2019–present

In 2019, when the Philippine Premier League was launched to supplant 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. The 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara featured the first guest team, Philippines U22, who were preparing for the upcoming 2019 Southeast Asian Games. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the 2021 edition was held in a bio-secure bubble at the PFF National Training Center. It was also the first edition to feature the third place playoff. In the 2022 edition, instead of being divided into groups, all participating clubs played a single-round robin elimination round wherein the top four clubs advanced to the semi-finals.

The 2023 edition features 17 teams (5 from the PFL and 12 guests)—the most to date in the competition's history. It is also the first to feature more than two groups in the group stage, and the first to hold quarter-finals.