Football in the Philippines is administered by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the country. Around 40 million people in the Philippines, or 35 percent of the population, are football fans.
Football in the Philippines is a sport played at professional and amateur levels across the country. Football has a long and rich history in the islands, dating back to the 1890s, when the British introduced the sport to the Spanish and European settlers living on the islands. The Philippine Football Federation was established in 1907 and it would soon feature several Hispanic Filipino sportsmen that included FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atlético Madrid and Real Zaragoza legends such as Manuel Amechazurra, Paulino Alcántara, Juan Torena, Eduardo Teus, Marcelino Gálatas and Gregorio Querejeta, who would eventually become the first Filipinos and Asian footballers to play for a professional European club in Spain. Amechazurra was the first to achieve great heights at Spanish football, playing for FC Barcelona and he was followed by Alcántara later on, after also achieving success with the same football club. Alcántara went on to become the youngest Filipino footballer to play in Spain, where he made his professional debut as a striker at the age of 15 for Barcelona, which made him the club's youngest and second highest goal scorer behind Argentinian footballer, Lionel Messi. Since then, the first football teams began to form, including the Manila Sporting Club in 1906, the Sandow Athletic Club in 1909, and the Bohemian Sporting Club in 1910.
To promote and revive the sport, some European and American international football clubs and organizations have helped the Philippines progress through its development, they have included FC Barcelona and Real Madrid from Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Australia, France, the United States, Argentina and Serbia. FIFA also assisted the country by building and upgrading facilities including the creation of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) headquarters in 2009. As well, the establishment of the United Football League (UFL) and the National Men's Club Championship to provide more local competitions.
The Philippines national football team is the representative of men's international football for the Philippines. They won the Far Eastern Games once (in 1913) and became a two-time Philippine Peace Cup champion (in 2012 and 2013).
The Philippines women's national football team, known as the Filipinas, achieved a historic milestone by qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, becoming the first Philippine team, male or female, to reach a senior FIFA World Cup. The Filipinas recorded their first World Cup victory by defeating host nation New Zealand in the group stage. The achievement contributed to increased recognition and support for football in the Philippines.
There are many stadiums that can be found in the Philippines, like the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, which is the national stadium of the country. It is also the home stadium of the Philippine football team. Meanwhile, the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod is the secondary venue for the Philippines.
History
1890s-1940s
In 1895, football was introduced in the Philippines by British sportsmen visiting the islands. In addition, some Filipinos sent to college in Hong Kong and China returned home and taught their friends a little bit about the game of football. Within a year, there were two or three football clubs established in Manila. While in Spain, Filipino sportsmen had played a significant role in the early development and success of Spanish football.
In 1898, after a number of wars have broken out on the islands, all football organizations were briefly postponed. The United States had invaded Cuba and then the Philippines during that period. After the ship sank resulting in significant casualties, the Americans declared war against Spain which led to the Spanish–American War. This ended the Spanish governance in the Philippines and Cuba, and was replaced by the United States.
When the war broke out, all football teams disbanded and abandoned the city, either to save themselves and their families from the conflict. After the war, and the restoration of peace in the regions of Luzon, six football teams were formed, among them the Manila Sporting Club, the Paris Club, and the Manila Jockey Club. In 1906, the Sandow football team was established (further developed as Sandow Athletic Club in 1909).
On 15 October 1907, the first official football match was held in Manila, with the celebration of the opening of the Philippine Assembly. The trophy, a silver cup donated by 27th President of the United States William Howard Taft, was won by the Sandow Athletic Club. Soon, more clubs were formed. In 1910, the Bohemian Sporting Club was organized and began to train football players. In 1920, the Circulo Social Deportivo was established and produced a football team. To further propagate the love of the sport and to regulate soccer championship contests, all football teams within the city banded themselves together and organized the Philippine Amateur Football Association in 1907 (now the Philippine Football Federation), and held its first championship in 1921 with Bohemian Sporting Club as champions.
In 1906, Manuel Amechazurra became the first Filipino and Asian player to play for a European football club. He was signed at FC Barcelona as a defender, and soon made an impact helping Barcelona win the Spanish championship title in 1908. Four years later, Paulino Alcántara became the second Filipino footballer to play for a European club. Alcántara made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 15 against Català Sporting Club, where he scored his first hat-trick. Alcántara remains the youngest player to play or score for the club. He scored 395 goals in 399 matches, making him the second club's highest goalscorer (counting goals scored in both official games and friendlies) with Lionel Messi ranking first in the record. In 1917, he was selected by the Philippines to represent the country at the Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo, helping them defeat Japan 15–2, which remains the largest win in Philippine international football history. Alcántara only played once for the Philippines that finished second in the tournament. He also made some appearances in other national teams, including Catalonia and Spain. In 1916, while continuing his studies in medicine, he played football for a local team, the Bohemian Sporting Club, whom he helped win two Philippine Championships in 1917 and 1918.
In the 1930s, Gregorio Querejeta became the first Filipino to play in the La Liga in Spain, where he appeared in over 122 matches for Real Zaragoza, Atlético Madrid and Gimnàstic de Tarragona.
The popularity of "The Beautiful Game" did not decrease in participation when the Americans founded basketball in the Philippines in 1910 as part of the physical education curriculum in Philippine schools. Two surveys were conducted in parts of Metro Manila in 2012—the first found that basketball is the most-watched sport at 74.4%, and football is fourth at 17.9%. In the second survey, basketball was found to be the most-played sport during leisure time at 9.6%, while association football did not make the list.
1950s-1970s Football saw some rise in the fifties where the country saw enthusiasm for the sport built through the football teams of top educational institutions such as the Ateneo, Letran, La Salle, San Beda, San Carlos, UST, Silliman, and the University of Visayas.
The Philippine Football Association partnered with San Miguel Brewery to seek foreign assistance in developing football in the country. In the early sixties, British coaches Alan Rogers and Brian Birch were brought in and funded by San Miguel to train referees, coaches and players in the country. Due to lack of facilities, the two coaches organized a five-a-side football competition which was played in a field with the same size of a basketball court. The two were later relieved and Danny McClellan and Graham Adams were tasked train national and youth players.
San Miguel through the Philippine Football Association, brought in Spanish medical students who were knowledgeable in football in 1961. Association president, Felipe Monserrat, tasked the Spaniards to garner interest in football in the country and to train local players. The composition of the Spanish quarter were: Francisco Escarte, Enrique dela Mata, Claudio Sanchez, and Juan Cutillas, with the former two leaving after a year. The group was then followed by, Peter Leaver from the United Kingdom who focused on developing school football and assisted schools such as Ateneo and La Salle. Philippine football also received promotional support from the Elizalde Company.
In 1971 Juan Cutillas, selected four Spanish players and one Chinese in an effort to boost the Philippine national team. The national team joined the tournaments such as the Pestabola Merdeka, Pesta Sukan, Jakarta Anniversary Tournament, and the President Park Tournament. The Philippines managed to cause upsets results against Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea. When the Spanish players, Tomas Lozano, Mannuel Cuenca, Juan Guitierrez, and Julio Roxas left the football team due to financial reasons, football in the country saw another decline and basketball gained foothold in the country.
2000s and the Revival
Support from international countries and clubs There have been four projects accepted by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), to build and upgrade football facilities in the Philippines. In the first project, approved in August 2000, FIFA built six technical centers on Iloilo, Laguna, Negros Occidental, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, and Agusan del Sur, with a total budget of ₱ (≈€ or ≈$ ). The next project, in December 2006, constructed the headquarters of the PFF in Pasig. Its third project was to upgrade the pitch in the Rizal Memorial Stadium to an artificial turf from August to September 2012, but it was discontinued because Philippine Football Federation President Mariano Araneta said that conducting the 2012 Philippine Peace Cup in Manila would lessen the expenses of the PFF in the event. FIFA's final project was to build a technical center in Bukidnon, which includes a natural grass pitch, dormitories, changing rooms, lecture rooms and offices.
A number of foreign countries and clubs have offered to help promote and popularise the sport within the country. In 2010, the German Football Association (DFB) recommended the services of former Rwanda U-17 coach Michael Weiß as coach of the "Azkals", a nickname for the national team, after Dan Palami's three-day visit in Frankfurt. The DFB gave the Philippine Football Federation a grant of € (≈₱ 31 million or ≈$ ). However, after three years as a head coach, Weiß was no longer part of the Azkals after the PFF's year-end evaluation.