Founded 2009 (2009) Website UFL Cup | Number of teams 12 (2016) Television broadcasters AksyonTVHyper | |
Most successful club(s) Philippine Air ForceGlobal (2 titles) | ||
The United Football League Cup, commonly known as UFL Cup is a Filipino association football competition. It is played on a multistage format that culminates in a knockout stage (single elimination). Clubs that are eligible to compete for the cup are those who currently play in the United Football League. Likewise, it is open to all clubs in the Philippines that passed the requirements given by the Football Alliance Group, which organizes the competition. The UFL Cup runs from mid-October to mid-December and was moved to from May to August starting the 2015 edition, to make it in line with the calendar of its Southeast Asian neighbors. It provides a chance for all clubs to play each other regardless of their league divisions.
Contents
The current holders of the UFL Cup are Global, who defeated Ceres 3–1 in the 2016 final for their second title.
History
The UFL Cup was first held on October 2009 where it was known as UFL–LBC Cup, after the name of LBC Express Inc. as its title sponsor and is sanctioned by the National Capital Region Football Association (NCRFA) and the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). The purpose was to determine the distribution of clubs over the Divisions 1 and 2 of United Football League in its inaugural season. Clubs were divided into four groups of four, the top 2 finisher of each group after single round-robin elimination qualified for quarterfinals (for division one) and the bottom 2 battles for Plate Competition (for division two). Philippine Air Force was the inaugural cup champions by defeating Philippine Army 2–1.
The 2011 UFL Cup season marks the first live television coverage of a match after AKTV (owned and operated by TV5) inked the historical 5-year multi-million peso deal with the UFL.
Venues
Primary venues used in the 2012 UFL Cup: