Governing body of association football in the Philippines
The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in Asia and is among the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The PAFA reorganized as the Philippine Football Association (PFA), and later as the Philippine Football Federation.
Aside from being a member of the AFC, the PFF is also a member of the ASEAN Football Federation. It is recognized as the national sports association (NSA) for the sport of football in the Philippines by Philippine Olympic Committee.
It organizes the Philippines men's, women's and youth national football teams (as well as national teams for the football variants of futsal and beach soccer). It is also responsible for the organization of domestic football tournaments in the Philippines such as Philippines Football League and the Copa Paulino Alcantara through the Liga Futbol Inc., and the PFF Women's League.
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.[1]
Adad era
In October 1996, Rene Adad was installed as PFF president after a snap election which ousted his predecessor, Ricardo Tan.[2] In 2002, the PFF inaugurated its first regional center in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.[3]
Martinez era
The PFF under the Presidency of Jose Mari Martinez saw crises which challenged his leadership as well as 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.[4] The PFF moved to the building after occupying the PhilSports Complex as its headquarters for decades.[5]
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 sacked allegedly leading the futsal team in a tournament without sanction from the PFF. Batungbacal said that he had sanction and he claimed Martinez ignored to make a dialogue with him on the matter. The players who played under Batungbacal resigned from international duty as protests. Martinez said that a lack of suitable coaching license was the reason to Batungbacal's dismissal.[6]
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 due to allegedly falsifying public documents and misusing funds. Mariano Araneta was named Interim President.[7]
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.[8]
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 initiative by the PFF is among the first 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.[9]
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.[5]
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.[10]
A financial issue with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) was resolved on September 14, 2018, when the PFF remitted ₱4.8 million amount of unliquidated financial assistance from the government agency. The scope of the financial aid covers the administrations of the PFF from past 1996 to 2010.[11]
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.[12] The federation launched its first esports tournament, the PFF eTrophy which featured the video game title FIFA 21 in 2021.[13]
On July 30, 2022, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new PPF headquarters in Carmona took place.[14] In November 2022, the PFF decided to allow the expansion of its regional associations.[15]
Gutierrez era
Araneta, bound to a two-term limit, ends his presidency. The PFF held an election on 25 November 2023 to determine its new set of officials.[16][17]
John Gutierrez of Bukidnon FA was elected as Araneta's successor.[18][19]
The other candidates were Filbert Alquiros of Stallion Laguna, and Henry Sabate of Davao-South RFA.[17][20][21] Gutierrez garnered 30 out of 36 votes, with the other contenders receiving three votes each.[22]
