Tournament details | |
---|---|
Country | Philippines |
Date | 1 April - 22 August |
Teams | 36 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Global Teknika |
Runner-up | San Beda FC |
The 2011 PFF National Men's Club Championship (known as the PFF–Smart Men's Club Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the 1st season of a Filipino association football competition organized by the Philippine Football Federation and sponsored by mobile phone and Internet service provider Smart Communications. It revives a national tournament discontinued since 2006. The last nationwide competition was a National Men's Open Tournament held in Bacolod under the presidency of Juan Miguel Romualdez. Plans were conceived for a similar national competition under Romualdez's successor Jose Mari Martinez but did not push through for a variety of reasons.[1]
Global Teknika emerged the champions on August 22, 2011 after winning against San Beda F.C. on a 3-2 aggregate.[2]
The national men's open football tournament returns after a five-year hiatus via the Smart National Clubs Championship which gets under way this month with the provincial qualifying rounds. "This revives a national tournament that we have not had in a while," Philippine Football Federation (PFF) competitions department head Cyril Dofitas told the BusinessMirror. Bacolod City hosted the last national tournament five years ago.
Rizal-Smart San Beda pulled out all stops to beat Teknika FC, 2-0, but fell short of wresting the first PFF-Smart Club championship in front of an animated crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium Monday night.[permanent dead link]