Season | 2020 |
---|---|
Dates | October 28 – November 9, 2020 |
Champions | United City 4th title |
AFC Champions League | United City Kaya–Iloilo |
Matches played | 15 |
Goals scored | 46 (3.07 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Bienvenido Marañón (7 goals) |
Best goalkeeper | Anthony Pinthus Louie Casas (3 clean sheets each) |
Highest scoring | Maharlika Manila 0–10 United City (November 3) |
Longest winning run | United City (Oct 28 – Nov 6) (4 matches) |
Longest unbeaten run | Kaya–Iloilo (Oct 28 – Nov 9) (5 matches) |
Longest winless run | Stallion Laguna (Oct 31 – Nov 12) (5 matches) |
Longest losing run | Stallion Laguna (Nov 6 – 12) (3 matches) |
← 2019 |
The 2020 Philippines Football League, also known as The Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways,[1] due to the league's title sponsorship, was the fourth season of the Philippines Football League (PFL), the professional football league of the Philippines.
For the first time, the champion of the tournament qualified for the Group Stage of the 2021 AFC Champions League, which was expanded to 40 teams from previous 32.
Originally scheduled to start on March 21, 2020, the league was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league was supposed to commence on October 25, 2020, under a shortened calendar with each club playing a total of only five matches. However the opener was postponed once again to October 28 due to five players and a coach testing positive for COVID-19, as well as due to anticipated inclement weather by Typhoon Molave (Quinta).
All matches were held at the PFF National Training Center in Carmona, Cavite. The 2020 season played under a bubble format with all players and staff restricted to the Seda Nuvali hotel in Santa Rosa, Laguna, where they were checked-in for the entire duration of the season, and the playing venue in Carmona.
United City, which had been rebranded from Ceres–Negros starting this season, are the three-time defending champions. As Ceres–Negros, they have won every season of top-tier Philippine professional league football so far in the PFL era. They successfully defended their title when they won 7–1 against Stallion Laguna on November 6, 2020, with one match to spare and winning its previous three matches.[2] Kaya–Iloilo became the first-ever team in PFL history to remain unbeaten during the duration of the league and not win the title.