The Aboitiz Football Cup is an annual football tournament held in the Philippines. The tournament consists of 10 categories, from players eight up to the men's open. [1]
It was originally established in Cebu and it served as the province's most prestigious football tournament until its move to Lipa, Batangas in 2019. It serves as the Cebu F.A.'s selection process for the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), which organizes national competitions.
History
The Aboitiz Football Cup was established in Cebu.[2]
The second edition of the competition in 1997 only featured a men's division which saw the participation of alumni and club teams such as M. Lhuillier. The women's open and youth divisions were later added to the competition. Later, additional youth divisions for both boys and girls were added to the Aboitiz Football Cup program.[3]
The competition underwent a rebrand for the 19th edition in 2017. Plans to make the scope of the tournament nationwide in the 20th edition in 2018 has been announced.[4]
In the 2018 edition, the first tournament was held in Luzon at the Aboitiz Pitch in Lipa, Batangas. The Luzon tournament was simultaneously held with the Visayas tournament in Cebu.[5][6] By 2019, the tournament has moved to Lipa.[2]
The 21st edition which started in August 2019, was disrupted and postponed indefinitely due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2022, it was decided that the leading teams in their respective age-group division tournaments to be awarded as champions.[7] The succeeding edition is set to start in November 2022.[8]