2022–23 Philippines Football League

This is the second season of the PFL under the sponsorship of Qatar Airways. The season started on August 7, 2022, and concluded in May 2023, marking the first time during the Philippines Football League era that a season takes place over two years. The league is contested by seven teams, the most since the 2019 season, which played each other four times during the season.

The 2021 Philippines Football League season was planned to commence in late 2021 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was eventually replaced by the league cup tournament, the 2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara. Marking a change in the format of the previous seasons, the 2022 Copa Paulino Alcantara was held before the league season, with United City emerging as first-time winners of the competition. The success of the Copa, as well as the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the return of fans, prompted the league season to resume in August.

The 2022 season saw the first time since 2019 that teams will play home and away. Several changes were witnessed in the league's system, such as the format changing from an intra-year to an inter-year format, with seasons spanning two years rather than one. After changing the foreigner restrictions in the Copa Paulino Alcantara, the league also increased its foreigner count from 3+1 to 5+1, adhering to the new AFC regulations. While all matches were held at the PFF National Training Center for the 2020 season, matches are played in the home stadiums of the PFL clubs for the 2022 season, with plans to allow fans back after the success of the 2022 Copa Paulino Alcantara. Dynamic Herb Cebu is the only new team competing for this season.

Kaya–Iloilo secured their first league title on May 24, 2023 with one match to spare.

Sponsored by Qatar Airways, the competition is officially known as The 2022–23 Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways.

Since the league was last held in 2020, there have been several changes. All six teams of the 2020 season are set to compete, with Dynamic Herb Cebu being the new team joining after previously competing in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Copa Paulino Alcantara. While the 2020 edition was held under closed-circuit format to limit the spread of COVID-19, this season marks the first time since 2019 that the league reverts to a home-and-away Round-robin tournament, with all teams playing each other 4 times, for a total of 24 matches.

Since the 2020 Philippines Football League, several clubs have undergone location changes. United City, who previously competed without a home city and stadium, will be temporarily based in Capas, Tarlac, while their stadium is under construction. After the 2022–23 season, they will rename to United Clark from United City. Maharlika Manila, who also competed without a home stadium but represented the city of Manila, will play their games at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The most noticeable change this season is the league changing its format for scheduling. Previously, the league followed the scheduling system of most Asian leagues such as the Singapore Premier League or Malaysia Super League. However, in 2022, the Asian Football Confederation changed its system of scheduling, shifting from an intra- to an inter-year system. Several leagues followed this, such as the Thai League 1, the Indonesia Liga 1, and the Indian Super League, prompting the PFL to switch to this format as well.

All 6 clubs from the previous PFL season are set to compete, with Maharlika Manila and United City competing for the first time in 2 years, having taken a break during the 2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara. Dynamic Herb Cebu were given a provisional club license, which would have allow the club to debut in the cancelled 2021 season, but due to the season's cancellation, 2022 was their first league season in the Philippine top flight.

Two potential new entries in the 2022 season were LAOS (Leyte Association of Organized Sports), who last competed in the 2016 United Football League, and new club Rapids F.C. from Cagayan de Oro. The two clubs started their license application process at the same time as Dynamic Herb Cebu. However, the PFF approved Cebu's license while the other two clubs' licenses were still found lacking in requirements. United City withdrew mid-season in February 2023. Azkal Development Team soon withdrew as well in May 2023.

Stadiums and locations

Several of the teams have nominated venues as temporary home venues due to their home stadiums being under construction. United City is temporarily based in the New Clark City Athletics Stadium, while Mendiola 1991 is temporarily holding their home matches in the City of Imus Grandstand and Track Oval. United City plan to hold their future home matches in their "field of dreams" in Pampanga while Mendiola 1991 will build their stadium in Taytay, Rizal.

In February 2022, the McKinley Hill Stadium in Taguig was approved by the PFL as Maharlika Manila's home stadium.

Team Location Stadium Capacity Azkals Development Team Carmona, Cavite PFF National Training Center 1,000 Dynamic Herb Cebu Talisay, Cebu Dynamic Herb Sports Complex 550 Kaya–Iloilo Iloilo City, Iloilo Iloilo Sports Complex 7,000 Maharlika Manila Manila, Metro Manila Rizal Memorial Stadium (until February 2023) 12,873 Taguig, Metro Manila McKinley Hill Stadium (February 2023 onwards) 2,000 Mendiola 1991 Imus, Cavite City of Imus Grandstand and Track Oval 4,800 Stallion Laguna Biñan, Laguna Biñan Football Stadium 3,000 United City Capas, Tarlac New Clark City Athletics Stadium 20,000

Home venues of PFL clubs     Kaya–Iloilo   Dynamic Herb Cebu   Maharlika Manila   United City   Calabarzon (3 clubs) Calabarzon     Stallion Laguna   Azkals Development Team   Mendiola 1991

Personnel and kits

As part of the criteria imposed by the sponsorship of Qatar Airways, each team's kit should contain the Qatar Airways logo where the manufacturer's logo would usually be. The official logo of the PFL should also be placed on one of the sleeves of the kit.

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Azkals Development Team	Stephan Schröck	Quincy Kammeraad	Monté	4Gives1, Chooks-to-Go2, PHSD4
Dynamic Herb Cebu	Mehmet Kakil	Nathanael Villanueva	RAD Apparel	WinZir1, Leylam2, Beko3, Tigertek Sports4, Pocari Sweat, The Green Table
Kaya–Iloilo	Yu Hoshide	Jovin Bedic	LGR	LBC1, Fitogether2, ICanServe4, Peakform, Pretty Huge
Maharlika Manila	Roxy Dorlas	David Basa	Equipt Studios	AIA1, Reparil Ice-Spray2, Elan Vita3, Wheyl Nutrition, Kinetix Lab
Mendiola 1991	Joel Villarino	Jim Ashley Flores	Ropa	Vill-Mell Trading, Jon Enterprises, Thunderbird Feed, Best Diagnostic
Stallion Laguna	Ernest Nierras	Ruben Doctora	Cutz Apparel	Giligan's Restaurant1, Airlock3892, South Coast Industrial Door3, Pi Tracer
United City	Joan Esteva	Alan Robertson	Chronos Athletics	Allianz1, Gravity Sport3, Sportskred, Rsportz, BCDA, Klean Athlete

Notes:

1. ^ Located on the front of the shirt.
2. ^ Located on the back of the shirt.
3. ^ Located on the sleeves.
4. ^ Located on the shorts.

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
Maharlika Manila	Arvin Soliman	End of contract	Undisclosed	Pre-season	Jeongil Kim	February 20, 2022
Mendiola 1991	Dan Padernal	Personal Reasons	February 2022		Christopher Pedimonte	March 10, 2022
Azkals Development Team	Giovanni Villagracia	Undisclosed	January 2022		Norman Fegidero	March 11, 2022
Dynamic Herb Cebu	Oliver Colina	Appointed by Philippines U23	March 14, 2022		Mehmet Kakil	March 18, 2022
Azkals Development Team	Norman Fegidero	Undisclosed	June 2022		Giovanni Villagracia	June 23, 2022
Mendiola 1991	Christopher Pedimonte	Appointed by Philippines U17	July 2022		Joel Villarino	July 31, 2022
United City	Franklin Muescan	Demoted to assistant coach	September 17, 2022	2nd	Joan Esteva	September 19, 2022
Maharlika Manila	Jeongil Kim	Mutual consent	September 21, 2022	7th	Arman Esteban	September 22, 2022
	Arman Esteban	End of contract	Undisclosed		Roxy Dorlas	January 2023
Azkals Development Team	Giovanni Villagracia	Demoted to assistant coach	February 2023	4th	Stephan Schröck	February 25, 2023

A maximum of six foreigners are allowed per club, with five players of any nationality and a sixth coming from an AFC member nation. This is in line with the upcoming AFC regulations that allow for more foreigners to be signed by clubs. However, only 4 foreign players can be registered in the starting 11 during a matchday, with one of them being from an AFC member nation. A further two foreign substitutes may be placed on the bench.

Players name in bold indicates the player was registered during the mid-season transfer window. The window lasted from 1 January 2023 to 26 March 2023, with the initial deadline for registered squads set on February 9.

Club	Players						Former players1
Azkals Development Team	Withdrew mid-season
Dynamic Herb Cebu	Leaford Allen	Mert Altınöz	Rintaro Hama	Marius Kore	Ibrahim Moro	Mohamed Soumah	Arda Çınkır   Ren Okuda
Kaya–Iloilo	Milad Behgandom	Daizo Horikoshi	Tamon Horikoshi	Robert Lopez Mendy	Dylan Nobiraki		Ryo Fujii   Carlyle Mitchell   Patrick Arthur
Maharlika Manila	David Asare	Kim Sungmin	Ben Konaté	Ibrahima Ndour	Emmanuel Otuyemi	Bienvenido Villaflor	Isaac Essel   Frank Baring   Boris Moundang   Ousman Jeng
Mendiola 1991	Ali Ghamloush	Hamed Hajimehdi	Serge Kaole	Mahdi Keyghobadi	Mahan Rahmani	Junior Ngong Sam	Stephen Appiah   Alassane Wade   Henri Bandeken   Kim Min-su
Stallion Laguna	Kraig Bonanken	Yusuke Hayashi	Rafael Nogueda	Abraham Placito	Kosuke Uchida	Abou Sy	Hamed Hajimehdi   Juan Trujillo   Leonardo Nogueira   Gabriel Silva   Amir Memari
United City	Withdrew mid-season						Amirbek Juraboev   Simen Lyngbø2   Alan Robertson   Ricardo Sendra

Notes

1.^ Former players only include players who left after the start of the 2022–23 season.
2.^ Jesse Curran was originally a citizen of Australia but was called up by the Philippines national football team to participate in the 2022 FAS Tri-Nations Series, while Simen Lyngbø was considered a Norwegian import until he played for the Philippines in the 2022 AFF Championship.

Foreign players by confederation
AFC	Japan (6),   Iran (3),   South Korea (1),   Lebanon (1)
CAF	Ghana (1),   Cameroon (2),   Senegal (3),   Guinea (1),   Ivory Coast (1),   Equatorial Guinea (1),   Togo (1),   Nigeria (1)
CONCACAF	United States (5),   Canada (1)
UEFA	Turkey (1)