PFL returns after long wait with the Carmona 'bubble'

After basketball, it's the turn of the world's most popular sport to return to action in the country as the fourth season of the Philippines Football League is set to kick off at last on October 24 at the PFF National Training Centre in Carmona, Cavite.

With the start being moved twice owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the country's top-flight football league is set to open its new campaign with the backing of Qatar Airways as part of their three-year deal, with all of the 18 fixtures were to be played inside the complex located at the San Lazaro Leisure and Business Park as laid out by the commissioner Coco Torre.

Torre himself has met with the six sides last Thursday, discussing the competition format and the bubble that is subject to the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force.

Fifteen of those are in the single round-robin preliminaries, with three more coming into the Final Phase that will feature the top four sides.

Two spots in the AFC competitions next season are up for grabs in this shortened tilt, with the champion has an automatic passage to the group stage of the AFC Champions League as the country's first-ever participant in the tournament proper.

The PFL trophy will have a new name on it in 2020 with the absence of three-time champions Ceres-Negros, but it will be an exciting opening weekend with last season's Copa semifinalists Mendiola tussles with guests from the Azkals Development Team to open the season at 4:30, followed by an exciting showdown between Stallion Laguna and Kaya-Iloilo soon afterwards.

Two newcomers, United CIty and Maharlika Manila are set to face off the following day, October 25.

Apart from Carmona as the playing venue, the league is in the process of setting up its temporary residence seventeen kilometers away at the Seda Nuvali in Santa Rosa, Laguna to house all of the clubs, match officials and staff for the duration of the season as it hopes to contain the virus to a minimum.

Also, the PFL is awaiting the response of the Games and Amusements Board and the Department of Health on its protocols, which was subject to the Joint Administrative Order for the professional leagues.

With the Qatar deal, the league is inching closer to a broadcast deal that will beam the matches on various platforms.

FILE PHOTOS: PFL, PFF