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2023 Ang Liga season

Ang Liga Season 19
Tournament details
Country	Philippines
Dates	August 13 – November 4, 2023
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Adamson Soaring Falcons (1st title)
Runner-up	Ateneo Blue Eagles
Third place	Benilde Blazers
Tournament statistics
Matches played	23
Goals scored	112 (4.87 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Isaac Anoh Clyde Vitualla (7 goals each)
← 2022

The 2023 Ang Liga season was the nineteenth edition of Ang Liga, an inter-collegiate pre-season football tournament in the Philippines. This was the first season of Ang Liga under the sponsorship of Adidas. The season started on August 13, 2023, and concluded on November 4, 2023. The league's first division was contested by twelve teams, while each team played a minimum of 5 matches in total, the most since the 2019 season.

On July 24, the league announced that matches would be held at the new PALMS Arena in Quezon City. However, due to issues with the field, all Division 1 matches were held at the UP Diliman Football Field.

The league's return to an all-collegiate lineup of teams marked the end of its temporary admission of guest teams back in Season 18, where non-collegiate club teams participated due to a lack of entrants following the pandemic.

This season marked the first championship of the Adamson Soaring Falcons and the first time that the Ateneo Blue Eagles clinched a finals berth since 2016. The league partnered with the FPJ Panday Bayanihan foundation throughout the entirety of the season while Adidas was the title sponsor of the knockout round.

Participating teams

All collegiate squads from the previous season, with the exception of the University of Makati, returned for the nineteenth edition of the league. This includes the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, Far Eastern University, and the University of Batangas.

Twelve teams entered the 2023 Ang Liga season's first division (collegiate). This includes seven teams from the UAAP, three teams from the NCAA, one team from the NCAA South, and one unattached team. On the other hand, twelve teams also entered for the season's second division (high school and secondary teams).

Division I

Division II

Venues

In contrast to the previous season, which was held between FEU Diliman and DLSU Integrated School in Biñan, all first division matches were held at the UP Diliman Football Pitch, the same stadium where the UAAP Season 85 group stage matches were held. Fixtures were initially slated to be played at the newly opened PALMS Arena in Quezon City, but following issues with the pitch which resulted in the season opening date being pushed back, the venue remained unused for the rest of the season.

For the second division matches, the DLSU Biñan pitch was used in rotation with new venues around Metro Manila.

Stadium	Location	Tournament
		D1	D2
UP Diliman Football Field	Quezon City	Y	Y
Claret Football Field	Quezon City		Y
Xavier School Football Field	San Juan City		Y
La Salle Green Hills Football Field	Mandaluyong		Y
DLSU Biñan Football Field	Biñan, Laguna		Y

Division I

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	De La Salle University	5	4	0	1	10	3	+7	12	Qualified to the semifinals
2	Adamson University	5	4	0	1	10	3	+7	12
3	San Beda University	5	3	1	1	5	3	+2	10
4	De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde	5	1	2	2	3	2	+1	5
5	Emilio Aguinaldo College	5	1	1	3	3	10	−7	4
6	University of Batangas	5	0	0	5	5	15	−10	0

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	University of Santo Tomas	5	3	2	0	15	5	+10	11	Qualified to the semifinals
2	Ateneo de Manila University	5	3	2	0	13	7	+6	11
3	University of the East	5	2	2	1	7	8	−1	8
4	University of the Philippines	5	2	1	2	7	7	0	7
5	Far Eastern University	5	0	3	2	5	13	−8	3
6	Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna	5	0	1	4	5	12	−7	1

Knock-out stage

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

A1

La Salle

0(3)

B4

UP

0(2)

A1

La Salle

0

B2

Ateneo

2

B2

Ateneo

4

A3

San Beda

3

B2

Ateneo

0

A2

Adamson

2

B1

UST

3

A4

Benilde

4

A4

Benilde

0

Third place

A2

Adamson

2

A2

Adamson

1

A1

La Salle

2(2)

B3

UE

0

A4

Benilde

2(4)

Quarterfinals

UE Red Warriors	0–1	Adamson Soaring Falcons
		Buenaobra 84'

UST Golden Booters	3–4	Benilde Blazers
Belluga 33' Valderama 87' Alegre 90+1'	Report	Borja 12' Tolentino 57' Vitualla 64' Semilla 84'

Ateneo Blue Eagles	4–3	San Beda Red Booters
Agyei 12' Agyei 49' Abaa 55' Maquiling 70'	Report	Reña 8' Mapula 74' Encaya 84'

UP Fighting Maroons	0–0 (a.e.t.)	De La Salle Green Booters
	Report
Penalties
Parpan Calayag Evangelista Regino Velasquez	2–3	Andan Suarez Lozano Vecin Dela Cruz

Semifinals

Adamson Soaring Falcons	2–0	Benilde Blazers
Jayaon 38' Jayaon 45'

Ateneo Blue Eagles	2–0	De La Salle Green Booters
Maquiling 37' Aspiras 45+1'	Report

Battle for Third

De La Salle Green Booters	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Benilde Blazers
Elnas 14' Elnas 39'		Vitualla 50' Vitualla 76'
Penalties
	2–4

Finals

Adamson Soaring Falcons	2–0	Ateneo Blue Eagles
Jayaon 45+2' Jayaon 90+10'	Report

Final standing

Rank Team  Adamson Soaring Falcons  Ateneo Blue Eagles  Benilde Blazers 4  De La Salle Green Booters 5  UST Golden Booters 6  San Beda Red Booters 7  UE Red Warriors 8  UP Fighting Maroons 9  EAC Generals 10  FEU Tamaraw Booters 11 MMCL Wizards 12 UB Brahmans

2023 Ang Liga Division 1 champions Adamson Soaring Falcons 1st title

Division II

Final standing

Rank	Team
	UST Junior Golden Booters
	San Beda Red Cubs
	De La Salle Green Booters – 2
4	Adamson Soaring Falcons – 2

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Player/s	Team	Ref
Golden Glove	Andrew Nalog	Adamson Soaring Falcons
Golden Ball	Leo Maquiling	Ateneo Blue Eagles
Golden Boot	Isaac Anoh	De La Salle Green Booters
	John Clyde Vitualla	Benilde Blazers
Best Defender	Arjay Buenaobra	Adamson Soaring Falcons
Best Coach	Darlton Digha	Adamson Soaring Falcons

Team of the Tournament

Award	Player	Team	Ref
Keeper	Andrew Nalog	Adamson Soaring Falcons
Defenders	Arjay Buenaobra	Adamson Soaring Falcons
	Dexter John Chasing	Adamson Soaring Falcons
	Jethro Flores	Ateneo Blue Eagles
	Jet Gabriel Dela Cruz	Ateneo Blue Eagles
Midfielders	Leo Maquiling	Ateneo Blue Eagles
	Fernando Suarez	De La Salle Green Booters
	Roque Empledo	Adamson Soaring Falcons
Forwards	Kofi Agyei	Ateneo Blue Eagles
	Isaac Anoh	De La Salle Green Booters
	John Clyde Vitualla	Benilde Blazers

Media

For the first time, the league inked a one-year deal with a broadcast partner, as all Division 1 matches were broadcast and livestreamed via Smart Sports. Meanwhile, Division 2 matches were sporadically streamed on the league's page.

See also

• UAAP Season 86

References

1. INQUIRER.net (July 12, 2023). "FPJ Panday Bayanihan, Pantheon Holdings unveil partnership with Ang Liga for 19th season". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
2. "Ang Liga Finds Home in Palms Arena". www.facebook.com. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
3. Banzuelo, Neil (November 5, 2023). "Adamson University crowned Ang Liga Season 19 champion". BusinessWorld Online. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
4. Laygo, Moss; Licas, Luis Antonio (October 28, 2023). "Ateneo dominates DLSU, books ticket to Ang Liga Finals". The GUIDON.
5. "Football: Ang Liga set for August 5 kick-off". ABS-CBN News. July 12, 2023.
6. Olivares, Rick. "Ang Liga gets backing from FPJ Panday Bayanihan for 19th Season". Philstar.com. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
7. ^ "Ang Liga: Adamson crowned Season 19 champs". Sports Bytes Philippines. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
8. Ang Liga (August 2, 2023). "Ang Liga to be streamed on Smart Sports for upcoming season". Facebook.

External links

• Ang Liga on Facebook

• 2023 in Philippine football