[3] To promote and revive the sport, some European and American international football clubs and organizations have helped the Philippines progress through its development, they have included FC Barcelona and Real Madrid from Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Australia, France, the United States, Argentina and Serbia.

FIFA also assisted the country by building and upgrading facilities including the creation of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) headquarters in 2009.

As well, the establishment of the United Football League (UFL) and the National Men's Club Championship to provide more local competitions.

In addition, some Filipinos sent to college in Hong Kong and China returned home and taught their friends a little bit about the game of football.

While in Spain, Filipino sportsmen had played a significant role in the early development and success of Spanish football.

The trophy, a silver cup donated by 27th President of the United States William Howard Taft, was won by the Sandow Athletic Club.

In 1916, while continuing his studies in medicine, he played football for a local team, the Bohemian Sporting Club, whom he helped win two Philippine Championships in 1917 and 1918.

[15] In the 1930s, Gregorio Querejeta became the first Filipino to play in the La Liga in Spain, where he appeared in over 122 matches for Real Zaragoza, Atlético Madrid and Gimnàstic de Tarragona.

[17] Two surveys were conducted in parts of Metro Manila in 2012—the first found that basketball is the most-watched sport at 74.4%, and football is fourth at 17.9%.

[nb 5] In the second survey, basketball was found to be the most-played sport during leisure time at 9.6%, while association football did not make the list.

Due to lack of facilities, the two coaches organized a five-a-side football competition which was played in a field with the same size of a basketball court.

Association president, Felipe Monserrat, tasked the Spaniards to garner interest in football in the country and to train local players.

The composition of the Spanish quarter were: Francisco Escarte, Enrique dela Mata, Claudio Sanchez, and Juan Cutillas, with the former two leaving after a year.

In the first project, approved in August 2000, FIFA built six technical centers on Iloilo, Laguna, Negros Occidental, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, and Agusan del Sur, with a total budget of ₱ 458,046 (≈€ 7,500 or ≈$ 10,000).

[23][24] On 18 October 2011, officials from the Real Madrid Foundation visited the Philippines to sign an agreement with local non-governmental organizations (NGO) to open a social and sports academy for youths in Mindanao to 70 poor children with under age 14.

[28] Soon after its establishment, they built an artificial grass football field named as Gatorade-Chelsea Blue Pitch in Ayala Alabang.

[32] After the destruction of Typhoon Haiyan in the country, FIFA gave the PFF $ 1 million to rebuild and rehabilitate damaged football facilities.

[35] Manchester United with its sponsor, a shampoo brand Clear made a "multi-year partnership" as they will hold training camps facilitated by coaches in the sport.

[43][44] Six of the eight teams joining the inaugural season came from the UFL, namely Ceres–Negros, Global Cebu, JPV Marikina, Kaya FC–Makati, Loyola Meralco Sparks, and Stallion Laguna.

[49][50][51] The Philippine Football Federation has not been able to organize a national tournament since 2007, when they staged the PFF Centennial Men's Open Championship due to "variety of reasons".

The proposed partnership was set to last 10 years, with Smart releasing ₱ 80 million in funds with the aim of providing more playing opportunities for football players, and the eventual creation of a national cup.

[52] Since 2012, the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) requested if the PFF can host the third staging of the Long Teng Cup in the Philippines.

[62] They returned in 1958 in Tokyo, this time competing in Group C. The Azkals recorded their first win at the games over Japan, but eventually lost to Hong Kong.

Chinese Taipei and Israel were excluded in the tournament when the Indonesian government refused to issue visas for the Israeli and Taiwanese delegations.

[76][77][78] The Philippine national team's campaign at the 2010 AFF Championship under head coach Simon McMenemy was seen as a success and played an important role in football in the country.

They did not concede a single defeat and their win against defending champions Vietnam in the group stage in particular was considered as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.

[80][81] In the knockout stage, they had to play both their designated home and away games against Indonesia in Jakarta due to the unavailability of a stadium that passes AFF standards.

[83] The Filipinos grabbed their best finish in the cup when they were ranked third in the 2012 edition, with a loss from Turkmenistan in the semi-finals, and a victory against Palestine in the third place playoff.

[91] The PFL followed a traditional home-and-away double round-robin format from the 2018 to 2019 seasons, although some clubs did not have their home stadiums at the time.

The national team is referred to as the "Azkals" ― a word that is similar to Filipino term Askal meaning street dog.