In 2017, the club changed its name to Kaya–Makati upon joining the PFL, the official top flight of Philippine football.
[3] In July 1996, Kaya FC was officially established by Chris Hagedorn, ISM football coach Bob Kovach, and former national team players Rudy del Rosario, and John-Rey "Lupoy" Bela-ong.
[4] The club began to join outdoor 7-a-side football tournaments playing against other teams, frequently making podium-finishes in these competitions.
[6] Between 2000 and 2009, Kaya defeated the Philippine Armed Forces clubs in two separate championship matches and was the champion of the old incarnation of the United Football League (UFL) on three occasions.
The club went on to finish fourth in the league competition after collecting 17 points (5 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses in 12 games).
After placing top of their group with an unbeaten record, Kaya defeated Team Socceroo 2–0 in the round of sixteen.
Kaya then defeated the Manila Nomads 3–0 in the quarterfinals, setting up a showdown with the Loyola Meralco Sparks in the semi-finals.
The club beat rivals Loyola Meralco Sparks 1–0 in the quarterfinals, before falling to eventual champions Ceres 3–1 in the semi-finals.
In the UFL Cup, Kaya finished the group stages in second place, behind Green Archers United on goal difference.
Before the season ended, head coach David Perković announced that he will not be renewing his contract with the club and that his last match will be the derby between Kaya and the Loyola Meralco Sparks.
[14] With the eventual departure of Fabien Lewis, Kaya player Chris Greatwich became the club's interim head coach during the UFL Cup.
With the championship win, Kaya qualified for a play-off spot in the 2016 AFC Cup, the club's first international competition in history.
This was the result of FIFA's suspension of Indonesia's football association, effectively freeing up slots in the group stages.
[17] On 8 March 2016, Kaya earned their first three points in an international competition with their dramatic 1–0 win against the Maldives' New Radiant in Manila.
The win marks the first time a Filipino football club won more than once in the group stages of the AFC Cup.
[21] Kaya adopted the name Kaya–Makati and used the University of Makati Stadium, with a seating capacity of 4,000, as their home ground.
[26] Kaya later secured a return to Asian club football after it won over the Davao Aguilas in the final of the 2018 Copa Paulino Alcantara and qualified for the 2019 AFC Cup.
[28] In their final league match, they ended the two-year unbeaten run of their rivals United City (formerly Ceres).
[31][32] Meanwhile, their rivals United City, whom they finished runners-up to in the previous three seasons, withdrew from the PFL mid-season thus seeing the club qualified to the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage.
[3] In 2017, Kaya launched their new logos, with the only major changes being the words "Makati City" instead of the club's founding year put on the bottom of the crest.
The Ultras Kaya make their presence in the upper-left side of the Rizal Memorial Stadium's grandstand, in the section referred to as "The Terraces".
After years of inactivity due to internal struggles, The Sons of Mighty Kaya have announced that they will be active again for the 2024 PFL Season.
Since 2011, Kaya held a rivalry with National Capital Region neighbors Loyola Meralco Sparks, with Kaya hailing from the city of Makati in the south of Metro Manila and Loyola Meralco Sparks being based in Quezon City in the north.
The rivalry began in the 2011 UFL Cup semi-finals clash between the two teams, in which Kaya went up to lead the game by 3–0 only to lose by the score of 5–4 after a comeback from the Sparks.
Since then, the UFL has had some of its highest attendance numbers whenever there are match-ups between the two teams, making the rivalry the most famous derby in Philippine club football.
However, after the first season of the PFL concluded, Meralco withdrew from the league, effectively ending the rivalry between the two clubs.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.
[50] The seven-a-side team competed in the inaugural season of the 7's Football League Women's Division, where they finished runners-up.