2012 Philippine Peace Cup

2012 Philippine Peace Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Philippines
Dates	September 25–29
Teams	4 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Philippines (1st title)
Runners-up	Chinese Taipei
Third place	Guam
Fourth place	Macau
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	19 (3.17 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Denis Wolf (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Denis Wolf
Best goalkeeper	Eduard Sacapaño
2013 →

International football competition

The 2012 Philippine Peace Cup was the inaugural edition of the tournament, four-nation international football competition organized by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It was originally slated for October 12–16 but the PFF moved it to September 25–29 to give way to the participation of local side Loyola Meralco Sparks in the 2012 Singapore Cup.^[1] ABS-CBN covered the games on Studio 23.

The tournament was due to be the third annual Long Teng Cup, however, the organizers, the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), withdrew from staging the 2012 edition and requested the PFF to host it.^[2] The PFF then renamed it as the Paulino Alcántara Cup,^[3] after Filipino–Spanish football legend who played for FC Barcelona. It was again renamed to the Paulino Alcántara Peace Cup and eventually to the Philippine Peace Cup as the Philippine Sports Commission, which operates the Rizal Memorial Stadium where the tournament will be held, has a rule against events named after an individual.^[4] The month of September is also peace month in the Philippines and the tournament saw involvement of the office of the presidential adviser on the country's peace process.^[5]

After 99 years, the Philippines won their first international title since the 1913 Far Eastern Games.^[6]

Competing teams

This tournament was due to be the third staging of the Long Teng Cup, all four participants of the tournament were to take part. However, Hong Kong withdrew from participating with Pakistan initially being mooted as their replacement.^[7] The PFF then invited Guam which they eventually accepted, thus replacing Hong Kong as the fourth team.^[8]

The four national teams that will take part are:

Venue

The tournament was supposed to be held at Panaad Stadium in Bacolod, Negros Occidental. This was due to it supposedly being more financially feasible and that renovations were going to take place from August to September at Rizal Memorial Stadium. However, at the end of August 2012, PFF president Mariano Araneta announced that it will be moved back to the Rizal Memorial Stadium because the project, funded by FIFA which will turn the football field into an artificial turf, didn’t push through. Araneta added that conducting the tournament in Manila will lessen the expenses of the PFF in the event, which is estimated at ₱6 million.^[9]

Manila	Metro Manila
Rizal Memorial Stadium	Rizal Stadium 2012 Philippine Peace Cup (Metro Manila)
Capacity: 30,000

Matches

All times listed are UTC+8.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Philippines (H)	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9
2	Chinese Taipei	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
3	Guam	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3
4	Macau	3	0	1	2	2	10	−8	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

September 25, 2012