# 2018 Copa Paulino Alcantara

The 2018 Copa Paulino Alcantara was the first edition of the Copa Paulino Alcantara, the domestic football cup competition of the Philippines. The competition started on September 1, 2018 and concluded on October 27, 2018, with Kaya–Iloilo winning the inaugural tournament after defeating Davao Aguilas 1–0 in extra time.
The winners qualified for the 2019 AFC Cup.

## Participating clubs

All six clubs of the 2018 Philippines Football League are eligible to participate in the tournament. On July 15, 2018, during the PFL Fans Day, it was announced that non-franchise clubs will also be allowed to join the cup competition provided that they will satisfy minimum licensing requirements which will be set for the competition. But only clubs in the PFL joined the tournament.
* Philippines Football League the 6 teams of the 2018 season
* Ceres–Negros
* Davao Aguilas
* Global Cebu
* JPV Marikina
* Kaya–Iloilo
* Stallion Laguna

## Format
### Competition

The Copa Paulino Alcantara commenced on September 1, 2018, with a group phase of two groups with three teams each. A round robin format with home and away legs was used for this phase. The top two teams advance to the semifinals with the group winners facing the runner-up team from the other group. The higher seeded teams hosted the one-off semifinals. The final consisted of a single match as well.

### Draw

A draw to determine the composition of the groupings for the group phase was held on August 26, 2018.
| Pot 1 (Seeded Teams) | Pot 2 (Non-seeded Teams) | Pot 2 (Non-seeded Teams) |
| Ceres–Negros (PFL Champion) Kaya–Iloilo (PFL Runner-up) | Davao Aguilas Global Cebu | JPV Marikina Stallion Laguna |

## Group stage

* Key to colours in group tables
* Group winners and runners-up advance to the semifinals

### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | DAV | STA | CER |
| 1 | Davao Aguilas | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 10 | Semi-finals | — | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| 2 | Stallion Laguna | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 4 | Semi-finals | 0–4 | — | 3–0 |
| 3 | Ceres–Negros | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 3 | | 1–3 | 2–1 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | KAY | JPV | GLO |
| 1 | Kaya–Iloilo | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 10 | Semi-finals | — | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| 2 | JPV Marikina | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | Semi-finals | 0–1 | — | 4–3 |
| 3 | Global Cebu | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 1 | | 3–3 | 1–2 | — |

## Knock-out stage
### Bracket

| Semi-finals October 21 | Semi-finals October 21 | Semi-finals October 21 | Final October 27 | Final October 27 | Final October 27 |
| A1 | Davao Aguilas | 6 | | | |
| B2 | JPV Marikina | 1 | | | |
| B2 | JPV Marikina | 1 | W1 | Davao Aguilas | 0 |
| | | | W2 | Kaya–Iloilo (a.e.t.) | 1 |
| B1 | Kaya–Iloilo | 3 | W2 | Kaya–Iloilo (a.e.t.) | 1 |
| A2 | Stallion Laguna | 2 | | | |

### Final
## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Team | MD1 | MD2 | MD3 | MD4 | SF | Total |
| 1 | Robert Lopez Mendy | Kaya–Iloilo | 3 | | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | Kim Sungmin | Davao Aguilas | | | | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | Phil Younghusband | Davao Aguilas | 1 | 1 | | 2 | | 4 |
| 4 | Fitch Arboleda | Stallion Laguna | 1 | | | | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Jordan Jarvis | Global Cebu | | | 1 | 1 | | | 2 |
| 4 | Jesus Melliza | Stallion Laguna | 2 | | | | | 2 |
| 4 | Keigo Moriyasu | JPV Marikina | 1 | | 1 | | | 2 |
| 4 | Blake Powell | Ceres-Negros | 1 | | 1 | | | | 2 |
| 4 | Miguel Tanton | Kaya–Iloilo | 1 | | 1 | | | 2 |
| 4 | Kennedy Uzoka | JPV Marikina | 1 | | 1 | | | 2 |