Philippine Collegiate Championship - History

History

It was originally established in 2002 as the Collegiate Champions League (CCL). Later, Philippine Basketball League commissioner Chino Trinidad served as the commissioner of the tournament. In 2008, the national governing body of basketball in the Philippines, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) sanctioned the CCL and was renamed into the Philippine Collegiate Champions League in which the organizers of the old CCL were retained.

Teams from the UAAP had dominated the tournament, winning nine (9) out of the ten (10) championships contested. UAAP and NCAA teams are given four, and the CESAFI one, outright round of 16 berths. Interestingly no UAAP champion vs. NCAA champion took place in the final, although a final between the UAAP champion and the NCAA runner-up was contested in 2003, UAAP and CESAFI champions contested the final in 2007, and both finalists in the UAAP contested the 2008 championship.

In 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2012 the Finals were played in a best-of-3 series; the others were one-off games (2004-2008); no third-place game was held on the first two tournaments. The contest was not held on 2005. In 2011, the single round robin Final Four match-up was introduced with the team with the most wins will have a twice-to-beat incentive in the Finals. However in 2012, it was changed to whichever team to first get two (2) wins will automatically advanced to the Finals with the Finals without any incentives and with te Finals being played in a best-of-three series.

Starting the 2011 season, PCCL has already granted the champion teams of both UAAP and NCAA an automatic Final Four berth.