ABOUT PCLA
Q: What is PCL Asia?
A: The Pickleball Champions League (PCL) Asia is the premier professional pickleball league in the region, uniting top athletes, emerging talent, and passionate fans under one competitive stage.
Q: When and where will Season 2 take place?
A: Season 2 will run across multiple host cities in Asia, with the finals to be held on December 5-8, 2025 in the new Ramsports Pickleball Arena in Shenzen, China. Matches will be held in key regional hubs to showcase pickleball’s rapid growth.
The Philippine Sectional Finals will take place in SM Mall of Asia from November 15-16, 2025.
Q: How many teams are participating this season?
A: Season 2 will feature 256 clubs from 10 countries (Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand). The 32 clubs who emerge as sectional winners will earn a chance to compete in the PCL Asia Finals in Shenzhen to compete for a total prize pool of $96,000. The Philippine Leg will feature 8 teams of 4 players, (2 men and 2 women) as well as 2 substitutes per team.Â
Q: What is at stake for the team who wins the Philippine Sectional Finals?
The winning team from the SM Pickleball Champions League Philippines will receive $5,000 for airfare, accommodations and pocket money and the chance to represent the Philippines at the PCL Asia Championships in Hainan, China.
2nd and 3rd place winners will also receive consolation prizes in the form of gift certificates and sponsors’ loot bags.
Q: What are the prizes in the PCL Asia Finals in December in Shenzhen?
The 32 teams who emerge as sectional winners will battle it out for one of the biggest prize pools in Pickleball history. The 1st to 8th-place teams will share a total prize pool of $96,000, broken down as follows:
Champion - $30,000
2nd place -Â $20,000
3rd place -Â Â $11,000
4th place -Â Â $11,000
5th place - Â $6,000
6th place - Â $6,000
7th place - Â $6,000
8th place - Â $6,000
Q: Who can watch the matches?
A: Matches will be open to the public, livestreamed online, and covered by local and regional media partners.Â
HOW CLUBS/TEAMS CAN JOINÂ
Q: How can clubs join PCL Asia?
A: Clubs can inquire by emailing the tournament director at migo.claudio@tobys.com, upon emailing the club will be assisted in joining PCL Philippines Leg. Entry fee for the event is 1,000 USD.
Q: What are the eligibility requirements?
A: Clubs must comply with PCL’s competition rules and regulations. These rules include the residency clause which means that all players must have proof of residence in the country they are competing in or have lived there for at least 1 year. A valid passport is also required for each member of the team.
All clubs participating in all 10 countries are required to abide by the No Super Clubs Rule. This rule ensures fairness in the competition by limiting teams from becoming too strong.Â
Each club is allowed to field a maximum of 1 male and 1 female player from the top 8 in their country. The top 8 list per gender for the Philippines can be seen below. Should a team have 2 players within the top 8, the combined ranking of the two top 8 players should add up to 9 or higher.
For Example:
The #3 male and #6 female are allowed to be on the same team. However the #1 male and rank #2 female are not allowed. Teams are not allowed to field more than 2 players in the top 8 in either gender, and teams are not allowed to field 2 top 8 players of the same gender.Â
Q: Who are the top 8 (doubles) in the Philippines:
|
Ranking |
Male |
Female |
|
1 |
Leander Lazaro |
Sarah Jane Lim |
|
2 |
Kim Ivor Saraza |
Medelene Saraza |
|
3 |
Davis Alano |
Anna Clarice Patrimonio |
|
4 |
Nik Isagan |
Patricia Raymundo |
|
5 |
Johnny Arcilla |
Fatima Amirul |
|
6 |
Ken Unique Dela Cruz |
Bambi Zoleta |
|
7 |
CJ Luna |
Bien Zoleta |
|
8 |
Paolo Fermin |
Gellian Rivera |
CLUB SPONSORSHIPS
Q: Can we get sponsors for our club/team?
Yes, clubs are encouraged to get sponsors to help support their team. Sponsors will get great exposure to a national audience as one of the 8 teams in the Philippine sectionals as well as regional exposure in the Asian finals to be held in China.Â
Q: How many sponsors can we get for our team?
Clubs can get as many sponsors as they want and can provide various kinds of exposure such as social media/press releases, etc.Â
The team’s Gold sponsors can have branding rights on the official PCL shirt to be worn by players in the sectional and Asian finals. Each team can have up to 2 Gold sponsors.Â
Q: Are there resources/templates we can use to help with sponsorship solicitation?Â
Yes, clubs who are interested to join will be given access to the PCL Asia - Club Sponsorship Toolkit which includes:
- Sponsorship letter template
- List of marketing materials for clubs
- Official PCL branding guidelines and assetsÂ
- FAQ’s for potential sponsors
Requests for toolkit access can be sent to the tournament director at Migo.Claudio@tobys.com
A Club Sponsorship Deck with ready-to-use packages and values that clubs can share with potential sponsors is also available here: https://tinyurl.com/PCLAClubSponsorDeckÂ
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
Q: What is the Tournament Format?
A: The tournament will be a 2 day event with a round robin on the first day to determine seeding (Nov 15) and a single elimination bracket on (Nov 16) to determine which team advances to the PCL Finals in China.Â
The scoring for the round robin round will be rally scoring to 15, no freeze. While for the single elimination round the scoring will be rally scoring to 21, with freeze.Â
The format for the matches will be MLP style.Â
The round robin matches will be played as follows: Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Mixed Doubles. No dreambreaker for the round robin. Seeding will be determined by the number of games won. All 4 games per match will be played regardless of the match score
The single elimination matches will be a best of 5 format that will be played as follows: Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Mixed Doubles, then Dreambreaker. The first team to win 3 matches will win the match. After a team wins 3 games the match is ended and the remaining games will not be played.Â
The 1 and 2 seeds in the round robin format will receive a by for the first round of the elimination round, while the 7 and 8 seeds will be eliminated and will not advance to the second day. Seeding will be determined by Games won, with tiebreakers being decided by point differential.
In this format, each team will have a guarantee of 28 games across their 7 match-ups for Day 1 (Nov 15).Â
DETAILED TOURNAMENT GUIDELINES
Q: Match Schedules
Match Schedules will be posted beforehand and players are to be responsible for being at their court when their game is about to start.
If a prior match ends early for whatever reason, the next teams are expected to be there ready to start their games.
Q: Defaults and Forfeits
A 2-minute grace period will be given to players to report to the court. The countdown shall be started by the referee and announced to the players present on the court.
The score in the event of a default shall be 8-0/12-0 in favor of the present player or pair. If a player sustains an injury during the game that prevents them from continuing, and the team does not have an alternate of the same gender present, the match shall be considered forfeited by the injured player. The score at the time of stoppage shall be the final score if the leading player/pair is ahead. Otherwise, additional points will be awarded to the winning player/pair to ensure a final margin of one point over the defaulting side.
Q: Match Start
Before the start of the match, the referee will perform a coin toss or something similar. The team who wins the call can either decide to serve first or to choose the courtside.Â
Q: Timeouts
Each team is allowed one (1) 60-second timeout per game.
Water or towel breaks are permitted without using a timeout, provided they do not disrupt the flow of the game. If the game is disrupted, the referee may charge the delaying team's timeout. If the team has already used all its timeouts, the referee may issue a technical warning.
Q: Line Calls
Players on the pickleball court should be responsible for most line calls. The referee will be responsible for any service foot faults, Non-Volley Zone foot faults, short serves, or other Non-Volley Zone rules.Â
Should the opposing player/team want to challenge the line call of the player/team who made the call, they may ask the referee for his/her call, only if he/she saw the ball.
If a player disagrees with a referee’s ruling, then that player may appeal the ruling to the head referee or tournament director.Â
However, if the referee’s ruling is correct, then the appealing player/team will lose a time-out and be given a technical warning. If the appealing player/team does not have any time-outs remaining, then the appealing player/team will be given a technical foul. If the referee’s ruling is incorrect, then the players will replay the point and there will be no penalty.
Q: Official Scores
The winning side shall sign the scorecard.
Any discrepancies should be addressed to the Tournament Director, who shall make the final decision.
All scores will be uploaded to DUPR on the players’ profiles and will affect players’ ratings.
Q: Medical Concerns
In case of a medical emergency on the court, the referee will call a medical time out which lasts for 15 minutes starting from the moment the medic arrives at the court.
If a player cannot continue, the team can substitute another player of the same gender. If the team has no substitute available, the opposing team will be given a winning score at 11 points or 2 points above the other team depending on which is relevant.
