Abstract Phytophthora palmivora causes black pod diseases (BPD) in cacao pods and reduces up to 25% of cacao yield. Cacao plant breeding aims to produce superior plants resistant to BPD. This research intended to confirm the pathogen through morphological characteristics and molecular identification, as well as evaluate the resistance level of five cacao F1 hybrids against P. palmivora in-vitro. The morphology of colonies was observed visually and microscopically, while sequencing analysis was performed using primer-specific pairs YPh1F/2R, followed by phylogenetic analysis. Resistance studies were using five cacao F1 hybrids: 8-7 (1), 9-7 (1), 1-11 (1), 5-1 (2), 2-8 (3), and BL 50 as the comparison variety using leaf disc methods. The research findings were Phytophthora sp. colonies on carrot medium showed faster growth than on potato dextrose agar. The microscopic observation showed the presence of pear-shaped spores. Likewise, the phylogenetic analysis confirmed that this pathogen was P. palmivora, with a high similarity of 98.78%. In the in-vitro study, two clones categorized as resistant, with clones 2-8 (3) having the lowest severity score. Other clones, including comparison varieties, have moderately resistant levels. The results are important information in assembling superior cacao clones resistant to P. palmivora.