Philippines women's national football team

The Philippines women's national football team was formally organized after the Philippine Ladies' Football Association (PLFA) was established in 1980 by footballer Cristina Ramos, who later became a member of the team.[3] The Philippines took part in the 1983 Asian Women's Championship in Thailand although the tournament at the time was not sanctioned by FIFA or the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In order for the Philippines to be eligible to participate in FIFA tournaments, the PLFA and, in extension, the women's national team would have to be an affiliate of the PFF, the Philippines' national sports association for football. The PLFA later became part of the PFF.[4]

The Philippines was among the teams which competed in the 1985 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, the first-ever edition of the games to host women's football.[5] The team clinched its first podium finish in a tournament by finishing in third place.[3] However, the football event of the tournament was only contested by two other teams, Thailand and Singapore, with the Philippines not winning a single match.

Marlon Maro, a former defender for the Philippines men's national team, coached the women's national football team as early as 2001 when he guided the national team through the 2001 Southeast Asian Games.[6] He was head coach of the national team until 2007, coaching the Malditas for the last time at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games.[7][8]

The Philippines national team participated at the 2011 AFF Women's Championship in Laos on October 16–25, after being inactive for the last 21 months.[9]

The national team participated in a training camp in the United States in 2012. The team management scouted for players with Filipino heritage in the United States for the national team. Part of the training camp was participation in the 2012 LA Viking Cup, which saw the national team play against American club sides California Cosmos, Metro Stars, and Leon. The Malditas won the tournament by beating the California Cosmos in the final 4–3 on extra time following a 1–1 draw, earning the team their first-ever trophy, albeit in a minor tournament.[10]

The national team attempted to qualify for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup. The Philippines was grouped with Bangladesh, Iran and Thailand at the qualifiers single group stage with the winner advancing to the Asian Cup finals. The Malditas fell short of qualifying after losing to eventual group winners Thailand by a single goal despite winning convincingly over its other group opponents, Iran and Bangladesh.[11]

At the 2013 AFF Women's Championship, the Philippines was grouped with Laos, Indonesia, hosts Myanmar, and the Japan under-23 team, who were invited to the tournament. The Philippines failed to proceed to the knockout stage after placing third in the group, with only the top two teams proceeding to the next phase of the tournament. The Malditas lost to Japan U23 and Myanmar and won against the other two teams.[12]

At the 2013 Southeast Asian Games,[13] the women's national football team failed to get past the group stage, losing against the two other nations grouped with the country and failing to score a single goal.[14]

In February 2015, PFF general secretary Ed Gastanes said that the head coach position for the women's national team was vacant after its previous holder, Ernie Nierras, was not an A license coach, meaning he was not able to continue his coaching stint. Nierras led the team in his last competitive match as coach in 2013.[15] The PFF announced in April 2015 that former footballer Buda Bautista was appointed as head coach and was first tasked to lead the team at the 2015 AFF Women's Championship.[16] Bautista also became the first female coach of the national team.[17][18] The Malditas failed to get past the group stage of the 2015 AFF Women's Championship, only winning a game against Malaysia and losing the other two matches.

2017 would mark the entry of businessman Jefferson Cheng as a sponsor of the Philippine national team.[19] who also was appointed the team manager of the team in 2017.[20]

Still under Bautista, the Philippines qualified for the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup in Jordan, the first time the national team qualified for the AFC Women's Asian Cup since a qualification phase was introduced starting from the 2006 competition; prior to the inception of qualifications, the Philippines had participated in every iteration of the tournament except for three, failing to reach the knockout stages in each participation. The team finished second in their group in the qualifiers, in which each of the group's winners qualify for the Asian Cup. Jordan won the group, but since it had already qualified as hosts of the 2018 edition of the tournament, the virtue of qualification went to the group's runners-up.[21]

In 2017, the PFF launched the "Project Jordan" task force to help the Malditas qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup through the 2018 Asian Cup. The PFF secured major sponsorship and hired United States-based English coach, Richard Boon; an identification camp was held in the United States participated by national team players and prospects.[22] A three-month training camp in the United States was later set up in late December 2017.[23] In March 2018, Boon was replaced by French coach Rabah Benlarbi[24] as the national team held a camp at the PFF National Training Centre in Carmona, Cavite.[25] The national team held their last camp under "Project Jordan" in Japan from March 20 to 27, 2018.[26]

At the 2018 Asian Cup, the Philippines failed to reach the knockout stage leading to the championship, by which doing so would have resulted in automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup. However, by finishing third in their group, the Malditas qualified for a special fifth place match, of which the winner qualifies for the World Cup; it was the first time the Philippines advanced beyond the group stage of the Asian Cup in their participation history. The country, then ranked 72nd in the FIFA Women's World Rankings, failed to qualify for the World Cup after losing 5–0 to the 16th-ranked South Korea in the fifth place match of the tournament.[27]

The Philippines competed at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, which was hosted at home, but were denied a bronze medal by Myanmar.[28]

The Philippines did not play any games since the 2019 Southeast Asian Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, they attained their highest-ever world ranking then at 65th place by the end of 2020.[29]

Guided by Marlon Maro, who returned as head coach of the team, the Philippines qualified for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup in India after featuring in the qualifiers held in September 2021 despite almost a year of inactivity.[29][30] Alen Stajcic was appointed as head coach in October 2021.[31][32] At the 2022 Asian Cup group stage, they defeated Thailand 1–0, ending a 13-match losing streak against their Southeast Asian rivals.[33] The Malditas advanced to the knockout stage for only the second time in their Asian Cup participation, beating Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on penalties following a 1–1 draw and qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. It was the first time that the Philippines qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup, and the first time the country qualified for a FIFA World Cup of any gender or age level.[34] The national team also improved their Asian Cup record by reaching the semifinals of the tournament, where they lost 2–0 to South Korea. This consequently moved them 10 places up the FIFA Women's World Rankings to 54th place, setting a new peak rank. Stajcic also had his contract with the team extended to after the 2023 World Cup.[35]

At the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, which was held in May 2022 due to the pandemic, the Filipinas repeated their success from the previous edition by reaching the knockout stage. Despite losing to Thailand 3–0 in the semifinals, the Philippines defeated Myanmar 2–1 to win the bronze medal in a rematch of the 2019 edition. The team achieved their best finish at the tournament in 37 years.[36]

On June 23, 2022, the Filipinas recorded their first win on European soil after defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina 3–0 in a friendly in Brežice, Slovenia.[37]

The Philippines hosted the 2022 AFF Women's Championship. They secured their first-ever final appearance in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament and guaranteed a podium finish by upsetting defending champions Vietnam 4–0 in the semifinals, recording their best finish at the AFF Women's Championship yet.[38][39] It also marked the Filipinas' first win against Vietnam after 16 matches against each other, who, alongside Thailand, have been their most-matched opponents in their 42-year history.[40] The team went on to defeat Thailand 3–0 in the final, which was attended by 8,257 spectators at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, and clinched their first-ever title in any major tournament.[41]

The Philippines was invited to participate in the 2023 Pinatar Cup in San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain, to prepare for its maiden Women's World Cup bid. The Philippines were the first non-European team to join the Pinatar Cup. The team played against Wales, Scotland, and Iceland, making them the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. They lost all of their matches and finished in fourth place with zero points having scored only one goal in the tournament, a 90th-minute free kick by Meryll Serrano against Scotland.[42]

The Filipinas played the first round of the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, defeating all three opponents without a single goal conceded, and at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.[43] At the latter tournament, they failed to reach the semifinals after finishing third in the group behind Myanmar, whom they lost to 1–0.[44]

Debutants Philippines were drawn into Group A alongside Norway, Switzerland, and tournament co-hosts New Zealand. The Filipinas were selected from pot 4, thus were the lowest-ranked team in Group A.[45]

The Philippines played their first group stage match at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Dunedin, New Zealand, on July 20, 2023, suffering a 2–0 defeat against Switzerland. On July 25, 2023, in Wellington, the Filipinas won 1–0 against New Zealand, their first match victory at a Women's World Cup. Sarina Bolden scored the winning goal, which was the Philippines' first-ever goal in the competition, in the 24th minute through a header from Sara Eggesvik's cross. Goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel was awarded the player of the match for her performance in the historic win, registering numerous saves against the co-hosts and keeping a clean sheet.[46] However, the Philippines lost 6–0 in their final group match against Norway, the highest-ranked team in their group, with Alicia Barker committing an own goal, Sofia Harrison being sent off for a careless dive, and the Filipinas conceding a hat-trick to Norway's Sophie Román Haug at Eden Park in Auckland. They finished last in Group A with three points thanks to their win against the Football Ferns, but failed to reach the knockout stage in their debut World Cup.[47] Stajcic's contract as head coach expired thereafter.[48]

In August 2023, Mark Torcaso was appointed as the head coach of the Philippines women's team under a two-year contract. Until December, Torcaso concurrently coached Western United FC in the A-League Women.[49] The Filipinas played in the football tournament of the postponed 2022 Asian Games in China in September 2023. It was their first ever participation in the tournament.[50] They were able to advance to the quarterfinals[51][52] where eventual champions Japan ended their run.[53]

The Philippines took part in the second round of the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Perth, Australia, later that year.[54] Their 8–0 defeat against hosts Australia on the second matchday took place in front of a sold-out crowd of 59,155 at the Perth Stadium, having been relocated from the much smaller Perth Rectangular Stadium to meet the strong demand.[55] The Philippines failed to advance to the third round and thus qualify for the women's football tournament of the 2024 Summer Olympics after finishing as the second-best runners-up among the three groups in the qualifying tournament, wherein only the best-ranked runners-up would advance.[56]

There was uncertainty after John Gutierrez's election as PFF president in November 2023. However in January 2024, it was announced that sponsor Jefferson Cheng whose best feat was to help the team qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup would be retained as team manager.[57]

In February 2024, the Philippines played in the 2024 Pinatar Cup against Scotland and Slovenia.[58] They finished the tournament in fourth place after losing 1–0 to Slovenia in the third-place playoff.[59]

In June 2024, Cheng stepped down from the role citing the situation is "not workable" due to "incompatible" and "misalignment" of goals with the current organization.[60][61]

The Philippines women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Malditas".[62] There is no direct English equivalent, but translations range from a mild swear or epithet ("damned" or "accursed" ones (female)) to respect or fear ("badasses" (female)). The nickname was adopted by the team during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games under head coach Ernest Nierras. Nierras meant the moniker to reflect the players' gutsy nature and inner fight ("palaban"[62]), a symbol of a determined team who never gives up and whom opponents fear to face.[63] However, as the term maldita could also be interpreted as "bratty", head coach Marlon Maro in October 2021 proposed discontinuing the nickname. Maro wanted to replace the nickname, believing the Malditas monicker to be pejorative.[64] After Maro's departure in late 2021, the status of the proposal became unclear with members of the national team at that time preferring to keep the nickname.[65]

In March 2022, the PFF announced that they would be officially adopting the nickname "Filipinas" for the team.[66] The moniker had been used before, as the demonym for female people of the Philippines. Team manager Jefferson Cheng reasoned that Malditas is a swear word in Spanish and Portuguese which translates to "damned", but the derivative word has a bit more of a pejorative meaning in Tagalog and, despite its uniqueness, one could imagine it to be "problematic" having to repeatedly explain its meaning. Cheng also said that the Filipinas moniker is a standalone and is not meant to be preceded by a modifier (e.g. Philippine Filipinas).[67]

German sportwear brand Adidas is the official kit provider for the Philippines women's national team since February 2023.[68] There are three sets for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup released in May 2023; blue, red and white.[69]

The earliest recorded home matches of the Philippines women's national team were held at the Iloilo Sports Complex, it was during the 1999 AFC Women's Championship when the country hosted the tournament.[70] The national team also held official international matches at the PhilSports Football and Athletics Stadium and Moro Lorenzo Football Field.[71] In October 2015, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Philippine Football Federation and the local government of Biñan, allowing the national team to use the Biñan Football Stadium as their home stadium for the next four years.[72] The national team has recently played the majority of its matches at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, which is the Philippines' national stadium.

Notes

The following 29 players are included in the squad for the friendly against South Korea[82]
Caps and goals updated as of April 8, 2024, after the match against  South Korea.

The following players have been called up for the Philippines within the past 12 months.[83][84][85]

The Philippines had never qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup until the 2023 edition. It did not attempt to qualify for the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 with its non-participation at the 1991 AFC Women's Championship, which served as the Asian qualifiers of the World Cup. The national team first attempted to qualify for the succeeding editions of the tournament from 1995 except for the 2011 edition.

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

The Philippines entered a qualification tournament for the Olympics. At the first two editions of the Olympics where women's football was played, the standings at the preceding FIFA Women's World Cup were used. With the country failing to qualify for the final tournament of the 1995 and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cups the country failed to qualify for the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.

The Philippines made their debut in the women's football tournament of the Asian Games in the 2022 edition.[86]