Philippine Football Federation (PFF) general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes announced on Tuesday that Philippine Women’s National Team head coach Alen Stajcic and assistant coach Nahuel Arrarte were appointed as the head coaches of the Philippine Girls Under-17 National Team and Philippine Women’s Under-20 National Team respectively.
Stajcic and Arrarte’s appointment coincides with both team’s preparation for the age-group women’s competitions scheduled for the year.
“The assistant coach of the PHI WNT, Nahuel Arrarte, has been appointed as head coach and will be assisted by the local coaches for the Philippine Women’s Under-20 National Team,” said Gastanes. “For the Philippine Girls Under-17 team, the head coach will be Coach Alen Stajcic.”
Arrarte will be tasked to lead the PHI Women’s Under-20 team that will compete in the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup 2024 qualifiers scheduled for 04-12 March 2023 in Laos. Meanwhile, Stajcic will handle the PHI Girls Under-17 team that is set to participate in the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2024 qualifiers on 22-30 April 2023 in Guam.
Both coaches initially attended and conducted the United States tryouts held last 20-22 January 2023 at Dignity Health Sports Park in California, USA. The pair arrived in Manila earlier this week ahead of the local tryouts set for 26 January 2023 at the PFF National Training Center in Carmona, Cavite, 27 January 2023 at Tionko Football Field in Davao City, and 28 January 2023 at Dynamic HERB Sports Complex in Talisay, Cebu.
Stajcic and Arrarte will be assisted by local coaches during the preparation and competition proper.
“We expect that the local coaches who will be assisting Coach Alen and Coach Nahuel during the teams’ preparations, will gain valuable knowledge as they work with the PHI WNT coaches.”
