MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Women’s National Team will face a familiar opponent in Hong Kong in Round 1 of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 Asian Qualification from April 3 to 11, 2023.
Following the draw last Thursday in the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Filipinas landed in Group E along with Hong Kong, Tajikistan and Pakistan.
Teams will play in a single-round robin stage with the top team in each of the seven groups in Round 1 moving on to Round 2 to join the five highest-ranked AFC teams in DPR Korea, Australia, Japan, Korea Republic and China PR.
The 12 teams in Round 2 will be divided into three groups of four teams with the No. 1 team gaining entry to the next round along with the best second placed team from the three groups.
From there, the four remaining teams will clash in a home and away playoff with the two survivors grabbing the spots for Asia in the Paris Olympics next year.
“I’m very excited to know our opponents,” said Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic, whose team has also qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup co hosted by Australia and New Zealand. “It’s a long and difficult road to qualifying for Paris. But qualifying through Round 1 and trying to get some matches against the big nations of the AFC is a very enticing and appealing prospect.”
PFF officials are confident that the Filipinas have what it takes to do well in the qualifiers.
“We are excited on how the Filipinas will compete in the upcoming Olympic Qualifiers,” said PFF president Mariano Araneta. “We wish them well as the qualifiers also serve as the team’s preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup this July.”
“The Filipinas’ campaign this year just shows how much the team has grown through the years,” added PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes. “This Olympic Qualifiers bodes well for our Women’s World Cup bound Women’s National Team and this campaign will allow them to be much more prepared for the grand stage which is the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
Currently enjoying their best ranking of No. 53, the Filipinas have played Hong Kong 10 times, winning three matches with the most recent coming in September 24 2021 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan where they won, 2-1, in AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifying.
The Filipinas have beaten Tajikistan twice, including a 3-1 victory in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020 Asian Qualification Round 1 in Dushanbe in 2018.
Pakistan, which is ranked No. 177 by FIFA, came in as the team from Pot 4 in Group E.