The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has called all Regional Football Associations and PFF Member Clubs to nominate their top talents for the national U17 men’s and women’s national teams for the upcoming AFC U17 Asian Cup Qualifying Tournaments. PFF talent scouts will also travel around the country in search of more talent.
The program aims to create a systematic approach to identifying the nation’s most promising teenage football players. The federation is currently working and coordinating with all Regional Football Associations (RFAs) and PFF Member Clubs in identifying their five most talented players in both men’s and women’s sides who were born in 2009 or 2010.
All nominations are to be sent to the email address talentid@pff.org.ph.
For the scouting phase, the PFF will either dispatch scouts to observe nominated players or invite shortlisted players to a centralized tryout at an accessible location. RFAs that are organizing a weekend U16 tournament or an ongoing league are also encouraged to inform the PFF so they can include it in their scouting schedule.
Philippines at the AFC U17 Qualifiers
The Young Filipinas will compete in Group A the AFC Under-17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers from October 13 to 17 in Dushanbe, with games against Syria, host Tajikistan, and Malaysia. They have previously qualified in the 2024 U17 Asian Cup in Bali, Indonesia anchored on a breakthrough 1-0 win against Vietnam in the 2023 qualifiers.
On the other hand, the Philippine U17 men’s team was drawn in Group E of the U17 Men’s Asian Cup Qualifiers with Australia, Iraq, host Jordan, and Bhutan. They will play from November 22 to 30 in Zarqa.
Despite this challenging group against the reigning ASEAN U17 champion and West Asian powerhouse teams, the Philippines’ U17 team has shown recent progress. In last year’s qualifying group, they finished second—a historic achievement for the team—with notable wins against Cambodia and Macau.
