BANGKOK—The Philippine women’s national futsal team will return to international competition in early 2026 after a demanding and historic 2025 campaign, with the Filipina5 drawn into a highly competitive Group B of the 2026 ASEAN Women’s Futsal Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Set to run from February 24 to March 2, 2026, the biennial tournament will see the Filipina5 take on defending champions Vietnam, regional contenders Myanmar, and tournament debutants Australia. Host nation and SEA Games bronze medalist Thailand headlines Group A, which also includes SEA Games silver medalist Indonesia and first-time participants Malaysia.
The championship traces its roots to the Philippines, which hosted the inaugural ASEAN Women’s Futsal Championship at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City in November 2024. That landmark event helped catalyze a surge in women’s futsal activity across Southeast Asia, culminating in the successful staging of the 2025 FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup in the Philippines.
“I am happy to see that the surge of women’s futsal in Southeast Asia—and eventually the world—began in the Philippines,” said Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President John Anthony Gutierrez. “With international women’s futsal tournaments now becoming as regular as international football competitions, futsal as a people’s sport will continue to grow rapidly in our region, and PFF is honored to be among the pioneers of this resurgence.”
The Filipina5 enter the 2026 championship with growing confidence, having faced their Group B opponents multiple times over the past two years as part of their accelerated development.
In the 2024 ASEAN Women’s Futsal Championship, the Philippines opened its campaign with an impressive 2–2 draw against higher-ranked Myanmar, highlighted by Isabella Bandoja’s opening goal in the 12th minute and Agot Danton’s equalizer in the 33rd.
Two matches later, the Filipina5 suffered a 1–6 loss to Vietnam, with Shai del Campo scoring the lone Philippine goal. However, subsequent encounters underscored the team’s steady progress against one of Asia’s elite sides. At the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup in May 2025, the Philippines narrowed the gap in a 0–3 defeat, before producing its strongest showing yet against Vietnam at last month’s Southeast Asian Games, where the Filipina5 bowed out with a narrow 0–1 semifinal loss to the eventual gold medalists.
The Filipina5 also gained valuable experience against Australia during the 2025 AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup Qualifiers, pushing their co-debutant to a tight 1–2 result after victories over Kuwait and Turkmenistan and a hard-fought 3–3 draw against higher-ranked Uzbekistan. That campaign ended with the Philippines securing its first-ever qualification to the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup, further cementing its rise on the continental stage.
With a challenging group ahead and a body of high-level experience behind them, the Filipina5 head into the 2026 ASEAN Women’s Futsal Championship aiming to build on recent gains and continuing the legacy of the inaugural Futsal Women’s World Cup.
