The world class talent of homegrown heroes Isabella Bandoja and Lanie Ortillo–stalwarts of the Philippine women’s national futsal team–will take center stage in Hong Kong as the Tuloy duo have signed up with current Hong Kong Jockey Club Women’s Football League top club TSL Football Club this month.
Their first professional stints abroad is a testament to the commitment and strong emphasis of Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and stakeholder organizations like Tuloy Foundation in grassroots development, honing homegrown talents like Bandoja and Ortillo to reach world class level in both futsal and football.
“Congratulations to Isabella and Lanie for making it to Hong Kong,” said PFF President John Anthony Gutierrez. “They will be playing for the current top women’s club there, TSL, which is currently undefeated and is bannered by their national football team top goal scorer of 2025 Anke Leung. That they are chosen by a top professional club abroad and played along a top national team player is proof that the talent of Filipino homegrown players is inching closer to international competitive standards, and we are happy that our Filipina5 veterans are manifesting that.”
Bandoja, the Filipina5 vice-captain, scored one of three historic Philippine goals in the inaugural FIFA Futsal World Cup in November 2025, which she delivered against World Cup semifinalist Argentina.
The leading Filipina5 goal scorer on record with seven international goals, Bandoja joined the national team when it was rebuilt in 2021 and scoring goals in the World Cup, Southeast Asian Games, AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup, the inaugural ASEAN Women’s Futsal Championship, and the Tri-Nations Cup.
Bandoja’s prolific goal scoring was also displayed in her football career, winning the PFF Women’s League Golden Boot thrice for Tuloy F.C.–in 2018, 2019-20, and 2023.
Bandoja’s teammate Ortillo, on the other hand, is better known as a playmaking and defensive acumen on the futsal court and football turf.
The Tondo-born Ortillo played for the Philippine under-16 women’s national football team in the 2019 AFF U16 Women’s Championship, where she scored a brace against Timor-Leste, and the Filipina5 starting in 2021, where she played in almost all international tournaments of the team and scoring two goals against Indonesia and New Zealand in the 2023 Tri-Nations Cup.
Aside from Bandoja and Ortillo, more Filipino players have recently been signed up by foreign professional clubs at the start of 2026.
They include former Filipinas player and Stallion Laguna forward Alyssa Ube, who has signed up for Ayeyawady WFC of Myanmar; Philippine U23 men’s national football (PMNFT) defender Noah Leddel from Kaya-Iloilo to Ayutthaya United of Thailand; PMNFT forward Kenshiro Daniels from Kaya-Iloilo to Lamphun Warriors of Thailand; former PMNFT U23 forward Chima Uzoka from Maharlika FC to Songkhla of Thailand; former PMNFT U23 defender Miggy Clarino from Aguilas FC to Nongbua of Thailand; and former PMNFT U23 midfielder Francis Tacardon from Valenzuela PB to Champasak of Laos.
(Banner photo from Tuloy FC)
