The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) congratulates the Philippine women’s national futsal team for qualifying in the upcoming 2025 AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup in May for the first time.
The Philippines, ranked 59th in the world, had achieved this by being the best third place team in Group C of the qualifiers, earning seven points off two wins and one draw, including a remarkable 3-3 draw versus world number 18 Uzbekistan and a 2-0 clean sheet versus world number 38 Turkmenistan.
In addition, the Philippines opened its campaign with a 4-1 win versus Kuwait and dealt Australia its narrowest win at 2-1.
“Mission accomplished,” said Philippine Football Federation President John Anthony Gutierrez.
“Our women fulfilled their target to qualify for the Asian Cup finals in China. More importantly, though, they have displayed remarkable talent, proving to world class futsal teams like Australia and Uzbekistan that our national team deserves to be in the Asian Cup and the upcoming November World Cup,” Gutierrez added.
With four points counted (excluding the win versus Kuwait) in the race to the best third place teams, the Philippines overtook fellow third placers Myanmar of Group D and Kyrgyzstan of Group B (three points each) and Palestine of Group A (one point, excluding its win versus Lebanon).
Results against lowest ranked teams in five-team groups (A and C) are not counted.
The current team is composed of Samantha Hughes, Vrendelle Nuera, Cathrine Graversen, Kayla Santiago, Inday Tolentin, Shelah Mae Cadag, Katrina Guillou, Regine Rebosura, Shai Del Campo, Judy Connolly, Bella Flanigan, Sara Castañeda, Maye Mendaño, and Nicole Ramores.
Aside from qualifying, the Philippines achieved a number of milestones, including multiple goals in a draw against a world top 20 team (3-3 versus Uzbekistan), first multiple goal clean sheet against a higher-ranked team (2-0 against Turkmenistan), and highest winning margin since 2007 (4-1 win versus Kuwait).
The Tashkent tournament was also the first ever Philippine campaign that has yielded a positive goal difference, with the nationals scoring ten and conceding just six.
“The PFF family expresses its gratitude to all our players, coaches, staff, and managers for making our country proud. What they have achieved will help pave the way for a world-class futsal program and we have high hopes we can build a winning World Cup team in eleven months,” Gutierrez concluded.
The Philippines will host the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup from November 21 to December 7, 2025.
Photo Credit: AFC
