PFF Women’s Cup champion Stallion Laguna FC is grouped with last season’s runner-up Melbourne City in Group A of the 2025-26 AFC Women’s Asian Champions League (WACL) in the group stage draw on Thursday at the AFC Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
They will be joined by last season’s semifinalist and host Ho Chi Minh City I of Vietnam and Preliminary Group C topnotcher Lion City Sailors of Singapore for the November tournament.
Melbourne City is out to avenge its narrow loss (via penalties) in last season’s final with a stacked team bannered by World Cup and Olympics veteran Rebekah Stott of New Zealand, who battled Stallion’s Olivia and Chandler McDaniel during the Philippines’ lone win in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Also joining Melbourne City are five active and former Australia under-23 players led by 2025 Serenity Cup goal scorer Emilia Murray, along with national team players Tyla-Jay Vlajnic of Serbia and Lourdes Bosch of Mexico.
Ho Chi Minh City I has seven Vietnam national team players led by the country’s top scorer Huynh Nhu and futsal star K’Thua, along with five from the United States.
Lion City Sailors is a rising squad in the WACL, coming from a winless campaign last season to an undefeated preliminary group stage with nine points, led by former Urawa Red midfielder Ami Takeuchi, who scored four goals last month.
The reigning PFF Women’s Cup champions, bannered by the McDaniel sisters, Bhebhe Lemoran, Isabella Pasion, Rhea Chan, and Kaya Hawkinson of the Filipinas, capitalized on a strong start in Group A of the Preliminary Stage to be the first Filipino women’s club to enter the main tournament of Asia’s top flight club league via qualification.
Despite the 1-3 loss to ISPE of Myanmar on the final match day in Yangon, Stallion, playing in its first international tournament, dominated its first two games in the prelims–a 6-1 win against Khovd West of Mongolia on August 25 and 13-0 win against Strykers FC of Guam on August 28–to earn six points and a +16 goal difference.
“At the end of the day, I’m still very proud of the team for what we did,” said Stallion captain Chandler McDaniel, who scored the most goals in all preliminary groups with nine off a hat-trick versus Khovd and a double hat-trick against Strykers.
Stallion earned the group stage berth by being the best second-ranked team in the five groups, edging College of Asian Scholars of Thailand, led by loan player Hali Long, by a plus-two goal difference.
Long’s mother club Kaya-Iloilo was the first Filipino women’s club to represent the Philippines internationally, finishing third in Group B of the 2024-25 WACL Group Stage with two points.
