Philippines women's national football team

The Philippines women's national football team was formally organized after the Philippine Ladies' Football Association (PLFA) was established in 1980 by Cristina Ramos.[5] The Philippines took part in the 1983 Asian Women's Championship in Thailand although the tournament at the time was not sanctioned by FIFA or the AFC. In order for the Philippines to be eligible to participate in FIFA tournaments, the PLFA and in extension the women's national team would have to be an affiliate of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the Philippines' national sports association for football.[6] The PLFA later became part of the PFF.

The Philippines was among the teams which competed in the 1985 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, the first-ever edition of the games to host women's football.[7] The team clinched its first podium finish in a tournament by finishing third place.[5] However the football event of the tournament was only contested by two other teams, Thailand and Singapore with the Philippines not winning a single match.

Marlon Maro coached the women's national football team as early as 2001 when he guided the national team through the 2001 Southeast Asian Games.[8] He was head coach of the national team until 2007, coaching the team for the last time at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games[9][10]

The Philippine national team participated at the 2011 AFF Women's Championship in Laos from October 16–25, after being inactive for the last 21 months.[11]

The national team had a training camp in the United States in 2012. The team management scouted for players with Filipino heritage in the United States for the national team. Part of the training camp was participation at the 2012 LA Viking Cup, which saw the national team play against American club sides California Cosmos, Metro Stars, and Leon. The national team won the tournament beating California Cosmos in the final 4–3 on extra time, the scoreline between the two teams was 1–1 before extra time.[12]

The Philippines national football team after their away match against Bangladesh on May 25, 2013, at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

The national team attempted to qualify for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup. The Philippines was grouped with Bangladesh, Iran and Thailand at the qualifiers single group stage with the winner advancing to the Asian Cup finals. The team fell short of qualifying after losing to Thailand by a single goal despite winning convincingly over its other group opponents, Iran and Bangladesh.[13]

The 2013 AFF Women's Championship saw the participation of the Philippine squad. The Philippines was grouped with Laos, Indonesia, hosts Myanmar and invitees Japan U23. The Philippines failed to proceed to the knock-out stage, after placing third in the group, with only the top two teams proceeding to the next phase of the tournament. The Philippines lost to Japan U23 and Myanmar and won against the other two teams.[14]

The women's national football team participated at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. The Philippine Olympic Committee decided only to send the women's national football team. The committee decided against sending their men counterpart to the games.[15] The Philippines failed to get past the Group Stage losing against all three nations grouped with the country.[16]

In February 2015, it was reported that PFF General Secretary Ed Gastanes said that the head coach position for the women's national team is vacant. The previous holder of the post, Ernie Nierras was not an A license coach meaning he was not able to continue his coaching stint. Nierras led the team in his last competitive match as coach in 2013.[17] The PFF announced in April 2015 that Bautista was appointed as head coach and was tasked to first lead the team at the 2015 AFF Women's Championship.[18] Bautista is also the first female coach of the national team.[19][20] The national team failed to get past the group stage of the 2015 AFF Women's Championship only winning a game against Malaysia and losing the other two matches.

O. McDaniel

Randle

Long

Bugay

Madarang

Harrison

Miclat

Quezada

Guillou

C. McDaniel

Bolden

The starting lineup of the Malditas that qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Jordan v. Philippines; 2018 AFC Asian Cup

The Philippines made their first appearance at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2018 since the qualification phase for the continental tournament was introduced. The national team secured qualification by finishing second in their group behind Jordan, the 2018 final tournament hosts in the qualifiers.

As part of their preparations for the continental cup, the Philippine Football Federation launched the "Project Jordan" task force to help the team qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The PFF secured major sponsorship and hired United States-based English coach, Richard Boon; an identification camp was held in the United States participated by national team players and prospects.[21] A three month training camp in the United States was later set up in late December 2017.[22] In March 2018, Boon was replaced by French coach Rabah Benlarbi[23] as the national team held a camp at the PFF National Training Centre in Philippines.[24] Before participating in the Jordan to compete in the Asian Cup the national team will hold their last camp in Japan from March 20 to 27, 2018.[25]

The Philippines competed at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, which was hosted at home, but were denied a bronze medal by Myanmar.[26] However the team did not play any games since then due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, they attained their highest ever ranking at 65th place by the end of 2020.[27]

Guided by head coach Marlon Maro, they qualified for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup, after featuring in the qualifiers held in September 2021 despite almost a year of inactivity.[27][28] Alen Stajčić is then appointed as head coach in October 2021.[29][30]

On January 30, 2022, the Malditas qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup after beating Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals of the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup in Pune, India. This is the first time that the country qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup, and the first time the country qualified for a World Cup of any gender.[3]

The Philippines women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Malditas (Feisty ladies)".[31] The nickname was adopted by the team during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games under head coach Ernest Nierras. Nierras meant the moniker (in Spanish, "accursed") to reflect the players' gutsy nature and determination, a team which never gives up and whom opponents fear to face.[32] As the term maldita could be interpreted as "bratty", head coach Marlon Maro in October 2021 proposed discontinuing the nickname. Maro wanted to replace the nickname, believing the Malditas monicker to be pejorative.[33] After Maro's departure in late 2021, the status of the proposal became unclear with members of the national team at that time preferring to keep the nickname.[34]

In March 2022, the PFF announced that they would be officially adopting the nickname "Filipinas" for the team.[35] The moniker had been used before, as the demonym for female people of the Philippines. Jefferson Cheng, the team manager reasoned that the derivative word of Malditas has a somewhat pejorative meaning in Tagalog and despite its uniqueness, it could be "problematic" having to repeatedly explain its meaning regarding the national team. He also added that the word is a swear word in Spanish and Portuguese which translates to "damned". Cheng also clarified that the Filipinas moniker is a standalone and is not meant to be preceded by a modifier (e.g. Philippine Filipinas).[36]

The Biñan Football Stadium.

Since October 2015, the home stadium of the national team is the Biñan Football Stadium in Biñan, Laguna.[37]

The following 26 players were called up for the training camp in Australia.[38]
Caps and goals updated as of April 30, 2022, after the match against Tonga.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Inna Palacios	(1994-02-08) February 8, 1994	48	0	Kaya–Iloilo
23	1GK	Olivia McDaniel	(1997-10-14) October 14, 1997	8	0	Unattached
25	1GK	Kiara Fontanilla	(2000-07-01) July 1, 2000	2	0	Westcliff University
2	2DF	Malea Cesar	(2003-12-09) December 9, 2003	8	1	Sunset Apollos
3	2DF	Dominique Randle	(1994-12-10) December 10, 1994	9	1	Unattached
4	2DF	Tara Shelton	(2001-06-26) June 26, 2001	11	0	DLSU Lady Booters
5	2DF	Hali Long	(1995-01-21) January 21, 1995	48	14	Kaya–Iloilo
13	2DF	Chantelle Maniti	(2005-01-03) January 3, 2005	4	0	Football NSW Institute
14	2DF	Isabella Flanigan	(2005-02-22) February 22, 2005	5	1	Montverde Eagles
16	2DF	Sofia Harrison	(1999-02-16) February 16, 1999	10	2	Unattached
19	2DF	Eva Madarang	(1997-09-13) September 13, 1997	26	9	CD Pozoalbense
22	2DF	Isabella Hosking	(2003-01-09) January 9, 2003	0	0	Unattached
	2DF	Maya Alcantara		0	0	Saint Mary's College
6	3MF	Tahnai Annis (captain)	(1989-06-20) June 20, 1989	14	7	Unattached
7	3MF	Camille Rodriguez	(1994-12-27) December 27, 1994	37	11	Kaya–Iloilo
9	3MF	Jessica Miclat	(1998-10-08) October 8, 1998	14	1	Aris Limassol
10	3MF	Ryley Bugay	(1996-01-23) January 23, 1996	14	0	1. FC Saarbrücken
11	3MF	Anicka Castañeda	(1999-12-16) December 16, 1999	19	8	DLSU Lady Booters
12	3MF	Kaya Hawkinson	(2000-04-17) April 17, 2000	2	0	Cal State Fullerton
21	3MF	Katrina Guillou	(1993-12-13) December 13, 1993	7	4	Piteå IF
24	3MF	Jaclyn Sawicki	(1992-11-14) November 14, 1992	1	0	Unattached
	3MF	Carla Portillo	(1996-07-12) July 12, 1996	0	0	Unattached
15	4FW	Carleigh Frilles	(2002-04-11) April 11, 2002	8	8	Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
17	4FW	Alisha del Campo	(1999-09-20) September 20, 1999	21	11	DLSU Lady Booters
20	4FW	Quinley Quezada	(1997-04-07) April 7, 1997	23	13	JEF United Chiba Ladies
	4FW	Karli White	(1996-11-13) November 13, 1996	0	0	PEC Zwolle

The following players have been called up for the Philippines within the past 12 months.[39]

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Isabelle Mapanao	(2003-08-30) August 30, 2003	0	0	FC Versoix	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
DF	Chelo Hodges	(1997-11-21) November 21, 1997	2	0	De La Salle University	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
DF	Patricia Tomanon	(1994-04-10) April 10, 1994	13	1	Free agent	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
DF	Morgan Brown	(1995-10-20) October 20, 1995	5	0	Unattached	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
MF	Charisa Lemoran	(1998-09-21) September 21, 1998	10	1	University of Santo Tomas	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
MF	Rocelle Mendaño	(2000-05-19) May 19, 2000	2	0	De La Salle University	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
MF	Keanne Alamo	(2003-12-17) December 17, 2003	0	0	Oral Roberts Golden Eagles	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
MF	Alyssa Ube	(1998-08-05) August 5, 1998	1	0	University of the Philippines	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
MF	Camille Wilson	(1995-12-02) December 2, 1995	8	3	San Francisco Nighthawks	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
MF	Sara Castañeda	(1996-12-05) December 5, 1996	45	10	DLSU Lady Booters	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
FW	Arianna LePage	(2003-01-26) January 26, 2003	2	0	UC Santa Cruz	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
FW	Chandler McDanielINJ	(1998-02-04) February 4, 1998	7	2	Unattached	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
FW	Sarina Bolden	(1996-06-30) June 30, 1996	12	5	Chifure AS Elfen	2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
COV Withdrew due to COVID-19 INJ Withdrew due to an injury PRE Included in the preliminary squad RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension

The Philippines has never qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup until the 2023 edition. It didn't attempt to qualify for the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 with its non-participation at the 1991 AFC Women's Championship which also served as the Asian qualifiers of the World Cup. The national team first attempted to qualify for the succeeding editions of the tournament from 1995 except for the 2011 edition.

The Philippines' FIFA Women's World Cup record
Finals record
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1991	Did not enter
1995	Did not qualify
1999
2003
2007
2011	Did not enter
2015	Did not qualify
2019
2023	Qualified
Total	0/9		-	-	-	-	-	-	-

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

The Philippines entered a qualification tournament for the Olympics. At the first two editions of the Olympics where women's football was played, the standings at the preceding FIFA Women's World Cup were used. With the country not being able to qualify for the final tournament of the 1995 and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cups the country was not able to qualify for the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.

The Philippines' Summer Olympic Games record
Finals record
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1996	Did not qualify
2000
2004	Did not enter
2008
2012
2016
2020	Did not qualify
2024	To be determined
2028

The Philippines participated in all editions of the tournament, except in 2006, when the women's national team did not enter. In 2019, the team advanced to the semifinals for the first time in history, finishing in 4th place. Before 2019, the team has never managed to get past the Group Stage of the AFF Championship.

The Philippines' AFF Women's Championship record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2004	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	2	7	−5
2006	Did not enter
2007	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	3	14	−11
2008		3	1	0	2	3	20	−17
2011		3	0	1	2	3	9	−6
2012		3	1	0	2	9	9	0
2013		4	2	0	2	15	11	+4
2015		3	1	0	2	4	8	−4
2016		3	1	0	2	2	8	−6
2018		4	1	1	2	6	12	−6
2019	Fourth Place	6	3	0	3	17	9	+8
Total	10/11	35	11	2	22	64	107	−43

At the 1985 Southeast Asian Games, where women's football was first contested in the regional tournament, the Philippines finished third place. However, there were only three participants in the tournament with the Philippines losing its only two games against Singapore and Thailand. The national team has never managed to get past the Group Stage at the succeeding editions of the tournament which contested women's football and did not participate in the 2009 edition.

The Philippines' Southeast Asian Games record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1985	Bronze Medal	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6
1995	Fourth Place	4	1	2	1	3	9	−6
1997	Group Stage	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
2001		3	0	0	3	0	6	−6
2003		3	0	2	1	1	4	−3
2005	Fourth Place	4	1	0	3	4	9	−5
2007	Group Stage	2	0	1	1	2	12	−10
2009	Did not enter
2013	Group Stage	2	0	0	2	0	9	−9
2017	Fourth Place	4	1	0	3	3	13	–10
2019		4	1	1	2	6	4	+2
2021	To be determined
Total	10/11	30	4	6	20	16	75	−59

The Philippines' minor tournaments record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
Xiamen Women's Tournament**
1989	6/6	5	0	0	5	0	33	−33
Women Four Nations Tournament
2003	2/4	3	2	0	1	10	4	+6
LA Vikings Cup[50][51][52][53]
2012	1/4	3	1	0	0	17	8	+9

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.