Philippines women's national football team

The Philippines women's national football team is the women's national football team of the Philippines. It is controlled by the Philippine Football Federation, the governing body of football in the country.

Philippines

Nickname(s)	Malditas (Feisty ladies)
Association	Philippine Football Federation
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	AFF (Southeast Asia)
Head coach	Marnelli Dimzon
Home stadium	Biñan Football Stadium
FIFA code	PHI
First colors Second colors
FIFA ranking
Current	65 2 (18 December 2020)[1]
Highest	65 (December 2020 – present)
Lowest	133 (September 2011)
First international
Hong Kong 2–0 Philippines  (Hong Kong; 7 June 1981)
Biggest win
Philippines 11–0 Macau  (Carmona, Philippines; 3 August 2019)
Biggest defeat
China PR 21–0 Philippines  (Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia; 24 September 1995)
Women's Asian Cup
Appearances	9 (first in 1981)
Best result	6th (2018)
Medal record Southeast Asian Games 1985 Bangkok Team

The women's national football team of the Philippines was formalized in the 1980s. The Philippines has participated in the Women's Asian Cup, first participating in 1981 when the tournament was still known as the AFC Women's Championship. The Philippines hosted the tournament in 1999 in Iloilo and Bacolod. They had a hiatus from the continental tournament after taking part in the 2003 with a qualification process being introduced in the 2006 edition. They returned to the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2018 after qualifying in 2017. In that iteration of the tournament, they progress to the knockout stages for the first time in their Asian Cup participation history.

In Southeast Asian football, the Philippine women's team has limited success in the AFF Women's Championship and Southeast Asian Games with their only honor being the third place finish at the 1985 Southeast Asian Games which saw only three teams participating in the women's football event.

The head coach of the national team since August 2018 is Marnelli Dimzon and the team is currently 65th in the women's FIFA ranking as of December 2020, their highest-ever ranking thus far.[2]

History

Early years

The Philippines women's national football team was formally organized after the Philippine Ladies' Football Association (PLFA) was established in 1980 by Cristina Ramos.[3] 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.[4] The PLFA later became part of the PFF.

The Philippines was among the teams which competed the 1985 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, the first-ever edition of the games to host women's football.[5] The team clinched its first podium finish in a tournament by finishing third place.[3] 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.

2000s

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.[6] He was head coach of the national team until 2007, coaching the team for the last time at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games[7][8]

2010s

Fans of the Philippine national team at the Bangabandhu National Stadium

2011 AFF Championship and 2012 LA Viking Cup

The Philippine national team participated at the 2011 AFF Women's Championship in Laos from 16–25 October, after being inactive for the last 21 months.[9]

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.[10]

2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers

The Philippines national football team after their away match against Bangladesh on 25 May 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.[11]

2013–2015 Southeast Asian tournaments

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.[12]

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.[13] The Philippines failed to get past the Group Stage losing against all three nations grouped with the country.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16] Bautista is also the first female coach of the national team.[17][18] 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.

2018 AFC Women's Asian 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.[19] A three month training camp in the United States was later set up in late December 2017.[20] In March 2018, Boon was replaced by French coach Rabah Benlarbi[21] as the national team held a camp at the PFF National Training Centre in Philippines.[22] Before participating in the Jordan to compete in the Asian Cup the national team will hold their last camp in Japan from 20 to 27 March 2018.[23]

2019 onwards

The Philippines attained its highest FIFA ranking in July 2019 at 67th place. They were also the best improved team moving up 7 places from the previous rankings.[24]

Team image

Nicknames

The Philippines women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Malditas (Feisty ladies))".

Home stadium

The Biñan Football Stadium.

Since October 2015, the home stadium of the national team is the Biñan Football Stadium in Biñan, Laguna.[25]

Results and fixtures

• The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Lose   Fixtures

2019

15 September Friendly	Hong Kong	1–1	Philippines	Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong
20:00	Cheung Wai Ki  8'	Report	Bernal  89'	Stadium: Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground Attendance: 505

26 November 2019 SEA Games	Philippines	0–0	Myanmar	Biñan Football Stadium, Biñan
20:00

29 November 2019 SEA Games	Malaysia	0–5	Philippines	Biñan Football Stadium, Biñan
16:00		Report	Bolden  25', 42', 45+2' del Campo  39' Madarang  90+3'	Referee: Asaka Koizumi (Japan)

5 December 2019 SEA Games Semifinals	Vietnam	2–0	Philippines	Biñan Football Stadium, Biñan
20:00	Thái Thị Thảo  60' Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Dung  84'

8 December 2019 SEA Games Bronze medal match	Myanmar	2–1	Philippines	Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila
16:00	July Kyaw  78' Yee Yee Oo  80'	Report	Quezada  57'	Referee: Choki Om (Bhutan)

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Position	Name	Ref.
Head coach	Marnelli Dimzon

Manager history

• Edward Magallona (1981)[26]
• Orlando Plagata (1985)
• Antonio Morales[27] (1988)
• Marlon Maro (2001–2007)
• Hans Smit[note 1] (2008)
• Joel Villarino[29] (2008–2009)
• Ernest Nierras (2011–2013)
• Buda Bautista (2015–2017)
• Marnelli Dimzon (2017)
• Richard Boon[note 2] (2017–2018)
• Rabah Benlarbi (2018)
• Buda Bautista (2018)
• Marnelli Dimzon (2018–present)

Notes

1. Smit was born as an Indonesia citizen, he became a naturalized Filipino citizen in 2016.[28]
2. English coach[30] based in the United States that oversaw the Philippine national team's training camp in the United States.[31] The national team has never played an official FIFA match under Boon's watch.

Players

Current squad

• The following players were named to the squad for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

• Caps and goals accurate up to and including date month year.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	GK	Inna Palacios	8 February 1994	Green Archers United
18	GK	Kimberly Pariña	7 September 1998	Far Eastern University
2	DF	Claire Lim	24 October 1996	Unattached
3	DF	Chelo Hodges	21 November 1997	De La Salle University
4	DF	Cathrine Graversen	25 April 1998	B.93 Pigefodbold
5	DF	Hali Long	21 January 1995	Green Archers United
8	DF	Alesa Dolino	26 October 1992	OutKast
14	DF	Mea Bernal	24 November 1989	OutKast
16	DF	Tara Shelton	26 June 2001	Holy Names Academy
6	MF	Eloiza Fagsao	7 August 1997	University of the Philippines
7	MF	Camille Rodriguez	27 December 1994	Hiraya
11	MF	Patrice Impelido (c)	9 October 1987	Hiraya
12	MF	Sara Castañeda	5 December 1996	De La Salle University
13	MF	Hazel Lustan	11 January 1998	University of Santo Tomas
17	MF	Charisa Lemoran	21 September 1998	University of Santo Tomas}
19	MF	Eva Madarang	13 September 1997	Doncaster Rovers Belles
9	FW	Sarina Bolden	30 June 1996	Xinbei Hangyuan
10	FW	Quinley Quezada	7 April 1997	Xinbei Hangyuan
15	FW	Shelah Cadag	21 August 1998	University of Santo Tomas
20	FW	Alisha del Campo	20 September 1999	Green Archers United

Recent call-ups

• The following players have been called up for the Philippines within the past 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up

Previous squads

Previous squads of the Philippines
Tournament	Edition
AFC Women's Asian Cup	2018
AFF Women's Championship	2013 2015 2016 2018 2019
Southeast Asian Games	2013 2017

Records

*Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 2020.

Most capped players # Player Year(s) Caps

Top goalscorers # Player Year(s) Goals Caps

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

The Philippines has never qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup. 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	To be determined
Total	0/9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Olympic Games

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 was 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

AFC Women's Asian Cup

The Philippines' AFC Women's Asian Cup record
Finals record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1981	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	1	14	−13
1983	Group Stage	5	1	0	4	2	16	−14
1986	Did not enter
1986
1991
1993	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	0	32	−32
1995	Group Stage	3	0	1	2	0	23	−23
1997	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	2	32	−30
1999	Group Stage	4	1	0	3	5	8	−3
2001	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	1	17	−16
2003	Group Stage	4	1	0	3	2	26	−24
2006	Did not qualify
2008
2010	Did not enter
2014	Did not qualify
2018	6th Place	4	1	0	3	3	12	−9
2022	To be determined
Total	9/20	32	4	1	27	14	180	−166

Asian Games

The Philippines' Football at the Asian Games record
Finals record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD

AFF Women's Championship

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. Prior to 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	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	3	20	−17
2011	Group Stage	3	0	1	2	3	9	−6
2012	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	9	9	0
2013	Group Stage	4	2	0	2	15	11	+4
2015	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	4	8	−4
2016	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6
2018	Group Stage	4	1	1	2	6	12	−6
2019	4th Place	6	3	0	3	17	9	+8
Total	10/11	35	11	2	22	64	107	−43

SEA Games

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 of 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 at the 2009 edition.

The Philippines' Southeast Asian Games record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1985	Bronze	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6
1995	4th place	4	1	2	1	3	9	−6
1997	Group Stage	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
2001	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6
2003	Group Stage	3	0	2	1	1	4	−3
2005	4th 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	4th place	4	1	0	3	3	13	–10
2019	4th place	4	1	1	2	6	4	+2
Total	10/11	30	4	6	20	16	75	−59

Minor tournaments

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[32][33][34][35]
2012	1/4	3	1	0	0	17	8	+9

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

See also

• Philippines men's national football team
• Philippines national under-23 football team
• Philippines national under-21 football team
• Philippines national under-19 football team
• Philippines national under-17 football team
• Women's association football around the world
• Football in the Philippines

References

1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
2. Terrado, Reuben (20 December 2020). "Philippine Malditas post highest ranking ever at 65th in the world". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
3. Trinidad, Recah (12 October 2001). "Concerned sports figure speaks up". Philippine Daily Inquirer. p. 26. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
4. "Republic in women's World Cup?". The Straits Times. 19 April 1983. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
5. "Women all set to kick off". The Straits Times. 26 March 1985. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
6. Trinidad, Recah (7 September 2001). "Malaysian Airline confirms it failed to upgrade VIPs". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
7. "Cash-strapped Pinay booters ask for help". The Manila Times. 10 August 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
8. "'Friendlies' prepare RP girl booters for upcoming tourney". GMA News. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
9. Atencio, Peter (22 July 2011). "Fil-foreigners to try out for Philippine Women's National Football Team Malditas". Futbol PH. Manila Standard Today. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
10. Decena, Karl (28 November 2012). "Malditas represent! Philippine national women's football team rules LA tournament". InterAKTV. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
11. Decena, Karl (26 May 2013). "'Future is bright' for Malditas despite falling short of Women's Asian Cup". InterAKTV. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
12. Decena, Karl (18 September 2013). "Malditas steamroll Laos, 7–2, to close ASEAN women's campaign". InterAKTV. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
13. "Malditas drawn with champs Vietnam in SEA Games". ABS-CBN News. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
14. "Malditas suffer 7–0 beatdown from Vietnam to kiss SEA Games medal hopes goodbye". InterAksyon. 13 December 2013. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
15. Moore, Roy (19 February 2015). "How 'undervalued talents' can bring the Philippines to the World Cup". GMA News. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
16. Leyba, Olmin (25 April 2015). "Fil-Am, Fil-Canadian to boost AFF bid". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
17. Tamayao, Brian (24 April 2015). "Filipinas return to international football stage in AFF Women's Championship". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
18. De Guzman, Icko (29 April 2015). "A Fresh Start: The Philippine Women's Team to Play in the AFF Women's Championship". Football.com.ph. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
19. Montayre, Mia (30 November 2017). "Project Jordan: PFF recruits more overseas-based players, signs new coach for women's team". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
20. Sevilla, Jeremiah (27 December 2017). "PH XI sets up training camp in California". The Manila Times. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
21. "PFF Announcement: Rabah Benlarbi Named Philippines WNT Head Coach". Philippine Football Federation. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
22. "Women's Asian Cup Preparation In Full Swing". Philippine Football Federation. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
23. "Philippines WNT Head To Japan For Final Women's Asian Cup Preparation". Philippine Football Federation. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
24. "USA take historic lead, Netherlands, Sweden make big moves". FIFA. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
25. Estrada, Kevin (30 October 2015). "PFF, Biñan sign MOU for new home of Malditas". Dugout Philippines. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
26. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/aswomen.html#p80
27. "Lady kickers goes to China". Manila Standard. 14 August 1988. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
28. "Indon football coach gets Filipino citizenship". Manila Bulletin. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
29. Tupas, Cedelf (9 October 2008). "Lady booters open bid vs Singapore". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on 21 January 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
30. "Philippine Football Federation (PFF)". Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 8 March 2018. Women's Coach: Richard Boon(ENG)
31. Estrada, Kevin (27 November 2017). "PFF formally taps Richard Boon to take charge of the Malditas for the Women's Asian Cup". Dugout Philippines. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
32. Malditas claim LA Vikings Cup | Sports | GMA News Online
33. "Malditas win LA Viking Cup". rappler.com. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
34. Max Congratulates the Malditas Philippines Women’s National Soccer Team – Powered by RiboCeine in Their Victory at the LA Viking Cup | Max Solutions
35. California Day 11,12,13 – LA Viking Cup Round Robin Wrap-up | Philippine WNT Training Camp Experience

External links

• Official website (in English)
• FIFA profile (in English)
• Media related to Philippines women's national football team at Wikimedia Commons