The Philippine national women’s football team’s rise in the International Football Federation ranking continues as the Filipinas are now at No. 44 in the latest FIFA rankings.
The Filipinas rose from No. 46 after a historic debut in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup that was highlighted by a 1-0 win over co-host New Zealand last July.
The Philippines finished its first-ever World Cup as 24th of the 32 participating countries in the biggest football competition that saw Spain beat England 2-0 for its first-ever World Cup.
The Filipinas will have more tournaments on the horizon as they ramp up their rise.
Next up for them is the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from 23 September to 18 October and the second round of the 2024 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Australia from 26 October to 1 November 2023.
While the Filipinas won’t be able to have Australian head coach Alen Stajcic, another Australian tactician will replace him with Mark Torcaso now in charge.
Torcaso, who is also the head coach for A-League Women’s side Western United, will begin training camp at the end of August as his first order of business will be gauging the girls’ fitness levels.
“I think as I understand, a lot of the girls have returned to their home countries and to some of their clubs so it’s obviously gauging where they’re at and initial report from the medical staff where they are physically so it’s important for us in the first couple of days in the camp just to see where they are physically but also mentally because some of these players came off from two years of football,” Torcaso said.
“I think it’s difficult to have such a short time to prepare a side for the Asian Games but it’s also a good indication for us to see where we are going to go in the Olympic qualifiers as well. Hopefully, we can get as much as we can going into this can and be prepared as we can for the Asian Games and be prepared for the Olympic qualifiers.”
