9-7-2023 (MANILA) The Philippines women’s football team aims to spark interest in the sport as they make their World Cup debut. Despite being underdogs in the sport, the women’s team, under the Australian coach Alen Stajcic, will play Switzerland in their first match on 21 July in Dunedin, New Zealand. Stajcic considers their journey from “almost ground zero” to the World Cup “miraculous.”
Half of the players are not part of a professional club, and some have been “running around the block on their own” for training. The Philippines have never played at a FIFA World Cup, but since Stajcic’s appointment as coach in late 2021, they have jumped from 68 to a best-ever 46th place in the FIFA rankings.
The Philippines will compete against New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland in Group A at the World Cup. Defender Hali Long hopes that their first World Cup appearance can be a game-changer for football in the country. Long, who was born in the United States, said that football is not the most popular sport in the Philippines, which is known for beauty pageants, boxing, and basketball.
National goalkeeper Inna Palacios added that the country needs more investment to find and develop young talent in the poverty-plagued country. Stajcic, who coached Australia at the 2015 World Cup, says that the women’s game has gone through exponential growth in the last five years, and the rest of the world is already a hundred steps ahead of the Philippines. Despite that, he believes that the team can make an impact if they “do everything right.”
