(SPOT.ph) Filipinas everywhere are proving to be a force to reckon with. During the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz bagged the Philippines' first Olympic gold while boxer Nesthy Pestecio secured a bronze and gave the country our first multi-medal Olympic win in nearly a century. This 2022, another set of women athletes just made us proud: the Philippine Women's National Football Team clinched a spot at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.Â
This great news came after the Filipina booters beat the Chinese Taipei women's national football team in the quarter-finals of the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup on Sunday night in Pune, India. The game started at 7:30 p.m. (10 p.m. Philippine Standard Time) on January 30 and was aired live on ONE Sports.
This is the first time that the Philippines qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup—and for a World Cup of any gender, for that matter. The men's team failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after losing to China in 2021.
The Philippines women's national football team debut in the world stage was in 1981 when they participated in the Women's Asian Cup (formerly AFC Women's Championship). Prior to their historic win in India, their other notable achievement was finishing third at the 1985 Southeast Asian Games. The head coach of the national team is former Australian soccer player Alen Stajcic, who previously handled handled his country's national team in 2015 and 2019 in the World Cup.
