PH women’s football all set for Paris Olympics qualifying bid
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine women’s football team looks to advance to the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers as it faces three other teams in a round-robin opening round format this April.
The Filipinas, the 11th-ranked Asian team and 53rd in the world, will meet up with Hong Kong (77), Tajikistan (144), and Pakistan (160) after being drawn together in Group E on Thursday, January 12, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Seeding for the first round draw was based on the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings released last December 9, 2022.
The Filipinas have faced Hong Kong 10 times, beating them thrice, and last won on September 24, 2021 during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, 2-1.
They have also defeated Tajikistan twice, including a 3-1 decision during the first round of the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in their hometown Dushanbe in 2018.
“I’m very excited to know our opponents,” said Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic.
“It’s a long and difficult road to qualifying for Paris. But qualifying through Round 1 and trying to get some matches against the big nations of the AFC is a very enticing and appealing prospect,” he added.
Grouped into seven, a total of 26 nations will participate in the tourney, with five groups having four countries, while the last two will have three.
The Filipinas will need to emerge with the best overall record in the group to advance to the second round, a feat they made in the previous Olympic qualifiers, eventually bowing out after a loss to Chinese Taipei.
Once finished through the first round, the seven will meet up with the top five Asian teams, namely DPR Korea (10), Japan (11), Australia (12), China (14), and Korea Republic (15).
Of the 12 teams in the second round, only the three group winners and the best second-placed team will advance to the home-and-away playoff round for an opportunity to claim one of two slots to the Olympiad.
The Filipinas also participated in the previous Olympic qualifiers for the Tokyo Games, but were eliminated in the second round following a loss to Chinese Taipei.
The team emerged as one of the best success stories of 2022 when they qualified to the World Cup in January, and copped their first AFF Women’s Championship before a supportive home crowd in Manila last July.
Here are the full results from the draw: