The Philippine women’s national football team will attempt to defend their ASEAN title as the Filipinas learn about the draw results in the MSIG Serenity Cup.
After three long years, the Philippine women’s national football team will stake their title as defending champions in the ASEAN Women’s MSIG Serenity Cup from August 6 to 19 in Viet Tri and Hai Phong in Vietnam.
Long delays hampered the Filipinas’ title defense of the then-known AFF Women’s Championship that was last held in Manila back in 2022.
During that time, the Filipinas, who were then still in preparation for their historic appearance at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, won the competition in front of thousands of hometown fans at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
It marked the first time that a Philippine national football team — men or women — won a title in a tournament at any level of the sport.
The Philippines were drawn in Group B where they will face matches against long-time rivals Myanmar, Australia, and Timor-Leste in pool play. The Philippines will need to finish in the Top 2 of their group to advance to the knockout stage.
The Philippines will first face Timor-Leste on August 7 before they prepare for Australia on August 10. They close out their pool games on August 13 against Myanmar.
Of note, Australia sent an U23 team during the 2022 edition, where the Philippines defeated them 1-0. Reports say that Australia will be sending a seniors team this time around.
Against a full-strength Matildas squad, led by Sam Kerr, the Filipinas fell 0-8 in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Regardless, the Filipinas will likely have their hands full against the Australians in Vietnam.
But before then, the Filipinas will be seeing action in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in Cambodia beginning June 29.
The Filipinas face Saudi Arabia, hosts Cambodia, and Hong Kong as they aim to move forward in the tournament which will also be the first stage of qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2028 Olympic football tournament.
Only the winners of each group will qualify to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup slated in Australia.
The Filipinas recently stayed in their world ranking of no. 41 in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings.