After a legendary display in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 a new months ago, which yielded a semi-finals appearance and a ticket into next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the Philippine Women’s National Football Team has achieved its highest-ever placing in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings.
In an update by FIFA, it was announced that the Philippines has moved up to be the 54th best team worldwide with a total of 1438.90 points coming from being 64th with 1385.64. The country is also the biggest mover in this edition of the global league table as it went up 10 places.
This development caps off the wonderful past few months for the PWNFT which saw the program being handled by two coaches – Marlon Maro and Alen Stajcic. Under Maro, the Filipinas defeated Hong Kong and Nepal to qualify for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
(C) AFC
Stajcic then built on the long-time College of St. Benilde Blazers mentor’s work and brought the nation to uncharted territory with memorable wins over Thailand and Indonesia in the group stage and a penalty shootout victory over Chinese Taipei to not only enter the final four of the tourney but also book a place in the upcoming World Cup.
Now the 54th best team in the world, the Filipinas have come a long way ever since nations were ranked starting 2003. The program sank to as low at 89th place back in 2006 and before this update, its best move was to reach 67th place in 2019 from 74th in the previous year.
With Stajcic still at the help, the PWNFT is set to compete in the upcoming 31st SEA Games in Vietnam, the AFF Women’s Championship, which will be hosted locally, and the 19th Asian Games in China in the next few months.
