The Philippine Women’s National Football Team. | Photo from the PFF Website
CEBU CITY, Philippines— The Philippine Women’s National Football Team (PWNFT) Filipinas will definitely have their backs against the wall in their debut in the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year after the official draw on Saturday, October 22, 2022 in Auckland, New Zealand.
The world ranked No. 53 Filipinas was drawn under Group A together with world’s No. 12 Norway, host country and world No. 22 New Zealand, and world No. 21 Switzerland.
With their opponents, the Filipinas became heavy underdogs in Group A in their first FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign.
The Filipinas were the first team picked out of Pot 4 during the draw which means that they would likely fall in Group A and will play in New Zealand in the world cup co-hosted by Australia during the group stage.
Their first match will be against Switzerland on July 21, 2023 at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in the south New Zealand island of Dunedin.
Their second match is against the Kiwis at the Wellington Regional Stadium on July 25, 2023, while their last group stage match is against Norway on July 30, 2023 at the Eden Park in Auckland.
“There’s one perspective that it’s good to play teams maybe that aren’t in the Top 10,” said Stajcic in a report from the PFF website.
“And the other perspective is you want to go to the World Cup and experience playing those big nations and really test yourself. The team has come a long way in the last 12 months and it’s great to see every time on the field how much we’ve learned and how much we’ve improved. There’s no better way to measure yourself than to play against the best countries on the planet.”
Co-host, Australia was drawn under Group B together with the Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, and Canada.
Group C is comprised of Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, and Japan. Group D will be made up of England, Denmark, China and another qualifier.
Meanwhile, the defending champions, the United States, was drawn under Group E with Vietnam, Netherlands, and another qualifier. Group F is comprised of France, Jamaica, Brazil and another qualifier.
Group G will be played by Sweden, South Africa, Italy, and Argentina. Lastly, Group H will have Germany, Morocco, Colombia, and Korea Republic.
The Filipinas qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup after reaching the semifinals of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup last February in India.
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