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The Philippine futsal team, likely reinforced by national women’s football stars, looks to assemble a competitive squad when the country hosts the sport’s inaugural World Cup next year
MANILA, Philippines – From one historic World Cup to another.
Following its historic Women’s World Cup campaign in 2023, the national women’s football team will reinforce the Philippine women’s futsal squad in the 2025 FIFA Futsal World Cup.
The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) plans to insert players from the renowned Filipinas squad to join the futsal team as the country hosts the inaugural tournament set next year.
“[Some] of our women’s national team players have committed their services to the futsal women’s team,” PFF president John Gutierrez said in a recent press conference.
“Some of the players who played in the last Philippine women’s team in the last World Cup have said they will be happy to join the futsal team. So it’s looking very good,” he added.
While no names have been announced yet, Gutierrez cited that some Filipinas started their football careers through playing futsal.
“It was simply because some of them actually started in futsal,” he said.
The Futsal World Cup will run from November 21 to December 5, 2025, making it the first-ever FIFA event the country will host.
Futsal is a football variant sport played by teams of five on a flat surface that is 40 meters long by 20 meters wide. Futsal, which literally means indoor football in Spanish, is only 40 minutes long, with 20-minute halves.
Currently, only Oceania champion New Zealand qualified for the 16-team World Cup, while the Philippines secured a spot as host.
Philippine futsal team head coach Vic Hermans is expected to call the shots in the tournament.
Under Hermans, the team picked up a silver in the Philippine Football Federation Tri-Nation Futsal Invitational in 2023 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The World Cup games will be played in different venues in the Philippines, with the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City and an Iloilo venue being the initial sites so far.
Gutierrez said they are still looking for other FIFA-standard venues around the country.
“We looked at some of the potential venues in Cebu but none could come up to the FIFA standards, so we are looking for others,” he said.
The country will also host the AFF Women’s Futsal Championship in November as part of its preparations for the World Cup.
“We are on track for the hosting… Very exciting for us, especially for futsal enthusiasts,” said Gutierrez. – Rappler.com
