Filipinas reach best-ever ranking at 49th

The Filipinas are still in the business of making new milestones for Philippine football.

The Philippines moved up to 49th in the most recent FIFA Women's World Ranking (released March 2023), its highest-ever rank so far. They are up four spots from 53rd (December 2022), thereby breaching the top 50 for the first time ever.

In the Asian front, the Filipinas are now rated by FIFA as the 9th best national team. They move up from 11th after overtaking Uzbekistan and DPR Korea (who have dropped out of the rankings due to inactivity).

The senior women's side gained 10.73 ranking points, making them the best mover among Asian national teams. In this period, the team notched two friendly wins (5-1 and 9-0) over Papua New Guinea in mid-December last year, with three creditable defeats to higher-ranked opposition (0-1 vs Wales, 1-2 vs Scotland, 0-5 vs Iceland) at the Pinatar Cup in February.

The Filipinas return to action on April 3-8 for the first round of Olympic qualification, grouped against Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Hong Kong. This is followed by the much-anticipated Women's World Cup debut in July, where they play Switzerland on the 21st, hosts New Zealand on the 25th, and Norway on the 30th.