The Philippines women's national football team represents the Philippines in international women's football. It is managed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the country. The women's national football team of the Philippines was formalized in the 1980s. The Philippines has participated regularly in the AFC Women's Asian Cup, first participating in 1981 when the tournament was still known as the AFC Women's Championship. The Philippines hosted the tournament in 1999 in Iloilo and Bacolod. They had a hiatus from the continental tournament after taking part in 2003 with a qualification process being introduced in the 2006 edition. They returned to the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2018 after qualifying in 2017. In that iteration of the tournament, they progressed beyond the group stage for the first time in their Asian Cup participation history. The Philippines progressed further in the 2022 edition, advancing to the semifinals and qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. It will be the national team's first participation at a FIFA Women's World Cup tournament in their 42-year history. In Southeast Asian football, the Philippine women's team won their first AFF Women's Championship title in 2022. The team had limited successes in prior editions of the championship and at the Southeast Asian Games, with their only honor being bronze medal finishes in 1985, which saw only three teams participating in the women's football event, and in 2021. The head coach of the national team since October 2021 is Alen Stajcic and the team is currently 53rd in the women's FIFA ranking as of December 2022, their highest-ever rank to date. History Early years The Philippines women's national football team was formally organized after the Philippine Ladies' Football Association (PLFA) was established in 1980 by footballer Cristina Ramos, who later became a member of the team. The Philippines took part in the 1983 Asian Women's Championship in Thailand although the tournament at the time was not sanctioned by FIFA or the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In order for the Philippines to be eligible to participate in FIFA tournaments, the PLFA and, in extension, the women's national team would have to be an affiliate of the PFF, the Philippines' national sports association for football. The PLFA later became part of the PFF. The Philippines was among the teams which competed in the 1985 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, the first-ever edition of