and Herzegovina 3–0 in a friendly in Brežice, Slovenia. 2022 AFF Women's Championship The Philippines hosted the 2022 AFF Women's Championship. They secured their first-ever final appearance in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament and guaranteed a podium finish by upsetting defending champions Vietnam 4–0 in the semifinals, recording their best finish at the AFF Women's Championship yet. It also marked the Filipinas' first win against Vietnam after 16 matches against each other, who, alongside Thailand, have been their most-matched opponents in their 42-year history. The team went on to defeat Thailand 3–0 in the final, which was attended by 8,257 spectators at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, and clinched their first-ever title in any major tournament. Road to World Cup The Philippines is set to participate in the 2023 Pinatar Cup as part of its preparation for its maiden Women's World Cup bid. They will also play at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia. Team image Nicknames The Philippines women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Malditas". There is no direct English equivalent, but translations range from a mild swear or epithet ("damned" or "accursed" ones (female)) to respect or fear ("badasses" (female)). The nickname was adopted by the team during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games under head coach Ernest Nierras. Nierras meant the moniker to reflect the players' gutsy nature and inner fight ("palaban"), a symbol of a determined team who never gives up and whom opponents fear to face. However, as the term maldita could also be interpreted as "bratty", head coach Marlon Maro in October 2021 proposed discontinuing the nickname. Maro wanted to replace the nickname, believing the Malditas monicker to be pejorative. After Maro's departure in late 2021, the status of the proposal became unclear with members of the national team at that time preferring to keep the nickname. In March 2022, the PFF announced that they would be officially adopting the nickname "Filipinas" for the team. The moniker had been used before, as the demonym for female people of the Philippines. Jefferson Cheng the team manager reasoned that Malditas is a swear word in Spanish and Portuguese which translates to "damned", but the derivative word has a bit more of a pejorative meaning in Tagalog and, despite its uniqueness, one could imagine it to be "problematic" having to repeatedly explain its meaning. Cheng also said that the Filipinas moniker is a