Nowhere to go but up for the Filipinas.
What a year it has been for the Philippine women’s national football team.
2023 will be remembered as the year the Filipinas finally took off on the international stage.
This was encapsulated by the recent FIFA rankings where the national team jumped to the 38th spot from 44th.
With 1,571.64 points earned, the Filipinas moved ahead of Chile, Jamaica, and Chinese Taipei.
The Philippines is now ranked 7th in Asia and 3rd in the Southeast Asian region.
This all started with their historic performance in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Filipino football fans will forever remember the moment that Sarina Bolden scored the country’s first-ever goal in the tournament against the host country.
Of course, who could also forget the moment that the final whistle blew as the Filipinas celebrated its first win in the World Cup.
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Just two months after that, the Filipinas followed that up with another impressive performance during the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament which saw them just fall short of making the third round of the tournament.
Following the announcement of the Philippines’ impressive jump in the rankings, some members of the national team couldn’t help but be proud of their accomplishments this past year.
“Huuuge. So so so proud of the year we’ve had, more to come,” Jessica Cowart in her Instagram story.
“Big year on the books,” said Angela Beard.
Sara Eggesvik and Katrina Guillou also joined in celebrating the achievement with some emojis that perfectly described their feelings.
The Filipinas, of course, will be hoping for another memorable run come 2024.
(CF)