Story by Kevin Estrada

The Philippine Women’s National Football Team, the Filipinas, are gearing up for a friendly match against Chinese Taipei on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

The evening kickoff at Manila’s Rizal Memorial will be the Filipinas’ first in almost three years, and also their maiden home match since their Women’s World Cup stint.

In their previous fixture in Adriatico in 2022, the Filipinas shut out Thailand for three without reply and began their reign as ASEAN queens, in front of more than 8,00p people.

Manager Mark Torcaso is aware of what is at stake in this friendly both in the short term and in long term for the side ranked 41st in the world, with the qualifiers for the Women’s Asian Cup kicking off in just three weeks’ time.

“We want to come up against a tough team that will challenge us in the [AFC Women’s] Asian Cup  qualifiers,” said the Australian gaffer, with their most recent fixtures producing a pair of wins in the United Arab Emirates two months ago.

“The expectations are for us to continue to build the playing style. We’re getting there.”

The Filipina booters are favorites to top the qualifiers Group G composed of Cambodia, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.

Torcaso still has high regards for the Blue Magpies since their last meeting in Western Australia.

“They are getting better and better. They’ve played some tough opponents in the last couple of [international] windows, and that’s why we chose them to play us.”