The Philippine Women’s National Football Team ended their historic 2022 campaign with another milestone, being the world’s top goal scoring team for the year with 97 international goals, easily defeating second top goalscorer and UEFA champions England by 25.

The record came after a 9-0 shellacking by the world number 53 of world number 51 and Oceania champions Papua New Guinea, 9-0 (14-1 aggregate) Thursday in Sydney, Australia.

Quinley Quezada led the Filipinas with a hat-trick as the Red Star Belgrade forward became the all-time leading Philippine goal scorer with 20 career international goals.

Fellow striker Katrina Guillou scored a brace while Tahnai Annis, Sara Eggesvik, and Jessica Cowart finished their years with a goal.

The Filipinas’ 97 goals were scored in 29 international games, making them the most active national squad in the world with the most games in the year.

The previous year high of the Filipinas in goals scored was 46 in 2019.

The Filipinas finished 2022 with 17 wins, three draws, and nine losses, making them have the most wins and losses among all national squads.

The Lionesses, ranked fourth in the world, finished the year with the best record at 16 wins, four draws, and zero defeats.

In addition, the Filipinas have the best goal differential at +70, conceding only 27 goals. Their best win was a 16-0 thrashing of Tonga in a friendly in April while their worst defeat was 0-4 against Australia in February during the 2022 Asian Cup group stage.

The Philippines has the 12th most goals made with 3.3 goals and number 31 in the least goals conceded per game with 0.9.

The Filipinas made history by being the first Philippine national football team to have reached a FIFA World Cup after besting Taiwan in the quarterfinals of the 2022 AFC Asian Cup in a frenetic 4-3 penalty shootout win.

In May, the squad won the Southeast Asian Games bronze medal, the Philippines’ first in football since 1985.

The next month, the Filipinas won Philippine football’s fist win against a European national team in a 5-1 aggregate win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a pair of friendly games.

In July, the Filipinas clinched the country’s first ASEAN Football Federation title, winning the final, 3-0, versus Thailand.

All of these milestones were achieved under the stewardship of Australian coach Alen Stajcic, who took over the Filipinas in October 2021.

Stajcic is regarded as the most successful homegrown head coach of the Australia Matildas, steering them to a quarterfinal finishes in the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, as well as consecutive runner-up finishes in the 2014 and 2018 Asian Cup.

The Filipinas are grouped with former World Cup champs Norway, co-host New Zealand, and top-tier European team Switzerland in Group A next year’s World Cup in July.

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