By NIKOLE JAVIER
The Philippine women’s national football team is looking to make it past the first round of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers.
This came after 53rd-ranked in the world team was drawn into Group E with Hong Kong (No. 77), Tajikistan (No. 144) and Pakistan (No. 160) for a round-robin opening in the group stage this April.
Filipinas were called third to the last in the first official draw which was based on the Dec. 9, 2022 FIFA Women’s World Rankings on Thursday, Jan. 12 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In the previous Olympic qualifiers in Tokyo, the Philippines suffered a second-round loss to Chinese Taipei which resulted to its elimination.
This time around, the Philippines is looking to dodge another heartbreak at the hands of the 39th-ranked Chinese Taipei, which wound up in Group F with Indonesia and Lebanon.
The Philippines needs to eclipse its previous best overall record to ensure that a ticket to the Olympics could be in its hands instead.
A total of 26 nations are set to participate in the tourney which were grouped into seven, with five groups having four countries competing while the last two have three each.
Once the top seven teams have emerged from the first round, the group winners will face a tough task in the top five Asian countries in DPR Korea (No. 10), Japan (No. 11), Australia (No. 12), China (No. 14) and Korea Republic (No. 15).
The acid test begins in the second round for the Philippines as only three group winners and the best second-placed team will make their way to the playoff round for a chance to claim one of the two tickets to the Olympics.
After qualifying for the World Cup in January and clinching their first AFF Women’s Championship in July, both last year, the Filipinas are looking to follow up those successes to the biggest sporting stage.
