Philippine preparations for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 hosting have commenced

L-R:  FIFA Futsal Manager Laura Cuscó, Director FIFA Tournaments Jaime Yarza, Philippine Football Federation President John Anthony Gutierrez, FIFA Head of Olympics and Futsal and Beach Soccer Kasra Haghighi

The preparations for the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025™️ to be held in the Philippines have begun! The FIFA Tournament Team was in Manila during the second week of June to meet with the Philippine Football Federation and lay the groundwork.

 The Philippines was chosen as the host nation of the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup last May 15, 2024. The announcement was made at the 74th FIFA Congress that was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

FIFA Director of Tournaments Jaime Yarza disclosed on Friday that the Philippines "is one of the top contenders" in hosting the Futsal Women's World Cup. 

According to Yarza, the other countries that had submitted their bid were Brazil, Spain, and Italy. 

The Philippines' hosting rights were "based mostly about the exceptional work done by the Philippine Football Federation to promote football and futsal and the growing tendency of Filipino girls and kids to play futsal, which I would say were the key elements of giving it to the Philippines," Yarza explained on Friday's presscon organized by PFF. 

"So, in the bidding process, the Philippines came on top of these six to seven nations bidding for the tournament," Yarza added. 

 The Philippines automatically has a slot as the host country. The remaining 15 slots will be filled by three countries each from the member-associations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the South American Football Confederation CONMEBOL; two countries each from the member-associations of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf); one country from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC); and four countries from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

 According to the FIFA website, the proposed format will have the 16 teams drawn into groups of four. The two in each group will reach the knock-out phase, in which quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third place play-off and final will ensue.

 Director of FIFA Tournaments Jaime Yarza; FIFA’s Head of Olympics, Futsal and Beach Soccer Kasra Haghighi and Futsal Manager Laura Cuscó met with PFF President John Anthony Gutierrez, General Secretary Angelico Mercader and the PFF team to discuss initial preparations for the inaugural event. They also visited and inspected potential venues. 

 “We need to spread the word that FIFA has trusted us to hold one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world,” said PFF President John Anthony Gutierrez. “This is going to be the first FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup. The men have been successfully doing it for the past 35 years."

 The PFF has invested in all forms of women’s football, including futsal, and has yielded results with the Philippine National Women’s Football Team, the “Filipinas”, qualifying for the country’s first ever FIFA World Cup berth at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™️. Since 2022, the PFF has worked on the development of all forms of the women’s game, and organized and hosted a series of local international women’s futsal tournaments to build on the popularity of the modality of futsal among girls in local public schools and communities.  

 With the help of the Philippine government and the private sector, FIFA and the PFF envision the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2025 to not only boost the popularity of football and futsal in the country. 

“While other teams, other women are dreaming of an opportunity to play in a World Cup, the Philippines had already been listed as a participant. We are the first team to qualify," Gutierrez underscored. 

"This is no small achievement. We are where other women around the world are dreaming of. We have to take advantage of this. We are again given a magnificent opportunity to showcase Filipina talent around the world. We have to spread the word," Gutierrez emphasized. 

The PFF will soon be launching a Road to World Cup campaign to promote futsal across the country. A highlight of this initiative is a national futsal tournament from which potential women’s futsal national team players will be identified.

“We will enjoin the entire country to be part of this momentous and once-in-a-lifetime event. We will promote futsal in schools and communities as this will help us develop our football nationwide. Equally important, we want to discover and hone local talents that can represent our country as members of the national team, who will be a source of pride not just for their respective regions but for the entire country as well,” added Gutierrez.

Lastly, Gutierrez assured that "all Filipinas around the world will be given a chance" to play for the national futsal team.

"It will be a mix of Filipinos who play the game," Gutierrez said on the possible team composition. "But I would like to stress that everyone will be given the same chance and I encourage our locally-developed players to step up and show the world what the Philippine program and way of playing futsal can do."