2025 will be remembered as a milestone year for Philippines football and futsal. The much-anticipated maiden edition of the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™ is the first tournament held in the nation and just the second FIFA women’s tournament held in the fast-growing Southeast Asian region. Hosting comes on the back of a highly productive period for the Philippines, both on and off the field. The Filipinas qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ - their first FIFA tournament - and highlighted their appearance with a sensational win over co-hosts New Zealand. With the creation of the first Futsal Women’s World Cup, an overarching strategy ‘Beyond the Court: Futsal Impact Initiatives’ was developed to lay the foundation of further growth and legacy activities as well as to ignite women’s football development programmes across the country. Away from the field, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) have been highly active, supported by numerous FIFA projects, notably building new headquarters with support from the FIFA Forward Programme, as well as a host of football development initiatives.

The FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup is a continuation of a long-term strategic investment by FIFA to accelerate the women’s game worldwide. Similarly, world football’s governing body has continually invested in both men’s and women’s futsal. PFF President John Gutierrez said FIFA’s support has been “invaluable”, adding: “Without FIFA's guidance, this [tournament] would never have been possible. We started preparing the day after FIFA announced that we were awarded the hosting duties. “The preparations have been … very fulfilling. We are very excited that what we have worked hard for is literally history in the making.”

The new PFF headquarters near Manila are a source of pride for the association. Located within walking distance of the national training centre – an area that has a full-sized FIFA-funded artificial pitch and two mini-pitches – the PFF now house their core football facilities close together in a single location thanks to the FIFA Forward Programme. The PFF also benefit from FIFA Women’s Football League Development Programme with a focus on futsal league advancement, thereby contributing to the success of the FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup Philippines 2025™. The FIFA Talent Development Scheme and FIFA’s Football for Schools programme were both established in the Philippines in 2023 allowing the local football ecosystem to further strengthen. FIFA has also contributed to help leave a legacy after the tournament’s completion, including by donating official Futsal World Cup flooring to provide the Tuloy orphanage with access to quality sport facilities, and supporting the nationwide Filipina5 Futsal Fiesta, which offered a community tournament to create meaningful pathways for young girls to engage with the tournament.

Mr Gutierrez also referenced his plan to give every aspiring footballer the chance to fulfil their potential. “[Futsal] is one of the fastest-growing women’s sports, and we expect it to become one of the premier sports for women, especially in the Philippines, after the World Cup,” he said. Philippines had the honour of taking to the court at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, Metro Manila for the tournament opener. Though that ended in a defeat to South American powerhouse Argentina, the strong support for the Filipinas was rewarded on Matchday 2 as Dionesa Tolentin scored the nation’s first goal in a 3-2 loss to Morocco. The profile of the tournament is another opportunity for PFF to push football’s drive to match basketball as the most popular sport among the archipelago’s circa 120 million population. “[Hosting] means the world to us,” added the PFF President. “Being able to host a quadrennial FIFA event and do our part in further developing football and futsal around the world is quite an achievement.”