The Philippines has competed in nine editions of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the top tournament for women's national teams organized by members of the Asian Football Confederation. The Philippine first competed in 1981, when the tournament was still known as the "AFC Women's Championship". The national team competed again in 1983 before skipping the next three editions.
From 1993 to 2003, the Philippines participated in the tournament but failed to progress beyond the group stage. For the 2006 edition the tournament a qualification phase was introduced and the competition was renamed as the "AFC Women's Asian Cup". The Philippines unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the 2006, 2008, 2014 editions while it did not enter the qualifiers for the 2010 edition.
The Philippines then qualified for the 2018 edition which was hosted in Jordan. In this edition they made their most successful finish in the history of the continental tournament advancing out of the group stage for the first time and finished sixth.
The 1981 AFC Women's Championship which was hosted in Hong Kong, then a British Overseas Territory, marked the Philippines first participation in Asia's top women's national teams tournament. Full matches had a duration of 60 minutes. The Philippine national team was mentored by Edward Magallona and had Cristy Ramos as its captain. They were part of Group A in the group stage together with India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The national team finished last in their group and failed to advance to the semifinal. They only scoring a single goal while conceding 14 goals in three matches.[1]
The 1983 AFC Women's Championship which was hosted in Bangkok, Thailand saw six national teams participating. The competing teams were part of a single group in the group stage matches. Though the team failed to qualify at least for the third place play-off, it was in this edition that the Philippines recorded their first win in the history of the tournament by winning 2-0 over Hong Kong. Laudeth Gonzales scored at least a goal in that match.[2]
The Philippines returned to the AFC Women's Asian Championships after not participating in 1986 and 1991. The 1993 edition was hosted in Kuching, Malaysia They were part of Group B with Hong Kong, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. The Philippines finish last in their group conceding 32 goals and did not manage to score a goal. The national team suffered losses with double-digit margins against Japan and Chinese Taipei.[3]
The 1995 edition of the Asian Championships was hosted in Malaysia again; this time in Kota Kinabalu. The Philippines were part of Group A together with China, Hong Kong, and Kazakhstan. The Philippines suffered a 0-21 defeat to China, loss 0-2 to Hong Kong but managed to make a goalless draw with Kazakhstan.[4]
The 1997 edition was hosted by China with matches of Group B, the grouping which the Philippines was a part of, were played in Guangzhou. The hosts were also part of this group, along with North Korea and Uzbekistan. The Philippines again finished last in their group, conceding 32 goals but scored a goal apiece against North Korea and Uzbekistan.[5]
The Philippines hosted the 1999 AFC Women's Championship with games played in Bacolod and Iloilo City. The host nation played matches in Iloilo City as a team which was part of Group B. They started their campaign with a 5-0 win against Nepal but loss their following matches against Uzbekistan, Japan, and Thailand and finished fourth among five teams in their group just a place ahead of Nepal.[6]
The Philippines were grouped with China, Uzbekistan, and Hong Kong in Group B in the tournament hosted in Taiwan. They lost all three games scoring only a single goal against Hong Kong. The opposing teams scored 17 goals against the Philippines.[7]
Thailand hosted the 2003 AFC Women's Championship and the Philippines were grouped with five teams in Group B. They lost their first three matches against Japan, Myanmar, and Chinese Taipei. Their 2-1 win over Guam was their fourth and final match in this edition.[8]
The Philippines qualified for the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the first time a qualification process was introduced in the tournament which was known as the AFC Women's Championship prior to the 2006 edition.
Group stage – Group A
The national team was part of Group A. They had to finished among the top two teams in their group to advance to the semifinals and qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France and if they finished third they had to face the third-placing team from the other group for fifth place and the fifth and last berth to qualify for the World Cup. They won 2-1 against hosts Jordan in their first group stage match though they lost their next matches against China and Thailand. They finished third in their group and progressed to the fifth place playoff.
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