PFF completes workshop to chart women’s football future

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The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has concluded the final session of its four-part PFF Women’s Football Strategy Workshop, marking a significant step toward building a unified long-term development roadmap for women’s football and futsal in the country.

The workshop, held on 24 November, was aligned with FIFA’s Women’s Football Strategy Football Unites the World: Strategic Objectives for the Global Game and was facilitated by PFF Head of Women’s Development and former national team player Camille Rodriguez, FIFA Head of Development in the Women’s Football Division Arijana Demirović, and FIFA Technical Expert Simon Toselli.

The initiative comes at a crucial time, as Philippine women’s football is experiencing its most successful era, highlighted by a historic 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance, three straight AFC Women’s Asian Cup finals qualifications, back-to-back AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup finals berths, and hosting the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup.

Rodriguez said the country’s recent gains bring both opportunity and responsibility. “With the sport evolving so quickly and with everything we’ve achieved, there was a need to revisit our game plan and elevate it,” she noted. “That is why we engaged as many stakeholders as possible—to hear their challenges, their opportunities, and their vision.”

The workshop placed strong emphasis on collaboration and inclusivity, bringing together leaders and practitioners from Regional Football Associations (RFAs), national teams, clubs, academies, community programs, and PFF units across both online and in-person sessions.

Demirović praised the breadth of participation and the passion evident in local communities. “It was really good to come together and share more ideas, try to understand what are some of the challenges within different regions,” she said. She added that strong grassroots efforts across the Philippines signal a healthy foundation for growth. “There’s a lot of passionate people in the regional associations, in the clubs, a lot of female coaches, [and] former players that are willing to give more to the game.”

Toselli described the process as both dynamic and deeply stakeholder-driven. “We have been collaborating online because PFF wanted to include the key stakeholders into the strategy. And today was the final step… so that they can share their experience, their expertise, their ideas and we can understand their environments,” he said.

According to Toselli, the inclusive approach is critical for defining “the national vision, the mission, and the key strategic goals for later,” adding that the workshop generated “plenty of new ideas.”

Discussions focused on building a strong ecosystem guided by FIFA’s strategic pillars, covering grassroots expansion, coaching and referee development, improved competition structures, facility enhancements, digital visibility, and accessible pathways from beginners to elite players.

Rodriguez highlighted coaching as a core pillar. “There was a strong rhetoric in the workshop: To develop better players, we need to develop coaches as well,” she said. She added that stakeholders expressed a strong desire to build the capacity of female coaches, administrators, and male allies supporting women’s football.

Another integral component of the strategy is a national “infrastructure inventory” to map fields, facilities, girls’ and women’s teams, clubs, coaches, referees, and competitions. “When you build an ecosystem, every part is unique,” Rodriguez said. “Our strength as a country is our diversity.”

The workshop also formed part of the legacy program of the first FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup, hosted by the Philippines earlier this year. Rodriguez said the convergence of milestones presents a rare moment to shape long-term growth. “Now we need a strategy—a game plan—to harness that momentum,” she said.

She cited the Filipina Five Futsal Fiesta, delivered with FIFA support, as an example of scalable programs that engaged all 32 RFAs and brought 290 women futsal players and 58 coaches to Manila for world-class training.

Toselli emphasized the expanding global landscape for women’s football. “Women’s football has had exponential growth. It’s now more visible, we have more fans, more sponsors, more broadcasters,” he said, noting that the sport creates opportunities both on and off the field.

Demirović echoed the sentiment, pointing to football’s transformative impact. “We saw how much it meant to younger girls to see someone who looks like them representing them, allowing them to dream that one day that can also be them,” she said, adding that the sport also opens doors for women in refereeing, coaching, administration, and leadership.

With the workshop series completed, the PFF will consolidate all inputs into a unified Women’s Football Strategy for presentation to the PFF Executive Committee and Congress ahead of its targeted 2026 launch.

Rodriguez underscored that the success of the roadmap will depend on continued collaboration. “Stakeholders need to know their role. Investors need to see the vision. The strategy must be relevant, inclusive, and connected—from local realities to national direction, and back again,” she said. “The passion of the people in Philippine women’s football is real, and it gives us confidence that through collaboration, clarity, and commitment, we can build a stronger, more unified women’s football future.”