Philippine Women’s National Futsal Team Face-Off Against Guam

The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) will be hosting the first-ever international futsal friendlies between the Philippine Women’s National Futsal Team (or the PINAY5) and the Guam Women’s National Team. The two friendly futsal matches against Guam will be held in the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, inside the Rizal Memorial Complex at 4:30 P.M. on October 15 and 16. Tickets to the matches are available for reservation via the PFF or by walk-in on October 15 and 16 respectively.

“We see futsal is a viable sport for Filipinos to excel with along with football, and with Coach Vic Hermans and Kevin Goco at the helm, futsal is primed for success in the future,” said PFF President and FIFA Council Member Mariano Araneta, Jr. “It’s been a long time that we have fielded a futsal national team, and this upcoming friendly is on the right path to reignite the sport in the country.”

The PFF has been working closely with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the Department of Education (DepEd), and other private sector groups in promoting the development of futsal, a 5-a-side version of football that can be played indoors in basketball courts. The PSC includes futsal as a sporting category in its Batang Pinoy (National Youth) Games, and futsal is the official sport for secondary school girls in the DepEd’s Palarong Pambansa (National School Games).

The face-off against Guam is the next phase of a bottoms-up development approach that the PFF has initiated through futsal since 2017, where it hopes a lot of the players who are playing futsal in schools and local communities can develop their skills and eventually represent the country in international competitions.

“The upcoming hosting of the Futsal friendly match between the Philippines and Guam is the joint effort of PFF together with the public and private sectors,” added PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes. “We encourage all football and futsal stakeholders to support the PINAY5 in their friendly matches against Guam.”

The PINAY5 will be training under the guidance of Coach Vic Hermans.  Coach Vic is the former Captain of the Dutch National Futsal team, and  a former winner of the FIFA Futsal Golden Ball Award. An experienced coach of several national team sides, Mr. Herman’s career highlights include managing Thailand men’s national futsal team in two FIFA Futsal World Cups, and leading them to five AFF Futsal titles, and a SEA Games gold medal. He also steered the Iran men’s national futsal team to the AFC Futsal Championship in 2001.  Mr. Hermans, who has close to 3 decades of experience developing the sport across the world as an instructor first came to the Philippines in 2015 to conduct the FIFA Futsal Coaching course.  He followed this up with consultative visits hosted by the PFF and delivering AFC Futsal coaching development courses to local Filipino coaches.  Mr. Hermans has been living in the Philippines since March of this year.

“I have been familiar with the Philippines since 2015, and have observed futsal activities all over the country.  I came away with the conclusion that the Philippines has so much potential in the sport, especially with the Filipina girls.”  Hermans who was appointed to lead the technical development of Philippine futsal by the PFF adds, “The sport is backed by competent people and good organizations who genuinely care about theinclusive development of the sport at all levels. Our face-off against the Guam’s Women’s National Futsal team is a first step in a long-term development plan that builds on the groundwork the PFF and other local stakeholders have already established in the country.”