We’re still months away from the next FIFA Women’s World Cup which starts on July 20, 2023. But even in its buildup, there is much to be excited about. One of which is finally finding out who the Philippine Women’s National Football Team will be competing against.
This Saturday, October 22, the official draw for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be taking place. There, every nation will find out who they will be facing in the group stages of the tournament.
This is how it works.
Luck of the draw
So far, 29 teams have qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup taking place next year. The Filipinas sealed a highly coveted slot early this year after a semifinal finish in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India.
With three slots still left up for grabs, the 29 teams along with the three playoff tournament placeholders were placed into four different pots. In particular, the countries were split up based on the current FIFA Women’s World Rankings.
Following this, as the Filipinas are currently in 53rd, they are in the fourth pot. Comparatively, higher-ranked teams such as the United States, Sweden, Germany, and England, are in the first pot.
Using these pots, teams will be grouped into eight different groups containing four teams each. Every group will contain one team randomly drawn from each of the four pots. However, New Zealand and Australia, as co-hosts of the tournament, are automatically placed in Groups A and B.
In addition, another one of FIFA’s rules states that teams from the same qualifying zone are not allowed to be grouped together, except for Europe. Thus, we can expect that the Filipinas will not be competing against fellow AFC teams.
Following all of these, the Filipinas will finally find out who they will be competing against in the group stages of the World Cup next year. But, regardless of who their opponents will be, they will certainly be gearing up for anything.
“We will definitely pull out all the stops to ensure that the team will go into the World Cup as prepared as possible,” PFF general secretary Gastanes said in a PFF press release today.