SETTING themselves a new target, the World Cup-bound Filipinas are bidding to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics but need to pass through a daunting gauntlet of qualifiers to claim one of two tickets at stake for the quadrennial meet set in the French capital next year.
The Filipinas’ Olympic quest begins with knowing who they will be up against during the first round of the qualifiers during the official draw to be held tomorrow at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ranked No. 53 in the FIFA women’s world rankings, the Filipinas are in Pot 1 of the draw together with Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and India.
The seeds for the first-round draw are based on the latest FIFA women’s world ranking last Dec. 9, while the participants not ranked are listed as non-ranked teams.
Based on their respective rankings, the 26 teams will have their names drawn from four seeding pots.
In Pot 2 are Iran, Jordan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia while Palestine, Singapore, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Tajikistan, and Timor Leste are in Pot 3. In Pot 4 are non-ranked teams Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan.
The initial round will have 26 teams divided into five groups of four and two groups of three vying in a one-round league format at a centralized venue from April 3 to 11.
Only the top teams from the seven groups will advance to the next round, joining the five highest seeded teams in the AFC — Japan, Australia, China, South and North Korea.
From the 12 teams in the second round, only the three group winners and the best second placer will move on to the home-and-away playoff matches, disputing the two Olympic spots.
The Filipinas reached the second round of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before bowing out following a loss to Chinese-Taipei.
The Filipinas are supported by national women’s team manager Jefferson Cheng, the Philippine Sports Commission, and MVP Sports Foundation.
