THE impact of the country’s historic hosting of the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup this year was not lost on Philippine Football Federation president John Gutierrez.
“This is as prestigious as any of the other FIFA World Cups. We need to spread the word that FIFA has entrusted to us a major international football tournament, and we are the first to host it,” said Gutierrez during a press conference last week at the Citadines Bay City Hotel in Pasay City.
“While other teams, other women are dreaming of an opportunity to play in a World Cup, the Philippines has already been listed as a participant,” he stressed.
“This is no small achievement. We are where other women around the world are dreaming of. We have to take advantage of this. We are again given a magnificent opportunity to showcase Filipina talent around the world. We have to spread the word,” he added.
Gutierrez and key PFF officials were able to win the hosting rights for the world tournament during the 74th Congress of the International Football Federation, known by its French acronym FIFA, held a month ago in Bangkok, Thailand.
FIFA Tournaments Director Jaime Yarza, who was present at the briefing, said the PFF presented the best plan, winning over other bidders from Brazil, Italy and Spain.
“The (PFF won the bid) based mostly on the exceptional work they have done to promote football and futsal, and the growing tendency of Filipino children to play futsal,” Yarza explained during the awarding of rights for the five-a-side indoor football tournament also known as “salon de futball.”
Yarza said that together with FIFA Futsal Manager Laura Cusco and Kazra Haghighi, FIFA chief of Olympics Futsal and Beach Soccer, respectively, they have made ocular inspections for the competition and training venues in Metro Manila for the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup.
He added that together with the Philippines as the host country, 15 other countries from FIFA confederations will compete in the tournament scheduled sometime in the last quarter of this year.
“The tournament will have a quadrennial cycle as in the other World Cups, so the next will be in 2029,” said the Spanish FIFA official.
PFF futsal department head Kevin Goco said that although the Philippines has already qualified, “we will still have to participate in the qualification competition to be held by the Asian Football Confederation similar to what was done in the FIBA World Cup.”
Goco said the staging of the 1st FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup also put pressure on the PFF to come up with a competitive national team under noted Dutch coach Victor Herman, a former national player and pioneer instructor in the sport popularly known as “Mr. Futsal.”
