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MANILA, Philippines – Twenty-three valiant women rallied the Philippine women’s football team to a historic run in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
They came from different parts of the world, but shared one goal: to make the country proud. Here are the players who carried the Philippine colors in the sport’s biggest stage:
Tahnai Annis
The captain of the Filipinas, Annis has been playing for the national team since 2018. She traces her roots to Lucena City in Quezon province through her mother Myla.
This year, she rejoined pro club Þór/KA, one of the 10 teams in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, the premier division of the women’s league in Iceland. She previously played for Þór/KA from 2012-14.
Alicia Barker
Born to Filipina mother Lisa, Alicia joined the Philippine team in December 2022.
She has since taken over the starting right back role for the Filipinas in their first two matches in the World Cup.
Barker was an All-Big Ten Second-Team Defender in the US NCAA for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also a cell line development scientist.
Angela Beard
The latest addition to the team just might be the biggest name in the roster.
Angela Beard is a member of Western United in the Australian A-League. She also had stints in pro leagues in Iceland and Denmark.
She was previously a part of the Australian women’s national football team, the Matildas.
Beard’s mother, Marilou, was born and raised in Cebu.
Sarina Bolden
Bolden netting the country’s first ever World Cup goal no longer comes as a surprise. After all, she scored the game-winning goal in her very first game for the Philippines in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asia Cup and the game-winning penalty in last year’s AFC Women’s Asia Cup that earned the Philippines a berth in this World Cup.
After seeing action in the Japan We League with the Chifure AS Elfen Saitama, Bolden transferred last December to the Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian A-League.
Bolden’s mother is Pangasinan-born Sherry Calpo.
Reina Bonta
Bonta adds further depth to an already loaded Philippine backline. Do not be surprised if coach Alen Stajcic springs a surprise against Norway and fields her in.
This multi-talented daughter of Quezon City-born, California attorney general Robert Bonta is a Yale graduate, a critically-acclaimed film director, and a member of pro team Santos Futebol Clube, one of Brazil’s most revered clubs.
Now, she can add World Cup debutant to her resume.
Ryley Bugay
Bugay returns to the Filipinas squad after a year spent at the Indiana University School of Medicine–Evansville, where she is studying to be a doctor.
Her maternal grandfather migrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1954 to complete his medical training. He later became a practicing urologist. Her Filipina mother was a three-sport athlete in her younger years.
Anicka Castañeda
The 23-year-old Castañeda has been playing for the national team since she was 17.
The younger sister of former national team star Sara, Anicka was a high school star at La Salle Zobel.
She started her pro career in Australia, where she plays for the Mount Druitt Town Rangers in the New South Wales National Premier Leagues 1, the second-highest tier in the country after the A-League.
Malea Cesar
At 19 years old, Cesar is one of three teenagers in the Filipinas roster.
She is a second-generation national athlete. Her father Ben Jr., who is from Makati, represented the country in athletics in the Southeast Asian Games.
Cesar is part of the Blacktown City Football Club which competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW in Australia.
Jessica Cowart
Cowart once represented the US national futsal team in Spain. Fortunately for the Philippines, she is also eligible to play for the country through her mom, Melissa. So in 2022, she finally made her debut for the Philippines.
The 23-year-old plays as a defender for IFK Kalmar in the Damallsvenskan, Sweden’s top division. She also played professional football for Çaykur Rizespor in Turkey and for ŽFK Spartak Subotica in Serbia.
Sara Eggesvik
Eggesvik has shown in some of her Tiktok videos that she knows a bit of Bisaya. This is because her mother is from Davao.
She has been playing club football since she was 17 when she started with Idrettsklubben Grand Bodø in Norway.
In 2019, Eggesvik joined Charlton Athletic in the Women’s Championship, the second-highest division of women’s football in England. Like Bugay, Eggesvik is also taking up medicine.
She plays for Malvik Idrettslag in Norway.
Bella Flanigan
Flanigan was just 16 when she played her first international game at the senior level for the Philippines in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asia Cup.
She is the only one from the bench to sub in during both of the Philippines’ first two World Cup matches, providing spunk and relentless energy against Switzerland and New Zealand. Just 18 years old, she has already played 29 international matches at the senior level.
Flanigan’s mother, Melissa, hails from Kabankalan, Negros Occidental.
Carleigh Frilles
During the semifinals of the 2016 Asian Football Confederation U14 competition, a 13-year-old Carleigh Frilles slotted in a second-half hat trick to lead the Philippines to a 5-1 victory over Myanmar.
In the senior level, she has already collected 12 goals, making her the fifth top scorer in the current national team roster.
Now 21, Frilles – whose father Alan is Filipino – plays for the Blacktown Spartans FC in the NSW Premier League in Australia.
Kiara Fontanilla
In another team, Fontanilla would probably be starting in the World Cup.
That is how good she is.
She made her debut for the country against the Matildas of Australia in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
The 23-year-old is the first-choice keeper for the incoming A-League team, the Central Coast Mariners FC, in Australia.
Her father, Francisco or Frank, is originally from Baguio, while her mother Fabiola is Mexican.
Katrina Guillou
Guillou, 29, and her siblings grew up in a Filipino household managed by her mother Lorna, who hails from Quezon City.
She lost her French father when she was a toddler.
Since 2021, Guillou has ben playing for Piteå IF in the Damallsvenskan, the highest division of women’s football in Sweden. She previously played in the Naisten Liiga, the premier women’s division in Finland.
Sofia Harrison
Harrison holds the distinction as the first member of the Filipinas to be signed by a club in the Frauen-Bundesliga, the top-level women’s football in Germany.
There have been talk among fans that with her performance in this World Cup, she could already be on the radar of clubs looking for a speedy and relentless defender who does not back down from anyone.
Harrison’s mother, Ginalyn, was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States at a young age.
Kaiya Jota
Jota turned 17 years old last February. That makes her the youngest in the Filipinas roster and one of the youngest in the entire World Cup.
Born to a Filipino father who is from Quezon City and Pasig, Jota had her first exposure with the senior national team when she was just 16.
The Philippines’ third-choice keeper will be joining the Stanford University Cardinals beginning 2024.
Hali Long
For the past seven years, co-captain Hali Long has made Manila her home ever since she began playing for the national team in 2016. She has been one of the driving forces behind the success of the country’s most prominent local club, Kaya FC.
Though she grew up in the States, she stated, “Under our roof, it was purely Pinoy, and I knew nothing different.”
Long’s mother, Lilie Candido, is Filipino.
The 28-year-old Long is one of the team’s leaders, on and off the pitch.
Chandler McDaniel
In the 2021 AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, Chandler provided the all-important assist and goal that earned for the Philippines a spot in last year’s main tournament in India. There, she booted in the lone goal which helped the Filipinas down Thailand.
Back with the national team after being sidelined by an ACL injury, there are fair expectations that it is only a matter of time before Chandler finds the back of the net in this year’s World Cup.
Olivia McDaniel
Olivia has time and again proven to be clutch in the little over year and a half that she has become the country’s first-choice keeper.
Football and Filipino blood run in the McDaniels household. There is Olivia’s younger sister Chandler, football coach dad Clint, younger brother Griffin who has been with local club Stallion FC since 2020, and mother Lindy who has roots in Pampanga and Davao.
Quinley Quezada
Since she started playing for the Philippines in 2018, Quezada has become among the team’s most prolific scorers. With 22 goals to her name, she ranks just behind Bolden who has 23.
Quezada’s mother, Ruth Campomanes from Bataan, was born in the Philippines, while her father, Raul, is Mexican.
She began her club football career in Taiwan and Japan, before signing up last year with ZFK Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian Women’s Super League.
Dominique Randle
Randle is enjoying a resurgence in her football career after a considerable time being away from the game.
Born to Filipina mother Catherine Abrena, Randle signed her first pro club contract last February with Þór/KA in Iceland, where she is teammates with Annis. She is spending a productive year with the Filipinas, establishing herself as one of the team’s defensive lynchpins.
Jaclyn Sawicki
The 30-year-old Sawicki previously suited up for the Canadian U20 team and played one match for the senior team in a friendly. She also got invited to join Poland’s national team since her father is Polish.
But she chose to play for the Philippines, where her mother was born.
Sawicki is the captain of Western United in the Australian A-League, where she is teammates with Beard. The two helped Western United make the A-League finals.
Meryll Serrano
Serrano, whose mother is Filipina, had long been on the sight of the Philippine Football Federation.
For good reason.
She has been playing pro football in Norway since 2012 when she was just 14 years old.
Serrano has been a fixture in the Toppserien, the top level of women’s association football in Norway. The 26-year-old is now with her fourth club, Stabæk, in eight seasons in Norway’s top division. – Rappler.com
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