Filipinos celebrated the historic victory of the Philippine National Women’s Football team as they bagged the country’s first ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Football championship.
The Filipinas dominated the Southeast Asia powerhouse Thailand, 3-0, in an 8000-strong crowd at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Sunday, July 17, ahead of their 2023 FIFA World Cup stint.
#LabanFilipinas and #ABANTEBABAE topped Twitter trends hours after they won.
Several congratulated the Filipino team’s victory and also lauded women’s achievements in Philippine sports.
“GILAS WOMEN’S WON BACK-TO-BACK BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN SEA GAMES. FILIPINAS WOMEN’S NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM MAKES HISTORIC FINALS DEBUT IN AFF. LAKAS NG BABAE.PERIOD. #LabanFilipinas #GilasWomens #BABAE,” a user said in a tweet.
“AFF Women’s Championship 2022 Gold Medalist. Going to the World Cup next year! WOMEN MAKING HISTORY, ALWAYS,” a Twitter user said.
“Philippines Women’s Football Team MADE HISTORY!!! Congratulations Filipinas! @PilipinasWNFT #AFFWomens2022 #Championship #LabanFilipinas #Filipinas,” a user said in a tweet.
“Congratulations to our Philippine Women’s Football Team for being the AFF Women’s Champion 2022!! You make us proud,” former Vice President Leni Robredo said in a tweet.
“POWER!!!! Congratulations @PilipinasWNFT !!!! Champions!!!!” TV host Bianca Gonzales tweeted.
“Congratulations @PilipinasWNFT #LabanFilipinas,” former Kabataan Partylist representative Sarah Elago also said in a tweet.
“CHAMPIONS! !#LabanFilipinas #AFFWomens2022,” singer-songwriter Rico Blanco wrote.
“That ‘ISA PA’ chant and Bolden scoring the third goal! Goosebumps!! History for Philippine Women’s Football! Filipinos shouldn’t have missed this! This should have been [shown] on free TV!!” another user said.
Some social media users said that the feat of Filipinas reminded the nation that there are other sports in the country aside from basketball, the country’s favorite sport.
“This is another reminder that there are other sports outside of basketball in our country #LabanFilipinas,” a Twitter user said.
“Grabee no we’ve been always wanting to have a successful run sa volleyball and basketball but here we are striving sa ibang larangan ng sport which is “Football”. Nakaka-goosebumps tong part na to. Congratulations #LabanFilipinas,” another Twitter user said.
On the same day, the Philippine National Basketball team suffered a 17-point loss against New Zealand Tall Blacks at the FIBA Asia qualifiers.
Historic stints for the Filipinas continue after the AFC Women’s Asia Cup and the Southeast Asian Games. Now, the country celebrates with them for another historic feat.