Fans and visitors celebrate the homecoming of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team at the SM MOA Sky Amphitheater in Pasay City, February 20, 2026. The event honors their historic gold medal win at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games and featured a mini meet-and-greet session with supporters. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA -- Fresh from winning gold at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, the Philippine Women's National Football Team are using the historic feat as a boost for their upcoming 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup campaign.
The Filipinas are in high spirits ahead of their next tour of duty in Australia next month, aiming to continue the momentum from Thailand.
The team held training camp in Manila and Balesin earlier this month, before heading to Perth to continue training and for possible friendlies before the AFC Women's Asian Cup.
Mallie Ramirez, one of the young players who made her mark at the SEA Games, is looking forward to competing again at a higher level tournament.
READ: PWNFT celebrated at 'The Filipinas Homecoming' for SEA Games gold
"Camp has been really good for us. We've been working hard. I think SEA Games prepared us a lot. You know being a newer face and like my friends here, we're all younger faces. So you know being able to step up and be able to play for this tournament is really humbling and an honor," she told reporters on Friday.
The Filipinas will be fielding a mix of veterans and youth in their AFC Women's Asian Cup campaign, mostly composed of players from the SEA Games gold team.
Ramirez and the young members of the Filipinas aim to prove themselves on the pitch.
"Obviously being younger, we have high expectations from the veterans and the coaching staff. Always having high standards for each other, for ourselves is really important for us and I think [in the] SEA Games we... made a statement for ourselves and I think we're gonna continue doing that in Asia Cup," she shared.
"I think making history in general was just very important for us. In this country being able to bring back a gold medal, something that was never brought back home to the Philippines from this team, it's just an honor," Ramirez added.
As for Jael-Marie Guy, who also shined at the SEA Games, she said they are excited to return to the pitch after 'making a statement' with their historic gold medal.
"I think that we have a lot more to prove with the momentum that we have and just how hard we've been working during camp leading up to this tournament. I think that there's a lot of good things coming our way, and we're gonna do our best to make the Philippines proud and hopefully bring home a lot of wins," she said.
READ: Filipinas head coach optimistic of 'talented group' heading to AFC Women's Asian Cup
Alexa Pino hopes to bring pride again to the country, after an impressive performance at the qualifiers for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
"I was bringing pride to my country and making everybody proud and it just it was an amazing feeling. And honestly I don't think there are words that can describe that, but I'm very happy to have experienced that and I really hope that I can you know continue that into this upcoming tournament," she said.
"I think I can speak for our whole team when in like I can say we have a lot of momentum right now and we're all very excited," Pino added.
The Filipinas will open their campaign against hosts Australia on March 1.