Filipinas ride on Women’s World Cup fever by playing in the A-League Women
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The Philippines women’s football team has been hitting milestone after milestone.
The Filipinas made their debut in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the first Philippines team – men’s or women’s – to make the quadrennial event.
Sarina Bolden headed in the country’s first World Cup goal, which led to a 1-0 upset victory over co-host New Zealand.
The Filipinas won the hearts of football fans all over the world and inspired a nation that was crazy about basketball.
Despite reaching the highest level of football competition, Philippines has yet to establish a professional women’s league.
The country has developed strong ties with Australian coaches including Perth Glory men’s coach Alen Stajcic who led the Filipinas at the World Cup, Glory women’s manager Alex Epakis, and Filipinas current head coach Mark Torcaso, who concurrently manages Western United.
This has led to Filipino footballers Jessika Cowart, Quinley Quezada and Jaclyn Sawicki being welcomed to take their talents to the A-League Women.
“It’s a great opportunity to play in an amazing league and I think history shows a lot of incredible players have come through this league,” Perth Glory defender Cowart said.
“The attention on the league and the level really has risen over the past couple of years, so it’s just a great opportunity for us to show that we get to play great soccer.”
Helping build a culture
California-born Cowart and Quezada grew up playing football in the United States before pursuing opportunities in various professional leagues in Asia and Europe.
They have become mainstays in the Philippines team and were pivotal in the country’s build-up to the World Cup, including winning the historic ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship title.
The Filipino duo got to know Perth Glory manager Epakis when Stajcic invited him to join the Philippines coaching staff as an opposition analyst.
While seizing the chance to be part of a World Cup team, the 32-year-old coach was eager to learn how to build a winning team with great culture back in Perth.
With that goal in mind, Cowart’s and Quezada’s characteristics stood out to him.
“They are players and good people with a great winning mentality,” Epakis said.
“And I saw that they not only were great footballers, but they also had the ability to bring out the best of their teammates because of their really great personalities and their values as people.”
Both Cowart and Quezada said Epakis did a good job of being “persistent” in winning them over and delivering what he promised about the Perth Glory team.
The two players admitted that their experience in the ALW had exceeded their expectations, as they have quickly jelled with the team despite needing to attend to national team duties at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
“The girls and the entire staff have done a really good job of welcoming us to adapt to a new system that Alex wanted to do this year,” Quezada said.
“All the girls bought into the season to just have a great team culture and it really shows on and off the field. We’re just a very happy team.”
Having played in countries where English is not the main language has built up the capacities of both Quezada and Cowart to overcome language barriers, while adapting quickly to different football cultures.
“Since we’ve travelled a lot and we’ve been on different teams, we’re used to adjusting, but having a really good culture, coach and staff, and players around us has been so helpful,” Cowart said.
Reviving her professional career
For Western United’s Sawicki, she had already let go of her football career before being offered to play for the national team again.
After her stint in Sweden’s second division club Elitettan, the 30-year-old midfielder sustained a chronic knee injury, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing her to retire from the sport.
Sawicki was already working as a general manager at a soccer training facility and a health and wellness facility without football in her mind, but she was surprised to receive a call from the Filipinas to join their training camp in 2022.
“For most people, you get invited to the national team because you’re doing well with your club,” Sawicki said.
“I wasn’t doing anything at all, but the national team had reached out to me asking if I wanted to come to the next camp. It was a bit of a shock because I wasn’t playing professionally anymore.
“I just decided to go for it, see how I do, and from there, I just stuck with it and then eventually came back into the professional club environment.”
But in order to prime herself to her best shape before the World Cup, Sawicki knew that she needed to get back into club football.
Born and raised in Canada, Sawicki’s home country didn’t have a professional league either. This led her to take an interest in playing in the A-League Women.
By fate, Western United manager Torcaso was looking for a defensive midfielder and reached out to Stajcic, who then recommended Sawicki to join the club.
“The timing of that conversation worked out because it came ahead of our AFF championships, in the Philippines,” Sawicki said.
“Mark had the opportunity to watch me play for that whole tournament spell, as well as my past footage, and I guess he felt that I was good enough and offered me a contract from that.”
Since joining Western United in August 2022, the Filipino-Canadian has had a positive experience with the team and was named club captain in her debut season.
Not only has she developed close relationships with her teammates, but the competitiveness of the league gave her a sneak peek to the World Cup.
“There are lots of international footballers in the league, so in terms of competition and level of play, I consider it very enjoyable and very competitive, and it was a great platform to prepare me to make the World Cup roster,” she said.
Riding on the World Cup fever
Playing in a league away from their home countries, the Filipinas have continued to attract the support of the diaspora.
Quezada shared that she continues to see Filipino fans in Perth waving the flag at their games, and the Filipino community dropped by the airport to welcome the Philippines team playing in the second round of Olympic qualifiers in the city.
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Due to high demand, Football Australia had to move the venue of the recent Filipinas game against the Matildas to Perth Stadium, which attracted a sellout crowd of nearly 60,000 fans.
With the presence of the Filipinas in the ALW, they hope to inspire the next generation of Filipino footballers so more of them can make it to the world’s top-level competitions as the game grows.
“We can help the younger generation in the Philippines get that same support in professional sports. Hopefully, they see us and what we’re doing to know that it’s possible for them as well,” Quezada said.
“I think that also goes hand in hand with growing the game of football.”
Beatrice Go is a freelance journalist and researcher from the Philippines. She was a former Rappler Sports multimedia reporter covering sports governance, national teams and athletes.
She is a member of ABC International Development’s Women in News and Sport Initiative, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Team Up program.
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