FIFA okays Phl Women's Super League

MANILA, Philippines - Filipina booters will soon get a chance to play big-time football as the International Football Federation (FIFA) has given its green light and assured technical and financial support for the creation of a Women’s Super League (WSL) in the country – a major undertaking expected to help elevate the Malditas national team in status just like the Azkals.

Malditas coach Ernie Nierras said the PFF’s women’s committee and stakeholders of women’s football are laying the groundwork for the formation of the WSL, a foreign-flavored pro league targeted for Feb. 2013 launch.

“We’ll be starting a Women’s Super League, the highest league in the Phl. It won’t be full professional in the beginning but the direction is for it to be a pro league and it’s gonna be nationwide. There are still some questions at this point but the important thing is we’ll not do this on our own; Fifa will be guiding us all the way through,” Nierras said.

“And unlike other leagues in the Phl, once you win (the WSL), you’ll be part of the AFC Women’s Champions League so it’s very, very good for Phl women’s football; it will bring us to the next level as far as competition is concerned,” he added.

Currently, stakeholders are holding weekly football tourneys for ladies, like the Women’s Football League, Women’s Summer League and the competitions put up by coach Hans Smith. Nierras said the plan is to consolidate such activities, involve provincial teams/clubs, upgrade them and create the top-flight WSL.

Nierras said they will hold a tourney featuring 8-10 school teams and clubs in August before ultimately launching the WSL at the end of the UAAP football hostilities around February or March 2013.

Five potential team owners, he reported, have already been identified for the planned WSL.

“When the Women’s Super League starts, you’ll see a lot of foreign players come in. We want to be able to elevate the quality of the national team players, that’s really our main purpose here,” said Nierras.

The Malditas are currently ranked 88th in the world, gunning for a top 50 standing in the next few years. They are eyeing a training camp in Australia or Thailand as part of preparations for the 2012 AFF Women’s Championships in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam in September.

In the last edition of that tourney in Laos, the Malditas placed third in Group B, finishing with only a point in the elims (0-1-2), their best result a 2-2 draw with Malaysia.