FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the Extraordinary FIFA Congress 2024 at the Home of FIFA on December 11, 2024 in Zurich, Switzerland. Harold Cunningham, FIFA/File
MANILA -- FIFA President Gianni Infantino will grace the opening of the 2025 Futsal Women's World Cup, which kicks off this weekend at the Philsports Arena.
Philippine Football Federation President John Gutierrez announced the development on Tuesday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
"This was just made official, that the FIFA President himself Gianni Infantino will be gracing the event," said Gutierrez. "We're very much hoping that his Excellency, [Philippine president] Bongbong Marcos will also have the time to see and join us for this world-class event."
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With three days left before the meet gets underway, Gutierrez said the 15 foreign teams participating have been all accounted for.
"I'm sure all of them have already acclimatized because some of them arrived five days ago. So nandito na sila," he said.
Comprising the 16-team field are: Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Poland from Europe, Columbia, Argentina, and Brazil of the Americas, for North America its Canada and Panama, from Africa its Morocco and Tanzania, for Oceania its New Zealand, and in Asia Iran, Thailand, Japan, and host Philippines.
The first match will be between Morocco and Argentina at 6:00 p.m., followed by the opening ceremony at 8:00 p.m.
The Philippines will then kick off its campaign against Poland some thirty minutes later.
The host country is in Group A with Poland, Morocco and Argentina. Meanwhile, Group B comprises Spain, Thailand, Colombia. Canada, Portugal, Tanzania, Japan, and New Zealand make up Group C, while in Group D are Brazil, Iran, Italy, and Panama.
The Filipina5 are in high spirits after holding a training camp in Spain, having arrived in the country last November 12.
"We're ready. One thing is for sure, we belong here. We're not going out there just to be able to compete. We're going out there to win. We're thinking of every game as a chance for us to win," said Gutierrez of the national team.
World Cup players Jaclyn Sawicki, Katrina Guillou and Isabella Flanigan will lead the way for the Filipina5.
The top two teams in each bracket will advance to the knockout stage set on Dec. 1.