Major tournaments for Philippine national athletes in 2025

After a memorable year for Philippine sports in 2024 bannered by Carlos Yulo's two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, national athletes will have another shot to rewrite history in major tournaments lined up for 2025.

Aside from the professional and collegiate leagues, here are some of the tournaments lined up for Filipino athletes this year:

Futsal: AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup and FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup.

The Pinay5 will compete in the AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup qualification which will start on January 11 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Philippines is in Group C along with host country Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Australia, and Kuwait.

If they advance, the Pinay5 will play in the AFC Women's Futsal Asia Cup in China in May. The Asia Cup also serves as a qualifier for the inaugural FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup which will be hosted by the Philippines.

As host country, the Philippines is already assured of a slot in the World Cup which will be held in November.

Football: 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers

After a historic run in the 2024 ASEAN Championship, the Philippine Men's National Football Team will return to the pitch in March when it plays Maldives in the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. It will also play Tajikistan in June, Timor Leste in October, Maldives again in November, and Tajikistan again in March 2026.

The Philippines missed the 2023 edition of the AFC Asian Cup after making its debut in the 2019 edition where the Azkals then failed to advance to the knockout stage. 

Football: 2025 ASEAN Women's Championship

The Philippine Women's National Football Team Filipinas will also defend its title in the 2025 ASEAN Women's Championship, although no details have been released yet about the event.

The previous edition was held at the Rizal Memorial Stadium where the Filipinas won 3-0 against Thailand in the finals.

Basketball: FIBA Asia Cup and FIBA Women's Asia Cup

Gilas Pilipinas also made history in 2024 after beating Latvia, the first European opponent the country has defeated in almost six decades, in the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers, and New Zealand in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

While the Philippines has been officially qualified for the FIBA Asia Cup, they will still compete in the February window of the qualifiers against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand.

The FIBA Asia Cup will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August.

The Gilas Pilipinas Women also qualified for the FIBA Women's Asia Cup in July in Shenzhen, China. The Philippines finished sixth in the previous edition of the tourney in 2023.

Volleyball: FIVB Men's World Volleyball Championship

Men's volleyball will take centerstage in September as the Philippines hosts the FIVB Men's World Volleyball Championship.

PNVF President Ramon "Tats" Suzara said the preparations are going full-throttle for the global event.

"This is the time when the preparations and organization start to be meticulous every single day, it’s the world championship year of the FIVB and as host country for first time—and solo host at that—the mission borders from an excellent to almost perfect hosting of the event,” Suzara said in a statement.

“We’ve done it before and we’re expected to do it again."

Not only will Alas Pilipinas compete in the tourney, but powerhouse teams such as Olympic gold medalist France, and crowd favorites USA and Japan, will travel to Manila for the global event.

Multisport: Asian Winter Games

The Philippines will send 20 athletes to the 2025 Asian Winter Games in February.

Athletes from curling, figure skating, short track speed skating, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, and snowboarding will compete in the Asian Winter Games.

Multisport: Southeast Asian Games

Perhaps the biggest event of the year in the region will be the Southeast Asian Games which will be held in Thailand in December.

In Cambodia, the Philippines finished fifth overall with 58 gold medals, 86 silver medals, and 116 bronze medals.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News