2022年7月17日，菲律宾女子国家足球队成员在马尼拉黎刹纪念体育场庆祝赢得东盟足球联合会(AFF)女子冠军。乔治卡尔韦洛，ABS-CBN新闻

菲律宾马尼拉——在菲律宾女子国家足球队最近取得胜利之后，赞助商和利益相关者被敦促"乘着成功的浪潮",提升国内女子联赛。

菲律宾人在2022年泰莎昂派索克乔纶女子锦标赛中取得历史性的胜利后，成为了这座城市的宠儿，这是她们有史以来第一次成为冠军。在周日的决赛中，菲律宾队以3-0完胜泰国队，锁定了东南亚足坛的领头羊位置。

虽然菲律宾人正在为明年的国际足球联合会女足世界杯继续前进制定计划，但球员们也希望国内联赛和基层联赛能得到更多的关注。

赛珍珠说，我认为，现在是中国国家队和中国女队抓住这股成功浪潮的最佳时机

Rodriguez, together with goalkeeper Inna Palacios and center back Hali Long, stressed the importance of having a strong domestic league in continuing the growth of the sport in the country.

The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has previously announced that they want to revive the PFF Women's League (PFFWL), which has been on hiatus for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition was last held in 2020.

• READ: PFF looks to revive Women's League

"I think the gap between international football and what we have here in the Philippines is quite far at the moment. The only way we can bridge that is by playing more games, para mas tumaas 'yung level dito," said Palacios, a former standout for De La Salle University who now has over 50 caps for the national team.

"And, malay mo, that can also be a venue where our coaches could scout, or future players could be found. It's so important that there's always an opportunity for people to play here, because it's the only way the sport will grow -- to have people continuously playing, year in, year out, every month, every weekend," she added.

Long, who earned her 61st cap against Thailand, said the exposure that players will get in the domestic league will be helpful for those who hope to get collegiate scholarships. In this regard, the PFFWL will benefit not just the national team but other levels of football as well.

"It's not just to get girls through all the way up to the national team. That's like the highest you can go here. But it's for girls to get scholarships, for them to have a lot more opportunities in the sports community and the working community. It could be everything for someone," said Long.

Long, Palacios and Rodriguez are all affiliated with Kaya FC, and the Filipino-American defender is hoping that more clubs in the Philippines Football League (PFL) will also invest in a women's team.

"If there's a women's league, maybe the UCFC [United City FC], Cebu, and all of those other PFL teams could make a women's team and have stipends for allowance, budgeting allowances for girls. That also opens up coaching opportunities and therefore staffing and refereeing," she suggested.

Rodriguez, who played collegiate football for the Ateneo de Manila University, acknowledged the difficulty of putting up a league but also believes that stakeholders and sponsors should seize the opportunity presented to them.

The profile of women's football has steadily grown this year, thanks to the Filipinas' exploits at the international stage. In February, they reached the semifinals of the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 to qualify for next year's World Cup. In May, they won bronze in the 31st Southeast Asian Games.

And in front of over 8,000 fans at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium last month, they lifted their first ever international trophy.

• READ: More mountains to climb for Filipinas after AFF triumph
• READ: Filipinas defeat Thailand to lift AFF trophy

"I believe that now is a good opportunity to do it," said Rodriguez. "It's going to be hard but it's going to be worth it in the end, for the stakeholders, for players, for the PFF and football in general."

PFF president Mariano "Nonong" Araneta assured that they are working on getting the league off the ground again after a prolonged break, and revealed that there is renewed interest from possible sponsors already.

"As what they said, we have to strike the iron while it's hot, so we have to talk to sponsors and other stakeholders who are interested to help develop women's football more, and also develop our grassroots," said Araneta.

"There have been some interest from a lot of companies now," he added.

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