User:Wifishark/Editing User:Wifishark/Philippines national football team

The Philippine national football team is the national football team of the Philippines and represents the country in international football. The team is controlled by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the Philippines.

Despite being the oldest national team in Asia, the Philippines has never had any significant success on the international stage and has never qualified for the AFC Asian Cup or the FIFA World Cup. However, they enjoyed some success in its early years between 1913 and 1934 in the Far Eastern Championship Games.

History
In September 2006 the country fell to 195th on the FIFA World Rankings, its lowest ever. By the end of the year, the Philippines moved back up to 171st overall, after a good run in the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship qualification. They were able to win three games in a row which was a first for the Philippines and thus qualifying for the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship. Coach at that time Aris Caslib, aimed to reach the semi-finals with two wins at the group stage. The decision came despite Philippine Football Federation president Juan Miguel Romualdez stating that they would still be underdogs in the tournament and that they mustn't raise their expectations too high, as the Philippines have only won their first ever win of the tournament during the 2004 edition.

The Philippines eventually failed to reach their target, only getting a draw in three matches. Their poor performances led to Caslib's resignation, as well as the refusal of the PFF to register and enter the qualification stages for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. They would be one of four nations, all from Southeast Asia not to enter after a record number of entries. However it was revealed that the decision not to enter the 2010 as well as the 2006 World Cup qualification was made during the PFF presidency of Rene Adad, whose term ended in 2003. Instead, the PFF wanted to focus on domestic and regional competitions.

Since 2007, the Philippines have failed to qualify for a major competition. They came close in 2008 after missing out on the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup only on goal difference, and the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup with an inferior goals scored record. In 2010, they qualified for the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, where they stayed undefeated in the group stage and also went on to beat defending champions Vietnam, becoming one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament. The team reached the knockout stage for the first time, eventually losing to Indonesia in the semifinals. In 2011, the Philippines qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup for the first time since qualifiers were introduced in the tournament.

On July 3, 2011, the Philippines recorded their first ever victory in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, beating Sri Lanka 4–0 in the second leg of the first preliminary round. They advanced 5–1 on aggregate, drawing 1–1 in the first leg before winning at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Kit
In March 2008, the Philippine Football Federation signed a three-year, ₱9-million contract with Mizuno to become the official outfitter and equipment supplier of the national team, as well as becoming a major partner in its grassroots development programs. The previous outfitter was Adidas. The traditional home kit is similar to the France national team; blue jersey, white shorts, and red socks. However, in recent times, the home and away kit has either been all-blue, all-red or all-white. Currently the home kit is all-white, while the away kit is all-blue.

Names
Under the official FIFA Trigramme the team's name is abbreviated as PHI; this acronym is used by FIFA, the AFC and the AFF to identify the team in official competitions. The team is also identified under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) country code for the Philippines as PHL. However the team was more commonly known as the RP, the acronym for the country's official name, Republika ng Pilipinas, which the local press used when they referred to the team as the "RP Booters" or the "RP XI". This was until late October 2010 when the Department of Foreign Affairs decided to change the official abbreviation of the country from "RP" to "PH" or "PHL", to be inline with the ISO. The local press have since referred to the team as either "PH/PHL Booters" or "PH/PHL XI".

Among these names, they are also referred to as the "Azkals". The name, derived from askal, a Filipino term for "street dog," became a trending topic on Twitter during the semi-finals of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. They are also known as the "Tri–Stars" which is derived from the three stars on the Philippine flag.

Home stadium
During the early years of the Philippine national team, they played their home matches at the Manila Carnival Grounds. By 1934 it became the site of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. One of the facilities within the complex is the 30,000 capacity national stadium, known as the Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium or simply the Rizal Memorial Stadium. Since its opening, it has been the home venue of the Philippine national team.

However, it has also become a hub for athletics. The continued use for athletics along with poor maintenance has deteriorated the stadium and the 1991 Southeast Asian Games was the last time it was used for international football matches. In early 2009, the Philippine Sports Commission planned to transform it to a modern football stadium which would make it usable by the national team for international matches.

Other stadiums used:


 * Barotac Nuevo Plaza Field
 * Iloilo Sports Complex
 * Panaad Stadium
 * PhilSports Stadium

Current squad
The following players were named in the squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification second round second leg match against Kuwait on 28 July 2011.

! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |
 * - bgcolor="#DFEDFD"

! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |
 * - bgcolor="#DFEDFD"

! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |
 * - bgcolor="#DFEDFD"

Recent call-ups
The following players have been called up for the Philippines within the past 12 months.

! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |
 * - bgcolor="#DFEDFD"

! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |
 * - bgcolor="#DFEDFD"

Note: ''Caps and goals may be incomplete for certain players, therefore being inaccurate.

Previous squads

 * AFF Championship squads:
 * 1996 Tiger Cup squad (Partial squad only)
 * 1998 Tiger Cup squad
 * 2000 Tiger Cup squad
 * 2002 Tiger Cup squad
 * 2004 Tiger Cup squad
 * 2007 AFF Championship squad
 * 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup squad


 * AFC Challenge Cup squads:
 * 2006 AFC Challenge Cup squad


 * Southeast Asian Games squads:
 * 1977 to 1997 squads unknown 
 * 1999 Southeast Asian Games squad


 * *Squads for all editions of the Far Eastern Games and the four editions of the Asian Games the Philippines has entered are unknown.

Coaches

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Rogers (1962–1963)
 * Danny McLennan (1963)
 * 🇦🇷 Carlos Cavagnaro (1989)
 * 🇩🇪 Eckhard Krautzun (1991–1992)


 * Noel Casilao (1993–1996)
 * 🇪🇸 Juan Cutillas (1996–2000)
 * Rodolfo Alicante (2000)
 * 🇯🇵 Masataka Imai (2001)


 * 🇯🇵 Sugao Kambe (2002–2003)
 * Aris Caslib (2004–2007)
 * Norman Fegidero (2008)
 * 🇪🇸 Juan Cutillas (2008–2009)


 * Aris Caslib (2009)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Des Bulpin (2009–2010)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Simon McMenemy (2010)
 * 🇩🇪 Michael Weiß (2011–present)