MANILA -- After nearly three decades, the Philippine Women's National Football Team will finally face one of the heavyweights of Asian women's football, North Korea, for the first time as both squads were drawn in Group B alongside China PR and South Korea to vie for a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics during the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament draw held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday afternoon.
Their last meeting dates back to the 1997 AFC Women's Championship (now the Women's Asian Cup), where DPR Korea routed the Nationals, 14-1.
Besides, both teams are qualified for the next summer's Women's World Cup after winning their respective playoff matches in the Women's Asian Cup in Australia.
The Filipinas also recently faced their other group rivals, falling to South Korea (0-3) at the 2026 Women's Asian Cup and China PR (1-5) at the Asian Games.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Australia, and Japan were drawn into Group A.
This edition of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament features only the quarterfinalists of the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup, completely scrapping the pre-qualifying and early tournament rounds used in previous cycles.
The OQT for the 2028 Los Angeles Games will adopt a home-and-away, round-robin format where the eight teams are divided into two groups of four, with matches running from April 19 to December 4, 2027, across four international windows in April, October, November, and December.
The top team from each group will qualify directly for the 2028 Olympic Women's Football Tournament, while the runners-up from each group will battle for a spot in the Intercontinental Playoffs against Argentina on February 28 and March 4, 2028.
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