Philippines women's national volleyball team

The Philippine national team was formerly organized and sanctioned by the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF), originally known as the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAVA) from 1961 to 2003.^[1] The team was a regional powerhouse in Southeast Asia, having won gold medals at the 1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987 and 1993 editions of the Southeast Asian Games.^[2] The Philippines also had its first and only FIVB Volleyball World Championship participation in 1974.^[3]

The national team had its last gold medal finish at the Southeast Asian Games under Russian-Latvian head coach Staņislavs Lugailo, who was part of the Soviet Union men's national team that won gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and was hired to lead the team in 1990. He further guided the team to a bronze medal finish at the 1991 Southeast Asian Games. The team later had a training camp in Japan in 1992, where it played games against Japanese volleyball clubs. Lyugailo led the national team to win another gold medal finish at the Southeast Asian Games in 1993 after defeating defending champions Thailand in the final. Thailand would later defeat the Philippines in the next gold medal match in the Games' 1995 edition. The Philippines failed to duplicate its gold medal games for the next editions of the Southeast Asian Games, with Thailand establishing dominance in women's volleyball in the region.^[4][5][6][7]

The Philippine national team did not see international play after the 2005 edition of the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Championships. They won a bronze medal at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. They would make a comeback at the Asian Championships in 2013 and at the Southeast Asian Games in 2015 respectively.^[8][9][10]

In 2014, the PVF lost recognition by the Philippine Olympic Committee after a leadership crisis.^[11] The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) recognized the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) as its provisional member in 2015, effectively taking over the PVF's mandate.^[12] The LVPI was allowed to send and organize national volleyball teams, including the women's team, to FIVB tournaments in the next few years.^[13]

After failing to get a podium finish at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, it was decided that the national team coached by Roger Gorayeb would be disbanded.^[14] However, it was later decided that Gorayeb would remain as coach of the national team's participation in another tournament, the 2015 VTV International Women's Volleyball Cup.^[15][16] The team was without many of its players that played in the Southeast Asian Games and finished last out of six teams.^[17]

In 2021, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) was formed^[18] and was given full FIVB membership, replacing the LVPI as the volleyball federation for volleyball in the Philippines.^[19]

The Philippines secured their first ever podium finish in an AVC tournament when they finished as third placers in the 2024 AVC Women's Challenge Cup, which was hosted by Manila.^[20]

The preceding moniker for the women's team was short-lived, called Amihan. It has a literal meaning of a northeast monsoon, a common season in the Philippines. It could also mean the famous Filipino methodological figure with the same name, considered to be the genderless God of the Wind. Iw was adopted in 2015 when the national team was still under the Philippine Volleyball Federation and team sponsor PLDT Inc.^[21][22] Due to the Philippine Volleyball Federation leadership issue and the formation of its successor, Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, the monicker and the initial pool the PVF built for the 2015 SEA Games was later disbanded.

The Philippine women's national team is known by their moniker "Alas Pilipinas", with Alas meaning "Ace" in Filipino. The nickname is an official designation by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation in partnership with sponsor Cignal TV. Adopted on May 15, 2024, the moniker is shared with all national indoor and beach volleyball teams of the Philippines, including the youth teams.^[23]

The new calculation method of the FIVB Senior World Rankings started on January 1, 2019, granted all nations automatic world ranking (WR) 100 points, in addition to the score from the previous FIVB World Ranking. The new calculation provides that any inactive nation every January 1 will lose 50 WR points for the next year. An inactive team reaching a WR score of less than 20 WR points will be removed from the ranking list.^[24] Due to inactivity or non-participation in annual FIVB-sanctioned events since 2019, the Philippines lost 100 WR points and was removed from the world rankings. The Philippine women's national volleyball team became active again in an FIVB-sanctioned event during the 2023 AVC Women's Challenge Cup, hence their reinstatement in the world rankings with 50 WR points.

As of August 30, 2024^[25]

The following table shows the summary of competitions of the Philippines women's national volleyball team in every FIVB-sanctioned event, where it shows the team's standings, results, and the changes in their world ranking score before and after the competition.

Note

a.^ The 50 points are guaranteed with the intent to compete but are yet to be reinstated in the world rankings before the competition.

The following persons were assigned by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation as part of the coaching staff.^[26]