Push Admin

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President John Gutierrez and new interim Filipinas manager Fred Gonzalez. Photo from Rom Anzures, ABS-CBN News.

Article (news)

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President John Gutierrez and new interim Filipinas manager Fred Gonzalez. 

Romwel Anzures

ABS-CBN News

<div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);min-height:13.8px"><span></span><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1719819977498FullSizeRender.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President John Gutierrez and new interim Filipinas manager Fred Gonzalez. <em>Photo from Rom Anzures, ABS-CBN News.</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The Philippine women&#x27;s national football team will be under new management moving forward.</p><p>This is following the decision of Filipinas team manager Jeff Cheng to step down from his post, citing that his and the Philippine Football Federation (PFF)&#x27;s goals and priorities &quot;do not align.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/6/23/jeff-cheng-exits-as-filipinas-team-manager-1436">READ: Jeff Cheng exits as Filipinas&#x27; team manager: &#x27;The situation is not workable&#x27;</a></div><p>In a press conference on Monday, PFF president John Gutierrez and National Teams Director Fred Gonzalez addressed what happened between the two parties.</p><p>&quot;In my recollection, there was a request for approval for a certain program, and we responded that we needed to sit down and discuss. And then to our surprise, we resigned,&quot; said Gutierrez in a press conference held at Studio 300 in Makati.</p><p>&quot;I think that&#x27;s pretty much all I can say. The Federation, not just me, wanted to discuss the activities, and that&#x27;s it,&quot; he added, while also dispelling the claims that there were people who opted to leave the federation and follow Cheng&#x27;s exit.</p><p>&quot;It is not true that people started resigning after Jeff resigned. I think we&#x27;ll recover just fine. Whatever preparation is needed will go on as scheduled. There&#x27;s not much I can say about it,&quot; Gutierrez said.</p><p>Meanwhile, Gonzalez shared his side and how he and Cheng discussed the successful manager&#x27;s exit.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/12/24/pff-names-freddy-gonzalez-as-director-of-national-teams">READ: PFF appoints Freddy Gonzalez as director of national teams</a></div><p>&quot;Jeff and I have been in constant contact since I started the job. It&#x27;s really unfortunate, what happened. I wanted him to stay, but I couldn&#x27;t make it work. We&#x27;ve tried and done things to continue with [him], but Jeff just decided in the end that he doesn&#x27;t want to do it anymore,&quot; revealed Gonzalez in a separate interview.</p><p>Gonzalez will now be serving as the interim manager of the women&#x27;s side aside from his managerial duties with the men&#x27;s national football team.</p><p>&quot;When I found out, it was really disappointing, and I just felt like we just wasted something really good,&quot; he added. &quot;But all the disappointment had to go out the door, and Jeff and I, we&#x27;ve been in touch. We just had a meeting this morning, and at some point, if he may want to come back, so we&#x27;ll see.&quot;</p><p>&quot;My department now, we&#x27;re not really so involved in the youth side of things, we&#x27;re more involved with the Under-22s and above. The technical youth department will be handling the youth moving forward, so Jeff might come back because he might want to support the senior team. So we&#x27;ll see. We&#x27;re always gonna be in touch this week especially since it&#x27;s gonna be a huge turnover.</p><p>&quot;But at the end of the day, I have to push forward and continue what he&#x27;s built and improve on it as well,&quot; Gonzalez continued. </p><p>It was under Cheng&#x27;s leadership that the Filipinas made history many times over in the past couple of years, culminating with a maiden appearance in the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup 2023 where they memorably defeated co-host New Zealand in the group round.</p><p>The former national team player-turned-executive, who took the place of previous men&#x27;s team manager Dan Palami, also said that he has already been in touch with Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/09/24/football-dan-palami-steps-down-as-azkals-manager">READ: Dan Palami steps down as Azkals manager</a></div><p>&quot;I&#x27;ve been in touch with Mark since last week, and I told them that at the end of the day, you guys don&#x27;t have to worry about anything,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;If you talk to the men&#x27;s, the coaches, they&#x27;ll tell you exactly how we operate. Actually, that&#x27;s the least of anybody&#x27;s problems. The way we handle the men&#x27;s teams, we&#x27;re gonna handle the women&#x27;s the same.&quot;</p><p>&quot;They have the least to worry about, actually. I just have to review everything. I don&#x27;t really know the coaches, I didn&#x27;t select the coaches, so I don&#x27;t know how our goals are gonna match. From conversations I&#x27;ve had with Mark so far, he seems to be on the same page, but again, I have to review it.&quot;</p><p>However, much like how the PFF decided to part ways with previous PMNFT tactician Michael Weiss in favor of Tom Saintfiet, change is also possible in the Filipinas&#x27; staff. </p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/2/26/tom-saintfiet-named-new-head-coach-of-ph-men-s-team-1214">READ: Tom Saintfiet named new head coach of PH men&#x27;s team</a></div><p>&quot;Like I said earlier, we&#x27;ve reached a certain level in the women&#x27;s. From qualifying to the World Cup and winning a match, those are the minimum that we need to get. We&#x27;re not gonna get those every time, obviously, but we want to maintain that standard,&quot; Gonzalez said.</p><p>&quot;Whether or not the current setup and coaching staff are the ones who will take us there, it&#x27;s gonna be reviewed. I&#x27;m not saying that they&#x27;re gonna be let go, I want to make that clear. But like with anyone taking over, you have to review everything and see if they&#x27;re the right fit moving forward with what we want to achieve, because the fan expectations are really high.&quot;</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s the same thing with the men&#x27;s. When we came in, Michael Weiss was the coach, but we felt that he didn&#x27;t have the same [goals]. Even if he said that he did, we felt that we needed somebody new to take us to the next level.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Again, it&#x27;s growing pains because we&#x27;re rebuilding a team. But we&#x27;re moving in the right direction,&quot; he explained. </p><p>For now, aside from looking for new sponsors for the Filipinas, Gonzalez said that their focus is restructuring the women&#x27;s management and staff. </p><p>&quot;When it comes to patrons or investors, they&#x27;ll be dealing directly with us. For example, I might not end up being the manager for both of the teams. I might just be overseeing the two managers. So it really depends on what structure we&#x27;re gonna go with moving forward, but the women&#x27;s are gonna have just as good of a staff as the men&#x27;s,&quot; he said. </p><div><ivs-player data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-vid="3060347"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script></div>

<p>The Philippine women’s national football team will be under new management moving forward.</p>

The Philippine women’s national football team will be under new management moving forward.

Football: Changes possible in Filipinas, says new PWNFT interim manager Fred Gonzalez

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Sudoku

Word of the Day

Lotto

Horoscope

Sports

Football: Changes possible in Filipinas, says new PWNFT interim manager Fred Gonzalez

Romwel Anzures,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 01, 2024 05:51 PM PHT

Read More:

Football

ABSSports

Philippine Football Federation

Filipinas

PFF

Fred Gonzalez

John Gutierrez

Dan Palami

Jeff Cheng

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

Sign Up

I have read and agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.