The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is poised to beef up the national women’s futsal team with some football players when it competes in the AFC Women’s Futsal Qualification in Uzbekistan from 11 to 19 January.

Photos of the team that circulated on social media show Filipinas veterans Katrina Guillou, Bella Flanigan, Judy Connolly, and Sara Castañeda training with other futsal players in a closed-door session at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium over the weekend.

Also in attendance were Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president John Gutierrez and Filipinas head coach Mark Torcaso.

The PFF is scheduled to announce the composition of the squad that will compete in the prestigious Asian event on Tuesday.

Should the four football players formally join the futsal squad, it would fulfill the promise made by Gutierrez last year when he floated the possibility of having some members of the Filipinas play in the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup on November. 

“Very exciting times for us, especially for futsal enthusiasts,” Gutierrez said.

“I would also like to share that some of our women’s national team players have committed their services to the futsal women’s team simply because some of them actually started in futsal.”

“Some of those players who played in the last Philippine women’s team in the last World Cup have said they would be happy to join the futsal team. So, it’s looking very good.”

But the inclusion of some football players will not sit well with the futsal squad — or collectively known as the Pinay5 — that has been training together for the past three years.

In fact, the Gutierrez transferred Pinay5 mentor Vic Hermans to the men’s team over the holidays, formally signaling the federation’s change of direction.

In a statement, Pinay5 team manager Danny Moran urged the PFF to retain Hermans as the head coach.