Kaya craving for some action

Kaya FC-Iloilo is drooling over the prospects of returning for the AFC Women’s Champions League after clinching the PFF Women’s League for the second straight time.

Striker Julissa Cisneros told DAILY TRIBUNE that getting back to the biggest club competition in Asia has been their goal from the start as they mounted a bid to retain the title they won in 2023.

The 25-year-old Cisneros was feted with the Golden Boot Award after scoring 13 goals in 10 matches.

“I’m very excited for Kaya. The purpose of this season is to get another chance to play internationally and against the best of Asia,” Cisneros said.

“I’m proud of our team. We’re back-to-back champions and want to give them the win.”

Last year saw Kaya participate in the inaugural Women’s Champions League as they missed the quarterfinal after finishing with a 0-2-1 win-draw-loss record in Group B.

Kaya was able to hold its own after a scoreless draw against College of Asian Scholars of Thailand and a 1-1 stalemate against Bam Khatoon of Iran.

But a 0-4 trashing by Melbourne City of Australia crushed any hopes Kaya had of making it past the group stage.

It has yet to be announced whether or not Kaya will go through a qualifying round of the tournament before making it to the group stages.

Still, Kaya team captain Hali Long insists they will be ready this time as they bring the lessons they learned from their maiden campaign in the Women’s Champions League.

“It'll be good because we were so new and fresh in the group stage last year,” said Long, who is also the team captain of the national women’s team.

“Maybe the preliminaries will give us a better ramping up into our run in the Champions League.”

“Now it's about growing, fixing our mistakes and doing the work now because we get to represent the Philippines in the Champions League. That is an honor to do once, let alone twice.”