In a move to remind everyone of the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup, the actual trophy will be going around the world in countries whose team qualified for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. It just so happens that one of the stops of the trophy’s global crusade happened to be right here in Manila, Philippines for two days—March 1 and 2.
The first day was a hectic one because it not only featured the pièce de resistance which is the trophy, there were some football challenges as well that included shooting through holes on a board that blocks the goal, a 1v1 freestyle football challenge, and many more. Some of the players from the Philippine Women’s National Football Team even made an appearance there.
Excerpt from the official FIFA website about the trophy tour:
The Trophy will crisscross the globe by visiting Asia, Africa, South America, North America and Europe before landing in all nine Women’s World Cup host cities in the final weeks before the start of a tournament on 20 July that promises to go Beyond Greatness™.
Key dates on the tour schedule include stops in China PR on 9-11 March, South Africa on 22-23 March, Brazil on 29-30 March, USA on 10-14 April, Canada on 19-20 April, Germany on 2-3 May, England on 13-14 May and France on 20-21 May.
Several countries will also be part of the tour for the first time ever, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Morocco, the Philippines, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Vietnam and Zambia.
Unfortunately, I was busy during the first of March and because of college work, I was unable to go to the first day of the trophy viewing because dismissal time was the same as the start of the event.
On a brighter note, there was still Day 2 albeit to much less fanfare. I didn’t mind, though, because my goal was to see the trophy up close and I was able to complete my mission (I also wore my Bayern Munich kit to see it).
Again, this is the first time that the Philippines will have any team in a World Cup and the trophy being here is one hell of a way to hype everyone up.