The Philippine Football Federation confirmed that its hosting of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship 2022 is finally pushing through.

To officially start the competition, the draw ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 28, while the tournament is slated in July.

The tourney is an annual competition for women’s national teams organized by the AFF since 2004. The last edition was held in Chonburi, Thailand in August 2019 where Vietnam was crowned champion.

PFF was supposed to host the event in 2020 but was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the quarantine restrictions in the region eased, AFF decided to relaunch the competition following the region’s strong performance in world football brought by the qualification of the Philippines and Vietnam to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia & New Zealand.

The 12th edition of the competition will see 10 ASEAN members divided into two groups of five teams led by defending champions Vietnam and runners-up and four-time winners Thailand in Pot 1.

Tournament host Philippines is in Pot 2 alongside Myanmar. Indonesia and Timor-Leste are grouped in Pot 3 while Singapore and Cambodia are in Pot 4. Australia and Laos are in Pot 5.