Philippines U23

In 2025, a squad that had barely troubled the semifinal stage of anything reached the last four of the Southeast Asian Games for the first time since 1991. A defeat to Vietnam, then a bronze medal match lost to Malaysia, 1–2, marked the end of the run, but the distance covered mattered more than the final whistle.

None of this belongs to a club in the ordinary sense. The Philippines U23 side, known to supporters as the U-23 Azkals, is assembled by the Philippine Football Federation whenever a tournament calls for it, then stood down again. Its first matches under that name came at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, against the hosts and against Myanmar, though the federation had sent younger sides to regional tournaments before that under different age brackets.

A team built this way collects venues rather than a home ground. When there was no home leg to play in the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Philippines simply played all their fixtures in Singapore, at Jalan Besar Stadium. Beating Indonesia in the 2025 SEA Games group stage counted for something precisely because such results are rare.

Otu Banatao finished the 2025 Mandiri Cup as the team's top scorer with three goals, part of a squad captained by Gavin Muens under coach Garrath McPherson.