Photo: Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol

By: LDC

Tournament favorite Spain clinched a winning start to its 2025 FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup stint, defeating Thailand in a 5-2 thriller on Saturday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Laura Cordoba scored in the 16th and 28th minutes of the match to steal the show as Maria Sanz Navarro’s 32nd-minute goal sealed the win for the Spaniards.

Cordoba and Navarro’s goals compounded what was an entertaining first 15 minutes from both teams.

Spain’s Vane Sotelo set the tone for the game by opening the scoring in the 7th minute, only for Thailand’s Jenjira Bubpha to equalize two minutes later.

Irene Cordoba then returned the lead to Spain with an 11th-minute strike, which was then answered back through Sasikarn Tongdee’s 14th-minute goal for Thailand.

The result allowed Spain to rise to the top of Group B with three points and a plus-3 goal difference. Colombia, which beat Canada 2-0 earlier in the day, is in second with three points as well, but a GD of plus-2.

Canada and Thailand are in the third and fourth spots, respectively, after matchday one.

Both nations will return to action this Tuesday at the same venue.

Thailand will face Canada first at 6 p.m. and then Spain will go up against Colombia at 8:30 p.m.