Who Is Sarina Bolden, the Filipino Footballer Who Scored the Historic Goal Against New Zealand?
The Philippines' star midfielder Sarina Bolden just scored the first-ever goal for the country in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This also marks the Philippines' first win ever in any World Cup match.
Bolden's goal came in the 24th minute against New Zealand's Victoria Esson, leading to a stadium-wide eruption at the 35,000-seat Wellington Regional Stadium. The Philippines enter edhalftime up 1, eventually taking the game by the end of regulation. Bolden, of course, was the star. She has actually been representing the country quite well on the international stage as of late.
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Who Is Sarina Bolden?
Born in the United States, Sarina Bolden is a Filipino-American professional footballer best known for playing as a midfielder for A-League Women club Western Sydney Wanderers. She had a decorated high school football career with the Milpitas High School Trojans, making first-team All-SCVAL selection from 2013 to 2015. The football star eventually wound up playing for the Loyola Marymount University.
Bolden went on to join Xinbei Hangyuan in the Taiwan Mulan Football League in 2020 and then the San Francisco Nighthawks of the Women's Premier Soccer League in the United States later on. She then played in the WE League of Japan before transferring to the Wanderers in 2022.
It was in college that she had been invited to participate in the United States women's national under-23 soccer team camp in Florida, but she eventually chose to switch sides, going to training camps organized by the Philippines women's national football team in 2017.
Bolden has played intertionally with the Philippine national team since the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup. She later became part of the team that advanced to the knockout stage of the AFC Women's Asian Cup. In 2023, she scored the Philippines' first FIFA Women's Cup goal in history.
