Panama women's national football team explained

Type:	Women
Panama
Badge:	Flag of Panama.svg
Badge Size:	190px
Nickname:	Las Canaleras (The Canal Girls)
Association:	Federación Panameña de Fútbol
Confederation:	CONCACAF
Coach:	Toña Is
Most Caps:	Raiza Gutiérrez
Home Stadium:	Estadio Rommel Fernández
Fifa Trigramme:	PAN
Fifa Max:	52
Fifa Max Date:	March – June 2023
Fifa Min:	70
Fifa Min Date:	September 2015
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First Game:	1–2 (San Salvador, El Salvador; 28 July 2002)
Largest Loss:	9–0 (Seattle, United States; 2 November 2002)
World Cup Apps:	1
World Cup First:	2023
World Cup Best:	Group stage (2023)
Regional Name:	CONCACAF Women's Championship
Regional Cup Apps:	4
Regional Cup First:	2002
Regional Cup Best:	Fourth place (2018)

The Panama women's national football team represents Panama in international women's football. The team is overseen by the Federación Panameña de Fútbol. Panama has made four appearances at the CONCACAF Women's Championship, with their best result being the semi-final finish in 2018. In 2023, Panama made their debut in the FIFA Women's World Cup, finishing last in Group F.^[1]

History

2000s

In 2002 Panama qualified for the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup for the first time after securing one of two spots in Central American Zone qualifying. They went 1–0–2 at the 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup and did not qualify for the knockout round.^[2]

Panama once again qualified for the Women's Gold Cup in 2006 after winning their qualifying group. Panama lost their first-round match 2–1 to Jamaica and were eliminated.^[3]

2010s

Panama did not participate in the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying tournament as they did not enter Central American qualifying.^[4]

In 2013 Panama participated in the Central American Games for the first time. They went 1–0–1 and advanced to the semi-finals, where they lost to Costa Rica. Panama would finish in fourth place after losing the third place match to Guatemala.^[4]

Panama finished second in their group in 2014 Central American Qualifying and did not qualify for the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship as only the group winner advanced.^[5]

At the 2017 Central American Games, Panama improved on their result from four years ago by defeating El Salvador on penalties to finish in third place.^[4]

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship

After not entering the 2016 Olympics, Panama secured one of the two spots available in Central American Qualifying for the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship, this marked their first time playing in the CONCACAF Championship in 12 years, after defeating Nicaragua and El Salvador.^[6] Their qualification was aided by the suspension of perennial rivals, Guatemala, by FIFA. Panama was drawn into Group A, alongside the United States, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago.^[7]

Panama opened the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship with a 3–0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. They suffered a 5–0 loss to the United States in their second match. The score could have been much worse if not for the excellent performance from 17-year old goalkeeper Yenith Bailey, as she made several big saves against the US who had 18 shots on goal.^[8] Panama secured their spot in the semi-final by defeating Mexico 2–0 in their final group match. Bailey once again made some big saves, including saving a penalty in the first half. Panama was beat by Canada 7–0 in the semi-final, but they would move on to the third place match where a win would secure them a spot in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[9] ^[10] After losing the third place match to Jamaica on penalties, Panama played against Argentina at the CONCACAF-CONMEBOL play-off to secure a spot for France 2019 but was eliminated from the qualification after losing 1–5 to the Argentines on aggregate.

2020 Olympic qualifiers

After failing to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, the Panamanians turned their interest to the 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship qualification. In Central American qualifying, they were drawn into a group containing Guatemala and Honduras. Held at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City, they beat Honduras 3–0 in their first match but due to the Guatemalans beating Honduras 4–0, anything other than a win in their last game would eliminate them. But Panama held their nerve and secured their qualification to 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship after winning their group with 3–1 win.

At the championship, where the two finalists make the 2020 Olympics, Panama struggled immensely and couldn't recreate their 2018 performance. They first started with a poor 6–1 loss to Costa Rica, followed by a 8–0 loss to United States which eliminated them from Olympic contention. Also their goalkeeper, Yenith Bailey, was subbed off injured. In their final game, which was a dead rubber against Haiti, they had a dismal performance and lost 6–0, although they were very lucky that they didn't concede more. Las Caneleras ended the tournament with 0 wins and a –19 goal difference. After the competition, their manager Raiza Gutiérrez was replaced by Mexican coach, Ignacio Quintana.

2023 Women's World Cup qualifying

After comfortable victories against El Salvador, Belize, Aruba and Barbados, Panama qualified for the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship.

They took part in the group stage, against its arch-rival and neighbor Costa Rica, alongside regional powerhouse Canada and Trinidad and Tobago. Panama suffered two defeats to Costa Rica and Canada losing its the chance to finish in top two. By winning 1–0 over Trinidad and Tobago in the third place match, Panama was able to qualify for the inter-confederation play-offs for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. In the inter-confederation play-offs, Panama defeated Papua New Guinea 2–0 and Paraguay 1–0 to qualify for the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup.^[11] Panama was the final team to qualify and will join Group F along with France, Jamaica, and Brazil.^[12]

2023 Women's World Cup

At the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Panama lost its opening match 4–0 to Brazil.^[13] In their second game, against Jamaica, they narrowly lost 1–0, which eliminated them from the tournament.^[14] ^[15] In their final game, against France, they played an entertaining game, where Las Caneleras capped off their tournament with a 6–3 loss.^[16] Marta Cox scored her nation's first ever World Cup goal with a free kick from a long way out, which hit the top corner in the second minute. Their other goals were scored by Yomira Pinzón and Lineth Cedeño. After the match, French manager Herve Renard was severely disappointed with his team's performance.^[17]

Team image

Nicknames

The Panama women's national football team have been nicknamed as "Las Canaleras (The Canal Girls)."

Home stadium

Panama plays their home matches on the Estadio Rommel Fernández.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

2024

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

^[18]

Technical Corps

Position	Name	Ref
Head coach	Toña Is
Assistant coach	Raiza Gutiérrez
Assistant coach	Tania Camposortega
Goalkeeping coach	Donaldo González
Physical coach	Gustavo Avendaño
Utility	Maycool Castañeda	-->

Medical staff

Position	Name	Ref.
Doctor	Luis Sevillano
Physiotherapist	Lisbeth Vallecilla

Administrative

Position	Name	Ref.
Delegate	Pedro Núñez
Press Delegate	Adán De Gracia-Esmenjaud

Manager history

Ignacio Quintana^[19] (2020–2024)
Toña Is (2024-)

Players

See main article: List of Panama women's international footballers.

Current squad

The following players were named to the official squad for the friendly match against Costa Rica on 27 October 2024.^[20]

Caps and goals updated as of xxxx after match xxxxxx

Recent call-ups

The following players were called-up in the last 12 months.

This list may be incomplete.

Records

See main article: List of Panama women's international footballers.

Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.

Most capped players

width=		width=	Player	width=	Year(s)	width=	Caps
1	Raiza Gutiérrez	20??–20??	?? <	--
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10			-->

Top goalscorers

width =	width =	Player	width =	Year(s)	width =	Goals	width =	Caps
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10			-->

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

See main article: Panama at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

FIFA Women's World Cup record
Year	Result
1991	Did not enter
1995
1999
2003	Did not qualify
2007
2011	Did not enter
2015	Did not qualify
2019
2023	Group stage	3	0	0	3	3	11
2027	To be determined
Total	1/10	3	0	0	3	3	11

Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record									Qualifying record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1996	Did not enter	1995 FIFA WWC
2000	1999 FIFA WWC
2004	Did not qualify								5	2	1	2	23	13
2008	Did not enter	Did not enter
2012
2016
2020	Did not qualify	5	2	0	3	7	21
2024	7	5	0	2	28	4
Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17	9	1	7	58	38

Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

CONCACAF Women's Championship

CONCACAF Women's Championship record								Qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1991	Did not enter	Did not enter
1993
1994
1998
2000
2002	Group stage	3	1	0	2	5	16	4	2	0	2	8	12
2006	First round	1	0	0	1	0	2	2	2	0	0	5	0
2010	Did not enter							Did not enter
2014	Did not qualify							3	2	0	1	17	3
2018	Fourth place	5	2	1	2	7	14	3	2	0	1	11	5
2022	Group stage	3	1	0	2	1	4	3	1	0	2	1	4
Total	Fourth place	12	4	1	7	13	36	15	9	0	6	42	24