Filipinas captain Tahnai Annis retires from football

Tahnai Annis and the Philippine women’s football team known as Filipinas. AFC PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine women’s football team skipper Tahnai Annis has decided to hang up her boots at age 35.

Annis, a vital part of the Filipinas’ historic Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 debut, announced her retirement in an interview on Futbol Brew hosted by Venice Furio on Sunday. 

“It’s a big announcement for me. It’s something that over the past months, I knew was going to need to be a conversation. But I’m happy to be on this side of it and kind of coming to that on my own terms and getting to share a little bit about what that looks like and how that’s been for me into coming to make this decision,” said Annis.

The longtime Filipinas captain, who joined the program in 2018, believed it was time to call time on her professional and national team football career.

“I don’t think it’s any secret how old I am and it’s not just because I’m much older as a footballer. I think my body, my mind and kind of, my spirit is just come to a point where it’s all in alignment that it’s time for me to step away. Obviously, if I felt that I could continue at the level that’s necessary to compete at an international and even professional level at this point,” said the Filipino-American athlete.

“I definitely would want to continue on. Because, especially, you know, over the last few years how much our national team has accomplished and continues to progress. Especially, just the layout of women’s football all over the world is finally getting its time, I feel like. It’s finally starting to break out and just really elevate.”

“I think once the international windows started popping up and was traveling more, it started to really feel it in my body and then when I was being approached, or getting asked about certain opportunities that you know I would’ve been over the moon about, I had to kind of really had those harder conversations with myself and be real with myself. Absolutely, they were exciting and I wanted to be a part of it, but there was still so much pause when I was having these conversations with potential teams, or agents, and things like that,” she added.

Annis last appeared for Filipinas last April during their series of friendlies against South Korea.

She had 43 caps and 14 goals for the Philippines, which she helped qualify for the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 and win the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship in Manila.

The Filipinas thanked Annis for everything she has contributed to Philippine football.

“Unwavering, unyielding, always 100% committed,” the team wrote. “That’s our Tahnai Annis who has been solid since putting on the armband way back in 2018.”