PNVF wants Jorge de Brito to stay on as Alas Pilipinas Women coach

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) on Monday bared its intention to appeal for Jorge de Brito to remain as the Alas Pilipinas Women head coach.

According to the volleyball body, the Brazilian tactician is set for another tour of duty with Chinese Taipei once his contract with the Philippines expires on June 30.

But the PNVF said they would like to have de Brito stay and continue his program with Alas, which has seen significant success, especially in the past few days following a stellar pool stage campaign in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup here.

“We’ll be appealing that he remains head coach of our women’s national team program,” said PNVF president Tats Suzara.

“Coach Jorge coached the country to a first-ever semifinals stint in any AVC or Asian level competition, that’s historic for Philippine volleyball. And because of that, there’s no reason that we’ll let him go.”

De Brito was tapped to take the reins for national team helm in 2021 after the federation secured a grant from FIVB, which subsidized his salary. He was only supposed to call the shots for two years.

But since then, de Brito has steered the squad to decent finishes, including a seventh-place finish during the 2023 AVC Challenge Cup.

In this year's edition, de Brito and Alas Pilipinas have exceeded all expectations, cruising to the semifinals round with an undefeated slate. They closed out the pool round with a 4-0 record after denying Australia, India, Iran, and Chinese Taipei.

With him at the helm, the Philippines also jumped from no. 63 to no. 55 in the latest FIVB world rankings.

“We’ve always trusted Coach Jorge and Alas Pilipinas’s historic accomplishment in this AVC Challenge Cup is testament to his world-class skills as coach,” Suzara added.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News