On May 5, on Mother’s Day, Celta—one of the few clubs managed by a woman—announced that the entity will have a women’s section next season for the first time since its founding in 1923. Marián Mouriño, who took over management in December, and its council presented the women’s teams last Thursday in the sports city of A Madroa after having reached an agreement for the absorption of the Unión Deportiva Mos, which plays in the Tercera RFEF, the fourth category of Spanish football . As Celtas – the brand under which the Vigo players will play – will start the next season with four teams: the senior team, a reserve team, a junior team and a cadet team. Like Celta, seven other clubs that did not have a women’s section – Valladolid, Real Madrid, Girona, Almería, Alavés, Cádiz and Deportivo – have created or recovered it over the last nine years, and Mallorca, one of the three Primera teams along with Las Palmas and Getafe that are still resisting, have stated that they have a project on the table.
He boomof the last decade, according to the experts and professionals of the sector consulted by Morning Express, has different causes: the successes of the national team and of Barça, the demand of the fans, the impulse of society, the professionalization of the F League — the highest category—and, of course, the growth of soccer itself driven by the efforts of independent clubs—without a male parent entity—and of players who for years combined their work and their passion with endless hours.
Former La Roja international Natalia Pablos, who developed her career between Spain and England, believes that there has been a change in the social and business perception of football played by women. “All the clubs, seeing that this is not a mirage, and especially after Spain’s conquest of the World Cup [en 2023]”They are realizing that if they have a well-structured team in their organizational chart, it can be profitable, with a growing pool, and a great opportunity at a social and equality level,” says Pablos. Jade Boho, former international player with Equatorial Guinea and women’s soccer delegate of the Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE), celebrates that more and more teams are joining: “The soccer players now appear on Panini cards, on things that children consume and the girls, who we must reach so that they want to play. It is good that clubs are opening their minds more and integrating women’s sections. Could they do it before? Some may not have done so due to economic limitations, and others obviously did not want to, but with the passage of time they have realized that it was a mistake.”
Celta, for example, created the women’s section the year it celebrated its centenary. “Obviously, there was a demand from the fans, it is normal,” acknowledges Xisela Aranda, advisor of the Vigo club. The previous board, with Carlos Mouriño – the father of the current president – at the helm, rejected the entity having women’s teams despite the attempts made by El Olivo – a historic team from Vigo that played in the highest category and disappeared in 2018—for integrating into its fold. “I don’t know what happened years ago. The club was probably not prepared in many ways to take the step. It is a project that needs people with knowledge, who understand women’s football, and it is one of the first things that Marián wanted to do as president,” defends Aranda, who was also an elite athlete.
The Olympic club has created its own brand —As Celtas— to promote its women’s teams after the agreement with the Mos Sports Union. “At first you have to disburse resources, but it is a commitment that we want to make so that they are economically sustainable; that they, by themselves, be independent in the future and generate what they spend,” says Xisela Aranda.
As in the case of Vigo, the majority of entities with male structures absorbed other groups when they decided to take the step, whether sooner or later. Real Madrid and Girona did it in 2020 with Tacón and Sant Pere Pescador; Valladolid, in 2022 with Villa de Simancas; Dépor, in 2016 with Orzán SD; Betis, in 2011 with Azahar CF; It was even—there are many more examples—the modus operandi of Barça, which in 2001 integrated the Club Femení Barcelona into its structure. “At first you have to bet financially, of course, but let’s look at Barça, which has invested a large amount of money. They have been the most intelligent: they have taken care of the section and now they are reaping the rewards with titles and players who win individual awards, with prestige,” says Natalia Pablos.
Clubs with a men’s section have had an easier time incorporating female soccer players: almost all of them have their own facilities—a sports city—in which to integrate them. “It is more difficult for independent clubs to get ahead because they do not have the resources that men’s entities do,” explains Natalia Flores, former international futsal player and director of the Women and Sports Program of the Higher Sports Council (CSD). “Having a parent organization is very important because it provides stability to the women’s section, but it is fair to remember many clubs that do not have one and that have been working exclusively for women’s football for many years,” defends Pablo Vilches, executive director. of League F. This is the case, for example, of Madrid CFF, fifth placed, or Granadilla, ninth.
Women’s football has been an expanding universe in the last decade. The numbers on the federation tokens are eloquent. In 2012 there were 39,023 women who played in Spain on a federated basis. In 2022, the last year with published data, there were 87,827, 125% more, and in 2023 they will exceed 100,000 for the first time, as this newspaper has learned. However, this growing world does not advance in the same way for everyone. Las Palmas, one of the First Division clubs without a women’s section, had a team between 2009 and 2011, but then it disappeared. The same thing happened to Valladolid, which resumed the project in 2022 and this Sunday was finally promoted to the fourth category.
“What needs to be promoted is that the athlete can have a career, not create a senior team at a certain moment due to social pressure. We have to work on it from the quarry so that they can also get there [a la élite]. For example, that the Celta girls not only say ‘I want to wear the shirt like Iago Aspas’, but that they have female references to wear the Celta shirt,” Natalia Flores reasons. “It is not enough to invest in any way, you have to work well on everything from the base: the coaching staff, the physio, the players…”, insists Jade Boho.
One of the reasons that has prompted more clubs to take the step is the professionalization of the league, the fourth in Spain to obtain this consideration after the first two men’s soccer divisions and the ACB. With the cataloging – the first season was 2022/2023 – the entities are the ones who exploit the competition and manage the income. In 2022, the employers reached an agreement with LaLiga, which acts as their agent, for the sale of the commercial rights for 42 million euros for five seasons, and another with Dazn for the audiovisual rights in exchange for 35 million euros over five years. The CSD – the body that approved professionalization – has promoted various subsidies worth around 40 million in recent years to the league and its members. “The idea is for clubs to bet more on their women’s teams, to dedicate resources so that footballers have the best possible means to improve their quality and the quality of the competition,” they defend from the public body.
“We must make economic and labor improvements for the players that mean greater competitiveness of the teams, otherwise we will continue talking about a professional league where those who are competitive are the clubs in the first positions, and the others live on subsidies. There is a lot of difference, it is as if there were two within a league,” adds Isabel García, director of the Women’s Institute. In fact, the competition has many pending issues. It has not found a sponsor for the name after the escape of Finetwork – the telecommunications company that paid for the naming during the first professional season—, there is a starry distance between Barça and the rest of the teams, a hidden war with the federation and there are still no data on television audiences. “You can’t call her professional and there are still so many shortcomings,” Natalia Pablos complains. Barça and national team midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the current Ballon d’Or winner, also said it less than a month ago in an interview with this newspaper: “We cannot compare England and Spain. There they want and believe. Here they neither want nor believe, so we are stuck. If Barça is not accompanied by a professional league as God intended, in the end it is just a club that pulls the car.”
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