2023-08-20 20:28:08
On June 9, 2015, the Spanish national team made its debut in a women’s soccer World Cup in Canada and only eight years have passed since it won the first star. Years in which a firm and determined commitment has been made to the development of women’s football from the bodies and institutions involved, and in which the growth of women’s football has exceeded all expectations.
Although it has been uneven and irregular progress, because the increase in the number of licenses at the national level, the professionalization of the League, the two Champions Leagues won by Barça, the titles in the different lower categories by the the Spanish national team, the opening of large stadiums or attendance records have had to live with recurring conflicts such as the disagreement in the negotiation of the collective agreement, the strike of players and referees or the latent conflicts between the RFEF and the professional league.
Now is the time to celebrate this title, and the work of the pioneers has been recognized a lot these days, of those who started playing football when it was not so easy to do so, of all those who have fought in the past . But it’s also time to look ahead and think how the achievement of this star can help to finish taking a definitive step in the development of women’s football in our country.
Because when you win, people watch you. And this Sunday the world is watching Spain because it has won the World Cup and it has done so with a football that is very different from the rest of the national teams. A unique model, based on positional play, controlling the game from possession, just like the men’s team did in 2010 in South Africa. And that needs to be valued, because it’s not just about winning, but how you win.
But they also look at us and see a League in which some fields are not worthy of a professional competition. They look at us and see a League in which referees have a higher salary than most players. They look at us and see some club structures that do not correspond to the professionalism we should demand.
Luckily, and thanks to the great repercussion this World Cup has had, many girls have also had the opportunity to see girls playing football, winning a World Cup, being protagonists in the media, and they will think that they also want to be footballers in order to win, one day, a championship of this caliber. Because references are created, above all, when you win.
That is why now that it has been won and that everyone is watching us, it is the ideal time to raise the bar and be more demanding in everything that refers to women’s football. Struggle to consolidate the steps that have been taken in these years, but be determined to bet on quality growth at all levels and by all levels: Federation, government, professional league, clubs… And if it can be, that we all go hand in hand.
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