More than a year on from Women’s World Cup win, why can’t Spain see change back home?

“It’s sad to see how other leagues are overtaking us at an incredible speed when we have the potential to be a top league — because of the successes of Barca and the national team,” Barcelona and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati told The Athletic in September.

“If with these strengths we don’t have a sufficiently important league, it’s something to look at. We are stagnating, it’s not getting any better. We don’t even have a (main) sponsor in the league.

“What interest is being put into this league? Who is running this league? Maybe we should be more humble, take the example of the English league (Women’s Super League) and see how they do things. And in the national team, the same. If the changes don’t come, it’s a sign that the people who run this league are not interested in moving forward.”

Bonmati has just won her second Ballon d’Or Feminin in a row and is a key player for reigning world champions Spain and Barcelona’s all-conquering women’s team. But she is not happy about the quality of the Spanish top flight, Liga F — and she is not alone.

“We won the World Cup, which I think is bigger than winning a Euros (as the men’s side did this summer). And no, nothing has changed,” Arsenal’s Spain forward Mariona Caldentey told the BBC in September. “Especially in La Liga, we have the same problems as always.”

Many will remember the aftermath of that World Cup for then-Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales’ unsolicited kiss on Jennifer Hermoso and the #SeAcabo (‘It’s finished’) campaign launched by the striker and her team-mates. That is the Spanish name of a new Netflix documentary about the Spanish players’ reaction to the scandal — in English, its title is ‘The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football’.

But 15 months on from La Roja lifting the trophy in Australia and New Zealand, how much has really changed for them back home?

We consulted 12 of the 16 clubs that made up Liga F in the 2023-24 season to find out (Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Sporting de Huelva declined to speak to The Athletic). We also spoke to sources from the Spanish Federation (RFEF) and the Liga F president, Beatriz Alvarez.

Most of the people here preferred to remain anonymous to protect relationships in the game. Here is what they had to say about the state of top-flight women’s football in Spain.

Barcelona’s dominance — and the gap to the rest of the league

Liga F became professional in 2021 after many years of struggling for that goal. It is a separate entity to the RFEF and La Liga, the men’s top division.

Barcelona have been crowned champions for the past five years in a row and the gap to their rivals keeps widening. They finished last season 15 points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid and with a goal difference of 127 compared to Madrid’s 41.

Things are tighter at the top this term, with Barca five points ahead of Madrid, who have a game in hand (although Barca have scored 23 more goals than them). But there is still nothing resembling a title race; everyone knows the Catalans will win no matter what injuries they suffer and the only interest stems from the Champions League positions and relegation battle.

Barca are dominant in Spain and Europe (David Ramos/Getty Images)

You could say the league is divided into three: Barca against themselves, looking to improve on their record every year; the teams who have made a commitment to women’s football and who are vying for Champions League qualification; and those struggling with professionalism.

Barca’s success extends to the European stage: they have played in five Champions League finals since 2019 and won three. Last season, they lifted all four titles available to them for the first time. They hold the world record attendance for a women’s football match — 91,648 watched them play Wolfsburg at the Camp Nou in April 2022 — and provided many of the players for Spain’s World Cup triumph.

Given the disparity with other teams, it’s worth remembering it wasn’t always like this. A little over a decade ago, the closest they got to playing at the Camp Nou was the ‘camp nou’ — ‘field number nine’ in Catalan — at Barca’s training ground.

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Dressing-room sources from the time say they had no fixed training pitch and there was rarely hot water in the prefabs they used as changing rooms. They say it was often a race to be the first to take a hot shower, especially in winter.

They weren’t even one of the strongest teams in Spain, with Levante, Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid all historically more successful. Levante were the first to build something resembling a professional environment and were the first Spanish team to play in the Champions League, in 2001-02.

The outlook could not be more different now. The last four Ballon d’Or trophies have gone to Barca players: Alexia Putellas won the award in 2021 and 2022 before Bonmati’s double. Barca are the only women’s team in the world to have a private plane of their own, but other Spanish clubs are fighting for grass pitches and taking long coach journeys to games.

As a board member at one club told The Athletic: “We have invested in having everything, and when we start to feel proud that we have achieved remarkable improvements, suddenly the day comes when you play against Barca. Then you see their resources and the amount of people they have with the team and you look ridiculous.”

“The other day, I saw a video of the (Barca) players taking the typical start-of-season photos,” another source on one club’s staff said. “I spotted more people dressed as staff than we have players in our team. It’s very difficult to compete against that.”

“Aitana sees her reality, as is normal, as what should be the rule,” a staff member at one club said. “Unfortunately, her reality in Spain is the exception. The rest of the clubs see FC Barcelona as an alien from another galaxy.”

Sponsorship, scheduling and pitch issues

Spain’s World Cup winners, including Bonmati, Caldentey and Laia Codina, say they have not seen the same kind of improvements in their country as in England after the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 win.

Spain’s players celebrate winning the World Cup final (Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Many players and big clubs argue that 16 teams is too many when some fall short of the standard expected at the professional level. There are still players from some clubs who need to hold down other jobs because, until recently, there was no minimum wage for female footballers in Spain. When that was finally set last year, it was €16,000 a year ($17,000; £13,000 at current exchange rates).

There is no main sponsor, as Bonmati said, although Liga F does have deals with Puma, Panini, GSK, Mahou, Solan de Cabra and EA Sports. All the teams consulted have a technical staff with nutritionists, physiotherapists, doctors and physical trainers. All but one of them train five days a week, which they say has been the case since the league became professional.

But they also all said that having a women’s team generated losses. The only club which said they were profitable was Barcelona — where it is the only section of the club not running at a loss.

Several factors are holding Liga F back. Many clubs say a lack of planning in terms of scheduling affects them the most. They sometimes only find out dates and kick-off times one or two weeks in advance. The league has to wait for the men’s calendar to be drawn up first to decide their schedule, which leaves little room for women’s teams.

Many stadiums have insufficient lighting and poor-quality grass pitches. UD Tenerife, Sporting de Huelva and Levante Las Planas use artificial turf instead of grass.

Then there is the issue of sponsorship. Some clubs say they have found it harder to attract companies than expected, while others have failed to do so entirely.

“People talk big about women’s football — and then you see that it’s all smoke and mirrors,” said one club director.

“When you go to ask for sponsorship, even if it’s with a supermarket to exchange advertising for fruit for the match, you see that nobody wants to help you. We are alone; there seems to be no interest from sponsors, administration or anywhere else.”

Most of the clubs that promote their women’s team complain they have been the victims of a longstanding conflict between the league and the RFEF. In the beginning, they fought for control of the competition, with disagreements over the calendar, television rights and the quota for non-EU players.

Real Madrid are second in Liga F but have scored 23 fewer goals than Barca (Guillermo Martinez)

What improvements have there been since the World Cup?

Since Rubiales was sacked, clubs acknowledge there has been an improvement in relations with the federation, even if that has yet to translate into tangible changes. But many say it is always been much easier to talk to Liga F than the RFEF.

This year, the Spanish government’s Consejo Superior de Deportes (High Sports Council, known as the CSD) handed out a €6.5million grant to clubs that needed it, primarily helping small or independent clubs who do not have a strong men’s first team to lean on. Many changed from artificial turf to natural grass, installed new benches and improved their lighting.

It did not work out for everyone. UD Tenerife, an independent team that usually finish in the top six, presented a project for a grant that included installing natural grass and improved lighting. But they were refused the changes when they went to Granadilla Town Hall — the reason given was that the stadium is also used by children and natural grass would require more maintenance. The club had to return the subsidy to the CSD, with interest.

But there have been social improvements, with clubs saying that the number of girls signing up to play is growing exponentially.

“Before, you were the village weirdo and now you see that this is unstoppable,” one board member said. “Girls want to play.”

What do Liga F and the RFEF say?

In July 2024, Liga F and the federation signed a ‘coordination agreement’ to communicate better and work in the same direction.

“It is necessary,” Liga F president Alvarez told The Athletic. “It is not only a question of law, but it gives us all the necessary legal and jurisdictional security to be able to organise the competition and for everyone to be clear. That’s apart from other things that can help — not only for stability, but also to boost and promote women’s football.

“What we would have liked to have found (when she became president in 2021) is normality in the relationship and to try to make things easy for each other, because, in the end, the objectives have to be the same. The leagues are also part of the federations, so there is no sense in this war. But the previous managers had no interest in this changing.”

But Alvarez also acknowledges that “there could have been better communication with the players” and that Liga F is looking to create a “working table” with them so they are part of this. She says Barca are a “decade ahead of the rest of the clubs” and adds that they should feel as if they face a “fight to get into the Champions League”.

Liga F president Beatriz Alvarez (Irina R. Hipolito/Europa Press via Getty Images)

The RFEF says it has to be self-critical and has tried to improve since Rubiales’ exit.

Federation sources say women’s football is now treated with more care. They point to improvements in the national team, including how they now travel with chartered flights and in good time, while they have incorporated a nutritionist, a psychologist, more goalkeeping coaches and increased the team’s staff.

The RFEF claims it has never experienced so much media interest in the women’s game. It says it provided accreditation to 149 journalists and 92 media outlets for the final of the Copa de la Reina, the women’s equivalent of the Copa del Rey, leaving out more than 20 media outlets because there was not enough space in the press facilities at La Romareda in Zaragoza.

So what does the future look like?

Liga F has improved a lot in the past 10 years — although it’s clear there’s still a long way to go.

Some of the smaller clubs are more optimistic about the league’s will to improve, but the big clubs do not share that point of view. Liga F has to deal with several clubs with different realities, which is not easy.

Barcelona and its players are concerned about the lack of interest shown in the competition and believe the improvements are too few and happening too slowly compared to their progress. The exits of Caldentey, Codina and Lucy Bronze to the Women’s Super League in the summer suggest some players could look to move on if they are not satisfied with Liga F’s standard.

But the RFEF and Liga F’s newfound willingness to communicate provides one positive. It remains to be seen whether both sides’ good intentions translate into raising the standard for Spain’s top flight in the long term.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design by Eamonn Dalton)