Women's football in Spain

Women's football was recorded as being played in Spain as early as the 1910s.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/30/womens-world-cup-2019-team-guide-no-7-spain|title=Women's World Cup 2019 team guide No 7: Spain|first=Eleonora|last=Giovio|date=30 May 2019|accessdate=3 June 2019|website=Theguardian.com}} The first known women's football teams in Spain were founded in Barcelona in 1914, inspired by teams playing in England. A small football association, the Spanish Girl's Club, was set up and sponsored two teams, Montserrat and Giralda. They played their first match on 9 June 1914; both teams were initially coached by Jack Greenwell{{Rp|pages=315–317}} when he was also player-coach of FC Barcelona men's team,{{Cite web |title=Jack Greenwell (1913-23,1931-33) |url=https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/card/648695/jack-greenwell-1913-231931-33 |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=FC Barcelona}} and then by Paco Bru. Despite becoming popular and playing well enough that one sports paper said they would soon be able to compete with men's second or youth teams,{{cite web |last=Ortiz |first=Miguel Ángel |url= https://www.panenka.org/pasaportes/10816/ | access-date=27 October 2019 |title=Las Spanish Girl's Club |work=Panenka |date=7 March 2018}} the teams did not last long. Their fortunes seemed to rest on a planned tour of France to play women's teams there, which was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War I, and Spanish Girl's Club stopped playing. Local newspapers continued to report on the women's teams in England, and suggested that women's football would soon reach Spain, but sportsmen and sport advocates in Spain espoused the belief that it was too dangerous or masculine.{{Cite journal |last=Torrebadella-Flix |first=Xavier |date=2016-05-18 |title=Fútbol en femenino. Notas para la construcción de una historia social del deporte femenino en España, 1900-1936 |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/INFE/article/view/52710 |journal=Investigaciones Feministas |language=es |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=313–334 |doi=10.5209/rev_INFE.2016.v7.n1.52710 |issn=2171-6080|doi-access=free }}{{Rp|pages=315–317}}

In 1920, there was report of a football match between women's teams in Irun, albeit advertised by the skimpy kits the players would wear, setting the tone for press coverage during the decade.{{Rp|pages=317–319}} Some women in the 1920s found success playing in men's teams: teenage goalkeeper Irene González competed for minutes with Rodrigo García Vizoso,{{cite web |last=Cudeiro |first=Juan L. |date=17 May 2021 |title=La mujer que abrió las puertas del fútbol |trans-title=The woman who opened the doors of football |url=https://elpais.com/especiales/2021/pioneras-del-deporte/irene-gonzalez/ |access-date=20 April 2023 |work=El País |location=A Coruña}} while Ana Carmona Ruiz dressed as a man to join teams.{{Cite web |title=La historia de 'Veleta': la mujer malagueña que se hacía pasar por hombre para jugar al fútbol |url=https://www.eldesmarque.com/malaga/futbol-provincial/268623-la-historia-de-veleta-la-mujer-malaguena-que-se-hacia-pasar-por-hombre-para-jugar-al-futbol |publisher=eldesmarque.com}} There was also an international women's match between a French XI and British XI held in Barcelona in 1923, and "one of the most important clubs" in Barcelona started a women's team this year, before Belgian women's teams toured Spain in 1925.{{Rp|pages=318–319}}{{Efn|Following the England FA ban on women's football, Albert(o) Maluquer, historian of FC Barcelona, agreed with England's assessment that the female constitution could not handle football. However, Maluquer felt he could not object to it "as a result of the creation of a women's team in Barcelona, in one of the most important clubs in the city". (Torrebadella-Flix, 2016. p. 318)}} However, the press was resistant to women's football: some exhibition games were played but were not treated seriously, and the desire for women's football caused media to make news of how masculine it was, while promoting the new English sport of netball in favour.{{Rp|pages=318–319}}

The outlook was more positive in the early 1930s, in conjunction with the growth of women's rights in the Second Spanish Republic, seeing high participation of women in sports. Several clubs that played football, among other sports, were founded during the decade, including Club Femení i d'Esports de Barcelona and Sección femenina de Hockey del Athletic Club de Madrid. In 1932, another association was created, this time in Valencia, for women's teams to play each other and develop the sport. It quickly sponsored four professional teams – Levante, España, Atlético and Valencia – which toured Spain and Latin America, while FC Barcelona added Ana María Martínez Sagi, who believed in feminism through sports, to its board of directors in 1934. The arrival of the Spanish Civil War effectively shut women out of football.{{Rp|pages=320–321}}

{{See also|Bans of women's association football}}

Between the 1930s and 1975, during the Franco regime, women were forbidden from playing football.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/how-a-17-year-old-girl-fought-for-women-s-football-in-barcelona-1.3367225|title=How a 17-year-old girl fought for women's football in Barcelona|first=Joanne|last=O'Riordan|newspaper=The Irish Times|accessdate=24 June 2019}}{{Rp|pages=320–321}} The Sección Femenina, a fascist pro-misogyny political advocacy group, was incorporated into the dictatorship during the regime, suppressing women's rights.{{cite news |last=O'Riordan |first=Joanne |title=How a 17-year-old girl fought for women's football in Barcelona |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/how-a-17-year-old-girl-fought-for-women-s-football-in-barcelona-1.3367225 |accessdate=24 June 2019 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}{{cite journal |last1=Alcalde |first1=Maria Dolors Ribalta |last2=Martí |first2=Xavier Pujadas |date=January 22, 2020 |title=Women, Football, and Francoism: Lesbians and the Formation of Social Networks through Women's Football in Barcelona, 1970–1979 |url=https://cogentoa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2020.1722646 |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |volume=37 |issue=1–2 |pages=94–112 |doi=10.1080/09523367.2020.1722646 |s2cid=214040923 |via=cogentoa.tandfonline.com (Atypon)}} The regime also suppressed lesbians. This ironically encouraged the growth of women's football in Barcelona, as a means of community-building, and several teams thrived;{{cite web |date=25 December 2020 |title=Es commemoren 50 anys del primer partit femení del Barça que es va enfrontar a la UE Centelles |url=https://www.centelles.cat/ajuntament/comunicacio/noticia/872/es-commemoren-50-anys-del-primer-partit-femeni-del-barca-que-es-va-enfrontar-a-la-ue-centelles |language=ca}}{{cite web |title=FC Barcelona Women's Golden Anniversary |url=https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/football/womens-football/news/1949097/fc-barcelona-womens-golden-anniversary |access-date=2023-06-07 |website=FC Barcelona}} by 1970, in Spain, women's football teams were playing unacknowledged competitive matches and reportedly played "extremely well".{{Cite news |last=Farreras |date=21 November 1970 |title=Señoritas sobre el verde cesped |url=http://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/1970/11/21/pagina-7/953642/pdf.html |work=Mundo Deportivo |pages=7 |language=Spanish}}

As the regime weakened in the late 1960s, women began returning to football across Spain, with the Sección Femenina actively spreading disinformation and officially banning the promotion of anything related to women's football to try and prevent this.{{cite journal |last1=Alcalde |first1=Maria Dolors Ribalta |last2=Martí |first2=Xavier Pujadas |date=January 22, 2020 |title=Women, Football, and Francoism: Lesbians and the Formation of Social Networks through Women's Football in Barcelona, 1970–1979 |url=https://cogentoa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2020.1722646 |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |volume=37 |issue=1–2 |pages=94–112 |doi=10.1080/09523367.2020.1722646 |s2cid=214040923 |via=cogentoa.tandfonline.com (Atypon)}} Women began practicing athletics in Spain in 1960, when female relatives of male athletes began using the facilities at Montjuïc in Barcelona and, facing pushback, sought legal advice to say that as Barcelona citizens they could use any sports facility in the city; a decade later, Mundo Deportivo wrote that this set a precedent for women to play football, as the ban, something the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) took as a given, was probably not legal. The newspaper suggested that it would be reasonable for women's football to be brought under RFEF control rather than develop at its own pace.

Women's football in Spain took on a new popularity from 1969. A decade later, Mundo Deportivo attributed the "launch" of competitive women's football in Spain to the first Fuengirola Trophy in Fuengirola, organised by a liquor company in 1970. The newspaper described women's football as an overnight sensation; like the Fuengirola Trophy, most competitions were supported by advertising money.{{cite news |last=Nolla |first=Santi |date=26 May 1979 |title=Actualmente adscrito a Educación y Descanso: El futbol femenino, aislado por la Federación |url=https://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/1979/05/26/pagina-14/1055415/pdf.html |newspaper=Mundo Deportivo |page=14 |language=es}}

There was no institutional support, despite the Spanish Football Federation not having any regulations prohibiting women's football. When UEFA polled its members in 1970, Spain was one of five that declined to provide information on women's football.{{Cite news |last=Pardo |first=Carlos |date=17 December 1970 |title=El fútbol, es un deporte para la mujer? |url=http://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/1970/12/17/pagina-16/1375003/pdf.html |work=Mundo Deportivo |pages=16 |language=Spanish}} At the time, there were many women's teams regularly training in Catalonia, where there was publicity, and about 20 in Biscay and Gipuzkoa of the Basque Country, where women's football in Spain was most developed. Women's matches had halves of half an hour. The popularity continued to grow. In 1970, Barcelona Femení played to 60,000 at Camp Nou, in a double-header with the men's team, then to 40,000 in a Barcelona derby match in 1971. The first domestic women's league in Spain was played in 1971–72, featuring teams in Catalonia.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Victoria Hernández then became the first female footballer to sign a "professional" contract – one stipulating remuneration per game played – in 1971,{{cite web |last=Villaescusa |first=Luis |date=2021-05-02 |title="Nunca viví del fútbol, pero lo di todo por jugar" |url=https://elpais.com/especiales/2021/pioneras-del-deporte/victoria-hernandez/ |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=EL PAÍS |language=es}} and several players were good enough to join teams in other European countries with better-developed women's football culture.

Following the initial growth in prominence, the government department {{Ill|Educación y Descanso|es|Educación y Descanso}}, which managed recreation, took over the organisation of women's football. Though competition still took place, Catalan women's football under Educación y Descanso was described as "hidden, clandestine, silent." In 1979, there were only six women's football teams in Catalonia – two of which pertained to FC Barcelona, and were the only ones with any tangible support. María Teresa Andreu, the main advocate for women's football in Spain at the time, said that the Catalan Football Federation had indicated support for enfranchising women's football, but were ignored when taking the proposal to Madrid.

The RFEF recognised women's football in 1980,{{Cite web |title=Serial Fútbol Femenino en MARCA.com | El origen clandestino de la selección |url=https://www.marca.com/reportajes/2013/04/serial_futbol_femenino/2013/04/23/seccion_01/1366710025.html |website=www.marca.com}} but did not organise their own national league until 1988.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cihefe.es/cuadernosdefutbol/2011/04/los-primeros-pasos-del-futbol-femenino-en-espana/|title=Los primeros pasos del futbol femenino en España | Cuadernos de Fútbol|website=www.cihefe.es}} In 2019 the Spanish FA committed to spending $20 million in the area of women's football.{{cite web|url=https://www.marca.com/en/football/spanish-football/2019/06/21/5d0d1a6446163fdd718b45e7.html|title=Spanish FA to invest 20 million euros in women's football|date=21 June 2019|website=Marca.com|accessdate=24 June 2019}}

{{main article|Spain women's national football team}}

File:2023 Women's World Cup Semifinal Game (53151528644).jpg semifinal against Sweden]]

The Spain national football team has qualified three times for the FIFA World Cup, for the first time in 2015 and every World Cup since then. They qualified three times for the UEFA European Championship.{{Cite web |title='It's a great day for Spanish women’s football' |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66470730 |via=www.bbc.co.uk}} Prior to winning the 2023 World Cup, the furthest the senior national team reached at international competition was the semi-finals at UEFA Euro 1997.{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2019 |title=Los grandes cambios del fútbol femenino a lo largo de los años |url=https://www.abc.es/contentfactory/post/2019/03/04/futbol-y-mujer-historia-de-un-crecimiento-imparable/}}{{Cite web |last=RIVAS |first=ALBERTO |date=June 20, 2022 |title=Cinco curiosidades que no sabías de la selección española en las Eurocopas |url=https://www.rtve.es/deportes/20220620/seleccion-espanola-femenina-eurocopa-2022-curiosidades/2384559.shtml |website=RTVE.es}}

The U-17 national team won the U-17 European Championship in 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2018, as well as becoming champions at the 2018 and 2022 U-17 World Cups, and finalists in the 2014 U-17 World Cup.{{Cite web |date=August 29, 2022 |title=España, campeona del mundo sub-20 por primera vez en la historia |url=https://www.elespanol.com/deportes/futbol/20220829/espana-campeona-mundo-sub-20-primera-vez-historia/699180086_0.html |website=El Español}}

The U-19 national team won the UEFA U-19 European Championship in 2004, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023.{{Cite news |last=Longman |first=Jeré |date=June 23, 2019 |title=For Spain, Investment Pays Off at the World Cup |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/sports/womens-world-cup-spain.html |via=NYTimes.com}}

The U-20 national team were runner-ups at the 2018 U-20 World Cup and then champions at the 2022 U-20 World Cup.

Spain's greatest achievement was winning the 2023 World Cup.{{Cite web |title=England beaten by Spain in Women's World Cup final |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66561827 |via=www.bbc.co.uk}} Olga Carmona scored the winning goal in the final as captain of the team. Spain became the first women's team to hold three World Cups (senior, under-20, and under-17) simultaneously. Salma Paralluelo played in all three of those tournaments. Spain were also leading goalscorers in the tournament with 18 goals.{{Cite web |title=Spain v England {{!}} Final |url=https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023/articles/spain-england-womens-world-cup-final-match-report}}

Spain became a top 10 team in the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in 2021.{{Cite web |title=Women's Ranking |url=https://www.fifa.com/origin1904-p.cxm.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/women |access-date=2024-01-12 |website=www.fifa.com |language=en}} Spanish players won all categories of the 2021 UEFA awards, the first time all from one nation. The winners were Alexia Putellas, Sandra Paños, Irene Paredes, and Jennifer Hermoso. In December 2023 after their success in the Nations League, Spain became the number one ranked team in the world.{{Cite news |title=World Cup champion Spain finally takes top spot in FIFA women's rankings, Canada 10th |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/soccer-fifca-womens-rankings-spain-us-canada-1.7060416}}

The first teams and the first informal women's football competitions in Spain emerged in the 1970s, although they were not officially recognized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation until 1980, with the founding of the National Women's Football Committee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sbnation.com/2019/5/23/18635730/spain-la-liga-barcelona-womens-champions-league|title=Spain and La Liga are showing the world how to support women's soccer|first=Zito|last=Madu|date=May 23, 2019|website=SBNation.com}} The first official national competition was the Copa de la Reina, established in 1983.{{Cite web|url=https://as.com/futbol/2021/08/18/fotorrelato/1629288444_631461.html|title=20 hitos del fútbol femenino español|first1=Nerea|last1=Pardillo|first2=A. S.|last2=Fotografía|date=June 11, 2022|website=Diario AS}} The women's national league began to dispute the 1988-89 season.{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.co.uk/football/barcelona-women/story/4336035/spanish-government-makes-womens-football-professionalsorry-for-injustice|title=Spanish gov't to end 'injustice' in women's game|date=March 12, 2021|website=ESPN.com}}

Primera División is the national competition for female football players in Spain.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/11/football/spain-womens-euro-2022-spt-intl/index.html|title=Women's Euro 2022: With two major injuries, can pre-tournament dark horse Spain still dazzle?|first=Matias|last=Grez|date=July 11, 2022|website=CNN}}

Below the Primera División, there is a second tier called Primera Federación, where its teams are divided into seven groups.{{cite web|url=http://www.rfef.es/noticias/oficial-rfef-crea-nueva-competicion-potenciar-futbol-femenino-primera-division-b|publisher=Royal Spanish Football Federation|date=24 July 2018|language=es|access-date=22 September 2022|title=La RFEF crea una nueva competición para potenciar el fútbol femenino, la Primera División B|trans-title=RFEF creates a new competition for developing the women's football, the Primera División B}} In 2020 Primera Federación teams became full time professionals.{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/womens-soccer-gains-professional-status-in-spain/|title=Women's soccer gains professional status in Spain|date=June 10, 2020|website=The Seattle Times}}

The lower tiers are administered by the regional federations.

• Spain women's national football team
• List of Spain women's international footballers
• Football in Spain
• List of foreign Liga F players
• Rubiales affair

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Women's football in Europe}}