Introduction

Womens Football in Spain isn’t yet one of the most popular sports of women as it has smaller popularity. Even though soccer is the most popular game in Spain, football for men typically has the most fans. At present, there are two national competitions: The League as well as the Copa de la Reina (English: Queen’s Cup), with a semi-professional team structure. Spain has qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup twice and the UEFA Women’s Championship 3 times, making it to the semifinals once in 1997. Spain has qualified for both tournaments twice because of their hard football trials.

However, despite their poor success at higher levels, Spain’s young teams have had one of the world’s best performances in this decade. With two titles in continental competitions (U-17 and U-19) and a place in the two world finals, they had a great year in 2018. Because of Barcelona’s success at the club level, Spain has moved up the FIFA rankings and is now ranked 10th internationally. Their players were awarded the UEFA awards for the greatest goalkeeper, midfielder, defender, striker, and the top player in 2020, among other honors. Players from a single country won in every category for the first time and they were selected because of open football trials.

Early years

When women’s clubs for football began appearing in Spain in 1970, one of the instigators, Rafael Muga, decided to form a national football team. Football was thought to be a bad sport for women by both the Royal Spanish Football Federation as well as the National Movement’s Women’s Section, which also ran women’s sports in Francoist Spain. It was an unofficial idea. Some players joined football trials London for training.

If asked to comment on the project in January 1971, RFEF President Jose Luis Perez Paya answered that I’m not against women’s sports; however, I don’t love it. I don’t consider it feminine from an aesthetic standpoint. Women aren’t favored in wearing trousers and shirts. A dress that is appropriate for the region would suit them better.

On February 21, 1971, the non-official Spanish nation’s team, Conchi Sanchez, a professional player within the Italian league, was officially launched during the Murcian league La Condomina against Portugal and focused on football trials, which ended in a draw of 3-3. The team was not allowed to wear the RFEF’s crest, and the referee wasn’t allowed to wear an official uniform. On July 15, with the transfer delay, the team took on its first match abroad against Italy at Turin’s Stadio Comunale and suffered an 8-1 loss.

The team was then invited to participate in the 2nd edition of the non-official ladies’ world cup (Mundialito 1981); however, RFEF prohibits the team from participating in the tournament. Despite these restrictions, Spain was entrusted with hosting the 1972 World Cup. RFEF opposed the idea, and the tournament was canceled, and the team ended. The non-official Spanish team disbanded within a short time.

The 1980s: Officiality of the Team

Later in the twentieth century, after the country had become democratic, RFEF began to accept women’s soccer in November of 1980, which led to creating a national cup and an official national team. The latter was finally introduced under the direction of coach Teodoro Nieto on February 5, 1983, in A Guarda, Pontevedra. The team’s opponent was Portugal, and they defeated Spain by 0-1.

The team afterward played two-leg friendlies in France and Switzerland. They played both games in Aranjuez and Barcelona but lost in Perpignan. Finally, the team won its first game in Zurich (0-1). To qualify for 1987’s European Championship, it faced Hungary for the first time on April 27, 1985, losing 1-0. Spain finished third after losing its first four games, they then focused on football trials. They defeated Switzerland and tied with Italy. In 1989 and 1991, the team also came last in their group during the qualifying rounds after hard football camp training.

It had been a while since the last coach, Nieto, was in charge. Ignacio Quereda has been the team’s coach as of September 1988. Teodoro Nieto, the sport director ignored Conchi Sanchez (Amancio), Spain’s most international footballer, even though she was the first captain in the 1970s. She had been representing Italy and had successfully won championships and Italian Cups; there were no strong reasons to part ways with the remarkable talent at any point in her professional career because of football academy trials. It was still bad for a talented player who played for her country and should have been given more attention and respect.

The 2010s: First World Cup

Spain was able to stay in the final stages of a European Championship for 16 years after getting an invite. The team was chosen for UEFA Women’s Euro 2013 after beating Scotland in the playoff to qualify. In the group phase, they beat England and drew with Russia, which could have been enough to get into the quarterfinals. But they lost to Norway. A year later, Spain made it to the World Cup for the first time in history by playing football at their best because of hard football trials. They won nine out of the ten games they played in their qualifying Round. This is the FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage in 2015. They had a terrible tournament.

A draw with Costa Rica was the best that Spain could do in this group. Then, Spain lost 1-1 to Brazil. After a 1-0 lead, they lost 1-2 to South Korea and became the weakest European team to face.

To honor the completion of Ignacio Queereda’s tenure as head coach, the 23 players from the team released an unofficial statement after they participated in therein World Cup. The next summer, Quereda resigned and was succeeded by Jorge Vilda, who’d previously coached the U-19 squad and was also a finalist for the 2014 award. FIFA’s Coach of the year award.

UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 Qualification

This means that Spain has qualified to play throughout the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 after winning all of their games and finishing with 11 points, the best score. In 2017, the Spain team made its first appearance at the Algarve Cup, winning the tournament. However, their performance in the 2017 UEFA Women’s Euro football play was terrible. They then focused on football trials near me.

A win against Portugal was the only one. England and Scotland both lost in their group stage games, as well, with England losing 0-2 and Scotland losing 0-1 during the group stage. On the other hand, Spanish football amazingly made it to the quarterfinals, where Austria defeated them in a penalty shootout, which ended 0-0 after extra time and 3-5 in the final shootout. After 345 minutes, the national soccer team was taken off the field because they didn’t score a single goal.

This year, Spain was in Group B with China PR, South Africa, as well as Germany at the World Cup. It is the first time in history that Spain has made it to the World Cup’s knockout stages. Spain came in second in their group. During the Round of 16, the team was knocked out by the United States.

In October, the federation announced the formation of Espana Promesas (basically Spain B), a category for players too old for the smaller age groups but not on the current international football team after hard football trials. The squad will offer training and matches for youngsters considering a football career and eventually be called Spain under-23.

Conclusion

Sports are also evolving with time. In football, women’s teams are also formed at the national level for leagues and international levels other than men’s teams. Spain’s women’s football team is also progressing and gaining popularity worldwide with time.