I submitted this article on October 18. Irene Ferreras, a member of the Spanish Football Federation’s board of directors, was about to resign, because of the way Sonia Bermudez was selected as first coach. Ferreras, Madrid … Who gave his name to the football stadium in Fuenlabrada, was the only one to vote against it in the elections that ended with the appointment of Sonia Bermudez as coach of the national team. David Ajanzo, who abstained, was the other dissident vote who overwhelmingly voted yes that elected Bermudez.
Irene Ferreras comes from clay. As a footballer, she developed her career in the youth ranks of Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano as a goalkeeper, one of the few goalkeepers of those years. Unfortunately, she had to stop playing football prematurely: an untimely herniated disc prevented her from performing at the level she wanted, because it directly affected her health.
In 2015 she started her course as a trainer. Olimpico de Madrid, La Solana, Rayo Vallecano B, Rayo Vallecano, Valencia, Real Madrid’s David Aznar II and Deportivo de la Coruña were the teams for which the Madrid native played, with one trait that set her apart: she always achieved the goals set. He currently manages Granada in the English Premier League. On national category trips with the Madrid Olympic team on the bus, Ferreras carried some mats that he had thrown on the floor. There he lay for most of the flight to relieve the back pain he suffered.
In addition to the national teams, it is the humble, courageous, hardworking and dedicated football that is amateur football that the women’s section of the Spanish Football Federation has to pay attention to and worry about. The great players we have today come from those teams all over Spain. Paying attention to this rule is a priority and necessary, and it is not a priority to organize large conferences to sell something that is actually a bubble.
As of today, modest women’s teams across Spain are more abandoned than ever by federal, national and regional entities. But teams aren’t just at the mercy of their luck; And so are the players. As Nadine Kessler, UEFA’s director of women’s football, said during the ELEVA International Congress, organized by the Spanish Football Federation in Las Rozas, “The Ballon d’Or is created in Spain, but it is not always treated that way.” Kessler stressed that Spanish footballers “are greatly admired in many countries” and expressed his deep regret that in their homeland they do not receive all the attention they deserve.
The President of the Spanish League and Vice President of the Spanish Football Federation, Beatriz Alvarez, also had a wonderful intervention at the conference. She called for changing the model of broadcasting matches, saying, “We have been thinking about a new strategy for months. We need an open model that has greater impact.”
All of this confirms what we’ve been saying for a long time: the “architecture-ridden” and logistics plan designed by League F by strategy director Pedro Malabia is a failure. In addition to changing the match broadcast model, Beatriz Alvarez also pointed to the mother of all fights: money. “We have to deal with the amount of income. “The entry of capital and sponsors is essential for the growth and structure of clubs.”
Just as quickly as public money runs out, internal tensions begin and responsibilities are sought. Beatriz Alvarez realized, although late, that the “enemy” had set him up in the house. Lola Romero and Ana Rosell are vying as candidates for the future presidency of La Liga, and it appears the campaign has already begun. The head of strategy at La Liga F was an “inseparable companion” in the battles of Lola Romero and Ruben Alekhine. The Zaragoza native has already fallen, and the question now is: Will Beatriz Alvarez and the clubs dare Pedro Malabia to confront his faulty strategy?
The situation in Spanish women’s football shows a profound dissonance between official rhetoric and reality. While the Spanish Football Federation and the Premier League organize conferences and develop failed plans and strategies, the mediocre clubs and the players themselves continue to be neglected. The resignation of Irene Ferreras and the warnings from figures like Nadine Kessler reflect a worn-out and incoherent model, full of ambiguous decisions and internal conflicts that in a few years will end, among other things, the high quality of women’s football in Spain. Women’s football does not need big advertisements, but rather serious management, real support, and leaders capable of assuming responsibilities before the structure finally collapses.