BarcelonaShe was one of the key players in Barça to lift the first hat-trick in the history of women’s football. With her at the helm, the commitment of the board of directors and the sacrifices of the footballers, the Catalan entity went on wheels towards the titles and professionalism. Maria Teixidor (Barcelona, 1975) left Barça with much of the work done and is now embarking on a new project that wants to continue to evolve women’s football. Es el Momento is the name of her pre-candidacy, along with Reyes Bellver, to preside over the new state women’s competition.
The Professional League never seems to come. At what point are the elections to be named the president of the new competition?
– After almost ten months of negotiations, the clubs of the Primera Iberdrola agreed in February on statutes to form the Women’s League. It cost the clubs in the competition a complicated history. In 2015, an Association of Women’s Football Clubs was set up, led by Pedro Malabia, who is also the director of women’s football in the Men’s League, which grouped most of the clubs. These sold the television rights, while the rest did not. This meant that most matches could not be broadcast, that the clubs of the association lost revenue coming from the Federation, and that women’s football lost visibility. In a way, many conflicts of the masculine have ended up impacting the feminine as well. But now, the clubs are finally integrated into a new association and in the process – as far as we know – of appointing a board of directors which is the one that has to structure the electoral process, determine the format of endorsement and set the date of the elections. .
Television rights have been the genesis of the conflict, then.
– Exactly. The clubs of the association sold their television rights to Mediapro with a contract valued at 3 million, but which was terminated halfway because it prevented the exploitation of the rights because they did not have them all. Women’s football rights do not exist, to be clear. Until the government regulates the existence of the rights of the new women’s competition, they do not exist.
Can relations between clubs and institutions be rebuilt?
– We have some clubs with very open wounds from this whole last stage. In addition, the whole crisis has been joined by covid. This has had an impact especially on the women’s football sector, which was amateur and did not enjoy the exceptions that were made for professional competitions.
The other day the newspaper Mark assured that Beatriz Alvarez will be the new president of the League. Isn’t that right?
– It’s not what we perceive from our conversations with clubs. There are many who have not been consulted or know the identity of this pre-candidate. Someone sends the message, interested, that there is a majority of 12 of the 16 Spanish clubs with a common position. They would, in principle, be the closest clubs to the Women’s Football Clubs Association. Rumor has it that the Association had prepared a candidacy made solely and exclusively by men to lead the Women’s League. It is the “covered” candidacy that has not convinced, precisely because it did not include any women. Now they seem to be looking for a female face, but they are not running a full candidacy or a program either … it’s weird. It’s as if they are evaluating the reception they have, but as far as we know, the alleged majority of 12 clubs is not there. They don’t square the numbers.
In fact, the electoral process has not begun, has it?
– As far as we know, there is no constituted board that should be regulating this process. And even though we have asked, we have not yet been appointed an interlocutor. The feeling is that the process is not being activated or is being delayed. And there should be a rush, because the season is about to end and there will be almost no time to prepare for the next one.
And what is the solution to change this ecosystem?
– We are putting a new way of doing things on the table. Women’s soccer is a blank slate. This should be treated as one start-up. It is not an established company as it can be a League business, they are in a different stage. We start without knowing what the numbers of women’s football in Spain are. The women’s starts without us having an idea of the value of women’s competition. There is interest, there is follow-up and there are many opportunities.
Isn’t it too far to think of an institutional professionalization like the one they sold us? The situation is totally contradictory.
– It is. If you look at it from the point of view of power struggle it may be very logical, but commercially we have lost a year. You have a European champion Barça who has made the first triple in the history of the women’s, an Alexia Putellas, a Lieke Martens and all the finalists of the awards … This should have been better managed because it is key to attract investment. You are staging the most valuable assets of women’s football in the world and it is incomprehensible that, once the statutes that have taken ten months have been made, we are waiting until the last minute to do the whole process. We are already late to regulate next year’s competition and almost the next one as well.
What is urgent in the creation of the League?
– All. We are talking about professionalizing a competition that has a collective agreement that we all know that they have applied in its minimum degree and that does not guarantee the collection of the minimum interprofessional wage. It is to be welcomed that there is a collective agreement and that it is signed, but it is a bit embarrassing that it does not yet guarantee the minimum conditions of a worker in the state. We have to attack that, but in order for clubs to pay they have to have resources. It is a wheel that is fed back.
And in this League is there room for a project like Rayo’s?
– Nothing that does not comply with current law is acceptable. If we are professionalizing, what we must guarantee are minimum acceptable conditions for everyone. But we must be aware of what has happened to the covid, which has come to upset the economic and resource-generating balance of most clubs and has therefore led to a drop in revenue which has had a very high impact. important. And I think Rayo’s case is symptomatic of that.
Does the level and competitiveness of the League also depend on this economy?
– Absolutely. We need to ensure that competition is attractive. It has to have the right point of matches, the right number of clubs that have a real rivalry. If not, the competition is no longer attractive. I don’t think we can build women’s football without being aware of what’s going on in other territories because in the end it’s a global movement.
Can the plan you made at Barça now in the League be replicated?
– We can build the best league in the world. We have talent, we have clubs with an international brand, we have a climate, we have everything. Rather than copying the Barça process, we need to manage a project, which is the same thing we did there. There are many participants in Barça’s success: Jordi Mestre, Josep Maria Bartomeu, Xavi Llorens, the footballers … When you start a project you have to look at its purpose and see what you need to get there . Not only is it all sports, there are also things around that are conducive: a female doctor, a psychologist, an accompanying audience, a stadium that is their home … It’s a way of telling them, “This is yours.”
