In recent times, the big stadiums are witnessing historic women’s football matches. Record attendances are becoming commonplace and clubs aren’t hesitating to open their stadiums to host interesting matches for the fans. Opening this door breaks down a lot of walls and helps people to become fans of women’s football.
One of the latest cases has been in the more modest women’s game. Málaga Femenino in the Segunda Federación played this Sunday at the mythical La Rosaleda stadium for the fourth matchday of the league against CD Femarguín. The Blue and Whites returned to the Malaguista temple after two years, and secured a thrilling victory by two goals to one. More than 3,000 ‘malaguistas’ attended the match.
Raising awareness of women’s football is essential to get more people involved. The clear example of good investment and visibility of the section is FC Barcelona, which currently holds the world record for attendance at a women’s football match at the Camp Nou. The current record stands at 91,648 spectators, achieved in 2022 for the UWCL match between Barça and Wolfsburg.
In recent times, they have also been opening the Lluís Companys for important matches. This season, they will play their first UWCL match at the stadium against Manchester City. It used to be the norm to do so only in the knockout rounds, but it is becoming a part of the day-to-day running of the competition.
The ‘film’ has changed a lot from one year to the next in our country. The fact that Spain won the World Cup has marked people and has greatly increased the interest of the fans.
A little over 365 days ago, just before winning the World Cup, I wrote an article that was more of a personal reflection on the change in women’s football. I look back and nothing is like it was then. I didn’t really know all that it would entail.
Now more teams have joined in what back in 2022 was a ‘fad’ that Barça seemed to implement for winning it all. Sporting Huelva have opened their stadium several times, once against Real Madrid, just in the last game in Liga F after relegation. Levante opened the Ciutat de Valencia for the Valencian derby. Atlético de Madrid did the same with the Cívitas Metropolitano. Granada CF have played several Cup games or against Barça at Los Cármenes.
Teams such as Deportivo de La Coruña played for promotion to the First Division at Riazor. And so many more teams are joining forces and starting to believe in their women’s teams. The national team fills stadiums all over Spain, people respond well to these calls. Everything points to the fact that the next team to make their debut should be Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, as they are one of the few teams that haven’t yet dared to do so and it would be great news for women’s football.
In England, it is already the everyday life of their teams, as they play as many matches as possible in big stadiums. The great example is Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. It is no coincidence that the great players go there, as is the case of Mariona Caldentey.
Now is the right time to bet and open the doors for them. This will mean exposing the product and getting people to give it the opportunity it deserves.
Translated by Marcos Rodríguez.
Main image: Rocío Nadales.
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