FC Barcelona Femeni lead the thriving women’s football culture in Spain

March 21, 2022 c_admin Football News, Women Football Comments Off on FC Barcelona Femeni lead the thriving women’s football culture in Spain

FC Barcelona Femeni lead the thriving women’s football culture in Spain

After clinching the Primera Iberdrola league title with 24 games played, FC Barcelona Femeni has been utterly unstoppable once again this season. While the men’s team has been going through something of a transitional period, always likely due to financial struggles at the club and the departure of superstar Lionel Messi, the women’s team continues to go from strength to strength.

Playing in front of 5,430 fans at the Johan Cruyff Stadium on Sunday 13th March, the comprehensive 5-0 victory against Real Madrid Femenino was enough to trigger jubilant celebrations, as FC Barcelona Femeni landed their third consecutive Primera Iberdrola title. Such was the dominance of this magnificent squad of players, they achieved their latest league title success with six games to spare.

Amongst the astonishing FC Barcelona statistics this season, the team had won all 24 league games played when the title was won, scoring 136 goals at an average rate of 5.66 goals per game. The biggest single victory was a crushing 1-10 away win at Sevilla, but along with registering an outstanding attacking record, the team coached by Jonatan Giráldez is also superb defensively, conceding just 6 goals in 24 games at a rate of 0.25 per game.

Primera Iberdrola has matured

Women’s football has a rich and enduring history in Spain, although the first edition of the Copa de la Reina (The Queen’s Cup) wasn’t held until 1983, when the competition was launched to decide the national championship for women’s teams. The ‘Liga Nacional’ was eventually launched for the 1988-89 season, thus beginning the evolution and rise to prominence of women’s football in Spain.

Growing and expanding to become the División de Honor in 1996-97, then the Superliga in 2001-02, the biggest expansion to the women’s football system in Spain came ahead of the 2011-12 campaign, once the Primera División was launched. Over the last decade the profile of the league has continued to rise, particularly with the added interest of established sporting institutions like FC Barcelona and more recently, Real Madrid CF.

Despite the obvious dominance enjoyed by FC Barcelona since 2011-12, there has also been a title win for Athletic Club hailing from Bilbao (2015-16), plus three consecutive league championships for Atlético Madrid (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19). Now known as the Primera Iberdrola for sponsorship reasons, the profile of the league itself has risen significantly in recent years, largely thanks to improving pay and conditions for players. This in turn means the competition is now attracting some of the best players in the world.

Dreams of European dominance

As the reigning 2020-21 UEFA Women’s Champions League team, FC Barcelona Femeni finally broke the cycle of continental dominance, previously held by Olympique Lyonnais Fémenin of France and Vfl Wolfsburg of Germany. Now that Spanish women’s football is firmly on the European map, there’s even a quarter-final ‘El Clásico’ to enjoy, as FC Barcelona take on Real Madrid.

The favourites to progress will undoubtedly be the team from Barcelona, who are also tipped to lift the trophy again this year, having crushed English side Chelsea 4-0 in the final last season. To get a fair comparison of the current odds, the SBO guide to the best online betting sites covers every angle, providing detailed reviews for each of the leading online bookmakers, including those who pay close attention to women’s football. This includes updated information for the latest offers and promotions.

Having now secured their third consecutive Primera Iberdrola league title, won the Supercopa de España, and progressed to the semi-finals of the Copa de la Reina, FC Barcelona Femeni will be hoping to turn their domestic dominance into continental conquest once again. Given the overall quality of their play, consistency of performances and their outstanding results, it’s genuinely hard to back against them reigning supreme in Europe again this year. They are undoubtedly at the forefront of a new era in Spanish women’s football, which is getting stronger with each passing year.