Real’s female failure a conspicuous conundrum
MADRID — In a speech during Real Madrid’s most recent general assembly, club president Florentino Perez spoke proudly about how e-sports will be part of the club’s future.
Perez also talked about plans for a possible Real Madrid theme park to be built in the Spanish capital.
The president took his time to address most of the concerns brought up by club members, but when asked when Real is going to create a women’s team, Perez didn’t answer.
The topic, the club later said, wasn’t a priority at that moment.
The question still hasn’t been fully answered by Perez or by anybody else. The club that calls itself the best in the world remains far behind other European teams when it comes to women’s soccer.
“It’s 2018, every modern institution should be thinking about its position on gender issues and gender equality,” former FIFA Council member Moya Dodd told Associated Press.
“When such a big team has no accommodation for women players, I think it leaves a big question mark. And in time, history will be the judge of whether maybe they should have acted sooner on this.”
Real Madrid is one of the few top clubs still without a women’s team in Europe.
Atletico Madrid currently reigns in Spain, having won the last two women’s league titles. Barcelona made it to the quarterfinals of the women’s Champions League this season, along with clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
Manchester United recently became the latest English club to add a women’s squad, and Roma, AC Milan and Inter Milan did the same in Italy. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund remains without a women’s side.
The only team that wears the “all-whites” uniform in Spain’s women’s first division is the Madrid Club de Futbol Femenino, which has nothing to do with Real and was created by a businessman disappointed that his daughter couldn’t play for the Spanish giant.
“The top teams are starting to understand that women’s soccer can contribute immensely to the club,” said Pedro Malabia, women’s soccer director for the Spanish league.
“Any modern club which has women’s soccer gains a lot in terms of brand, international development and connection with fans. What better way to show that you are a club concerned with women than having a women’s division and treating it with respect within a professional structure?”
Real Madrid denied repeated requests for interviews to talk about women’s soccer and did not reply to emails requesting comment.
Real’s media office referred to Perez’s comments made in 2017, when he said the club planned to create a women’s division but wouldn’t do it by signing players and starting a professional team. The initial goal would be to establish a youth system and give opportunities to young players to develop.
Nothing has materialized a year later, with the club saying studies into the viability of a women’s team remain underway.
Past chance
Real Madrid had an opportunity to create a women’s team in 2013 when a project was presented to the club by Ana Rossell Granados, a former player who had hoped to play for Madrid.
The club rejected the offer, and Granados went on to create CD Tacon, a women’s team currently in Spain’s second tier. The team’s vice president is Rene Ramos, brother of Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos.
“Women’s soccer is where it is now without Real Madrid, so the club is not essential,” said Granados, who operates her team with an annual budget of about 150,000 euros ($170,000).
“We shouldn’t obligate clubs to have a women’s team. Real Madrid will create one when it feels it’s the right moment and when it sees that women’s soccer is actually a business, not only a social matter. We have shown that women’s soccer can be profitable.”
There have been rumors that Real could eventually take over a team like Tacon or Madrid Club.
Growing game
Women’s soccer has gained increased attention recently.
FIFA is doubling the total prize money for women’s World Cup teams to $30 million, and France
Football magazine for the first time awarded a Ballon d’Or prize to a woman.
In Spain, negotiations are underway with players’ association to promote greater equality for men and women in the sport, while over 22,000 people attended an Atletico Madrid women’s match at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium earlier this year.
Spain’s national women’s team will be making its second straight World Cup appearance next year in France.
It has been drawn in Group B with Germany, China and South Africa.