Barcelona begins an era of dominance in women's football – DW – 25.05.2024

Barcelona won their third Champions League title with a 2-0 victory over Lyon at a sold-out San Mamés Stadium on Saturday.

It was the culmination of an unprecedented season for the Spanish team, which won the club's first quadruple in its history thanks to goals from Aitana Donmati and Alexia Putellas.

Over 40,000 FCB Femini fans crowded into the 53,331-capacity stadium in Bilbao to watch their team demonstrate its current dominance at the top of women's football.

“A dream has come true,” Barcelona captain Putellas told TVE after the game. “We achieved everything we wanted. Every minute of sacrifice was worth the effort.”

Successful years of development

This season was the culmination of ten extraordinary months for Barcelona: after their success in the Supercopa in January, they secured their fifth consecutive league title with four games to go.

An 8-0 win over Real Sociedad in the Copa de la Reina sealed the domestic treble, before victory over Lyon secured Jonatan Giráldez's team an unprecedented fourth title of the season.

“Winning two Champions League titles in a row is not easy,” added defender Lucy Bronze. “We will go down in history as one of the best teams in Europe.”

The club's rise to become an undeniable force in women's football was a carefully crafted project by former general manager Markel Zubizarreta.

Patience in the lean years after professionalism

The step towards final professionalization was taken in 2015, after the team had won four championship titles in a row and signed a commercial contract with the hardware company Stanley in 2014.

This gave players the salaries they needed to concentrate solely on football, but paradoxically it resulted in the league no longer winning any trophies.

Atletico Madrid snatched the title from Barca in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and had also invested in the professionalization of its women's team.

“It wasn't just about winning,” Isabella Aguilar, who has been a Barcelona fan and follows the club for over 20 years, told DW. “It was about the building blocks for the long-term future and not about the desire for immediate success.”

“As fans, we understood that because the club showed us how serious they are about making a lasting impression on the current players, but also on the young girls who watch.”

think in other directions

Rapid progress was also made off the field, with an academy being set up for young girls who were housed in the famous La Masia training complex, giving them equal status with their young male counterparts.

Players from abroad who did not fit the classic “Tiki Taka” style, such as Caroline Graham Hansen and Lucy Bronze, were brought in to strengthen and influence the technically gifted but sometimes tactically one-dimensional Barcelona team.

Also crucial was the investment in infrastructure, as well as in physiotherapists and nutritionists who knew how to get the best out of the players.

“You could see that what was happening at the club was not just lip service,” Aguilar added.

“They were willing to invest time and effort to build a team that could symbolize what professional women's sports could look like for all female athletes.”

Become financially successful

As the Catalans were assembling a team for a long-term future, they signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Stanely in 2018 worth €3.5 million ($3.8 million), making the women's team profitable over the men's team.

And in 2019, they moved their stadium from just outside Camp Nou to the Estadi Johan Cruyff, more than seven kilometers away – a change that increased rather than decreased attendance at their games.

“It was a big step to give the team the respect it deserves,” Aguilar recalled his feelings at the time.

“The fans came to the games because they wanted to watch and support women's football and the players responded to that.”

With the right ingredients on and off the pitch, success was not far away.

Barcelona has won the Liga F Cup every year since 2019 and its players formed the core of Spain's World Cup-winning team.

The team regularly sells out league and Champions League games at the 90,000-seat Camp Nou and has generated revenue of over €8.5 million from jersey sales, tickets and sponsorship deals, according to the New York Times.

And for Aguilar, it is no surprise that the Spanish club's “courage” was rewarded on the pitch.

“Barcelona has shown what is possible when you believe that women’s sport can be successful commercially and sportingly,” she said.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru