The unique case of Espanyol that makes it an example for FIFA

Barcelona“There are not enough female coaches. Efforts must be redoubled to promote change, expand opportunities, and increase the visibility of women on the sidelines.” This is how FIFA's General Director of Football, Jill Ellis, argued the new regulation approved a few days ago by the world football governing body: all youth and senior women's clubs and national teams participating in a FIFA competition must have a woman as head coach and/or at least one assistant coach.

In the 2023 Women's World Cup, only 12 of the 32 countries had a female coach. And while in Spain it is currently led by Sonia Bermúdez, succeeding Montse Tomé and Jorge Vilda in the position, in national club football, female representation is even lower. Of the 16 teams competing in the Liga F, only two are coached by women: Granada and Espanyol.

Espanyol breaks the glass ceiling

“In fact, with Sara Monforte and Marta Cubí, Espanyol is the only team that has a head coach and an assistant coach. We also have a doctor, a delegate, a kit manager, and a nutritionist”, proclaims Dolors Ribalta, director of women’s football for the blanquiazul. “But that doesn’t mean they are there because they are women, eh?, but because they are more than qualified. They have the talent to be there”, she adds. One of Ribalta’s two objectives upon taking office was precisely to bet on “female talent”, which is why, as a rule, there are women in all the staffs of youth football and the first team.

The other objective was to promote “blanquiazul identity”, to preserve the sense of belonging, both on the benches and in the offices: “Paula Garrido, the delegate, is a native perica. And Sara Monforte, Marta Cubí, Carol Miranda –the sporting director– and myself have been Espanyol footballers. The technical secretariat is Lara Rabal, one of the players who has won the most titles in the club’s history”, enumerates Ribalta, who played in the women’s Champions League as blanquiazul two decades ago, when Espanyol dominated the national scene.

While she was playing, in the mornings she worked as a physical education teacher and in the afternoons, on days she didn’t train, she studied for a degree in CAFE. “I had already completed the first two levels of coaching and had to decide whether to do the last one or start CAFE. I asked myself: ‘How many 20-year-old women are coaching in the First Division?’ None. And I chose CAFE”, recalls Ribalta, who often wonders what decision she would have made in a context like the current one.

A pioneer on the benches

“No matter how much you have been a player, it is very difficult to coach the elite. Much more so than in men's football. And if you want to try to make a living from this, you have to sacrifice many things. The other day Sara Monforte explained that at 38 years old she moved back in with her parents, imagine”, explains Titi Camúñez, a periquita legend with almost 50 years of service to the club and the first coach in history with a title in Spain. She got her license in 1981, while scoring goals as a blanquiazul, coaching the women's reserve team and, during the day, working in a television factory.

“In classes I never stood at the front because I was a little embarrassed. But the teachers ended up putting me in the front row because I was the only woman”, she says with a smile. “I think Lobo Carrasco was also taking the course, but he didn’t come to class much”, adds Camuñez, who perfectly remembers the day she skipped an exam: “It was about physical preparation and we had to dress in sports clothes, but it turned out there was only one changing room, for the men. I told the examiner that I couldn’t change with them and, since I played for Espanyol and was in shape, he passed me”.

“We had to break down barriers, especially as players. I had teammates who came in secret because their parents didn’t allow them to play football”, reveals Camuñez, who at 19 years old was one of the pioneers who formed part of the birth of the Espanyol women’s team, champions of the Copa Pernod, considered the genesis of women’s football in Catalonia. They won it against Barça at the Camp Nou, in front of 40,000 spectators on March 28, 1971.

That is why the multifaceted Dolors Ribalta, a teacher and researcher on the history of the white and blue women’s team, decided to commemorate the anniversary this Saturday, coinciding with the Liga F match that Espanyol will play against Levante, by inviting to the box all those women who laid the first stone to turn the club into a benchmark for women’s football, now an example for FIFA.