Alexia Putellas: Fight for future of women’s football must continue

Ever since she was a child, superstar footballer Alexia Putellas always dreamed of playing for Barcelona.

Growing up in Mollet del Vallès, a small town on the outskirts of the city, she would practise her beloved sport in the plaza – the only girl amongst boys.

And when Putellas wasn’t playing, she was watching.

When they could, her family would travel to Camp Nou to see the men's team in action. When they couldn’t, they would watch from a local bar. One year, desperate to watch the 'Clasico', a young Putellas recalls being propped up on the pool table so she could see the screen over the heads of all the watching adults.

Now 28, the Spaniard is at the very top of the women’s game.

Off the back of Barcelona’s Treble-winning campaign, Putellas swept football’s award season, scooping up UEFA’s Women’s Player of the Year, FIFA’s The Best award and the ever-prestigious Ballon d’Or.

But the midfielder’s rise to the pinnacle was far from meteoric. Her career has resembled much more a sure and steady climb punctuated by bouts of improvement.

And, of course, it has involved fighting against the usual obstacles that present themselves to young women trying to become professional.

Speaking to the Associated Press (AP) on International Women’s Day (March 8) Putellas took the occasion to reflect on the current state of affairs in women’s football, and how her own humble beginnings compare:

“Today is a day to claim. We have achieved lots of things,” Putellas said. “But I think there is still a lot to do. And from our role, we will try all we can to arrive at the day that it won’t be necessary to reclaim.

“I have come from training in the worst conditions, at the worst time of day with coaches who were my teammates’ dads. So, when you’re young you don’t learn really much.

“That is why I say that 12–14-year-old girls who are training to become players now, when they reach senior teams, they will be much better than we were. Because they will have training conditions we didn’t have back when we were younger.

“And if we were able to reach this level we have now, can you imagine what they’ll be able to achieve?”

Working every day to be the best in the world

Putellas’ question is more than existential.

Asking what is within the bounds of possibility and how she can excel within them is what has propelled her career forwards.

Former Barca head coach Lluis Cortes, who oversaw the club’s historic Treble last season, told BBC Sport that Putellas’ turn in the spotlight was far from guaranteed:

“You saw her and you though ‘OK she’s a really good player but at the moment she is not the best. She is good but she has to improve a lot of things.’

“But the best thing about Alexia is she knew that, and she was a very hard worker. She was working every day to become the best in the world.

“When we finished matches, she never asked ‘what did I do well?’, she always asked ‘what did I do wrong and what do I have to improve to be better?’”

The fruits of the footballer's labour are now plain to see and not just in terms of awards. Few can deny the magical way the midfielder seamlessly links up Spain's all-time top scorer Jenni Hermoso, Norwegian winger Caroline Graham Hansen and the formidable Lieke Mertens of the Netherlands.

Still more to do be done to raise the profile of the women's game

Doing better is also something Putellas believes football should embrace when it comes to elevating the game across the world.

Continuing to the AP, the midfielder applauded the recent landmark equal pay deal reached between United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) and the US Soccer Federation (USSF):

“They’ve been fighting for this for many years. Typical arguments against such claims are usually to talk about which team generates more revenue. In the USA case, the girls are generating more revenue… And on top of that, won four World Cups, so it made no sense for them to make less.”

As for Putellas’ own country, she maintains there is still a long way to go before the country can match what her counterparts in the States have achieved:

“Here in Spain I see it as still far off. It might happen, but I don’t know if I will see it," explained the footballer. "The reality is that it is still a bit too soon, because we have not been playing at a professional level for many years, while the US, the Scandinavian countries, and Germany, they have provided help and support for many more years.”

In addition to keeping Barcelona on top, Putellas’ other major task for this season will be helping Spain to land a title at the UEFA women's championships in June.

If the recent 2022 Arnold Clark Cup is anything to go by, Spain are in a strong position to do well. They finished in second place behind England with Tokyo 2020 gold medallists Canada and Germany trailing behind in third and fourth.

And the top-scorer for the tournament? That would be Putellas who shared the honour with England's Millie Bright.