Four medals in six months. Since the under 17s became runner-up in the European Championship last May, the Spanish medal table has not stopped growing. The under 19s were crowned champions of Europe in July and a month later these same players proclaimed themselves, for the first time, queens of the world in the under 20 category. Successes to which must be added the gold won yesterday in India, where the national team under 17 took the World Cup after beating Colombia with a goal in the last minutes. Those of Kenio Gonzalo made history by becoming the first team to revalidate a universal title in the under 17 category, repeating the gold obtained in 2018 in Uruguay.
That would be the beginning of the successful path of the rojita among the most successful teams. Never before had they managed to win a World Cup and under the baton of Toña Is España they made history with a team in which footballers such as Claudia Pina (MVP of the tournament), Jana Fernàndez, Salma Paralluelo or Cata Coll were already beginning to leave glimpses of their quality. .
2018 would also be a prolific year for the lower teams, which accumulated three golds (Under 17 World Cup, Under 17 European Championship and Under 19 European Championship), in addition to debuting in the medal table of a Under 20 World Cup with a silver. In that team played a young Aitana Bonmatí, or Patri Guijarro, who shared the top scorer with the English Georgia Stanway, proclaimed champion of Europe this summer in the absolute category.
The road to turning Spain into a world power in terms of grassroots football has been long. The rojita’s first gold did not come until 2004, in a U19 European Championship in which Vero Boquete, Ruth García or the current coach of Athletic Club, Iraia Iturregi, managed to beat the almighty Germany in the final.
Little by little, Spanish football has been growing, driven largely by the professionalization of the main teams such as Barça and Atlético de Madrid, who began this process back in 2015. Strengthening the structures not only of the first teams, but also of the grassroots football, and providing them with better tools, Spain has become one of the great academies in Europe and the world.
In the last two competition windows (2018 and 2022), the rojita has won a medal in all categories and tournaments, and the record could be greater if it were not for the pandemic that forced the suspension of the 2020 and 2021 competitions.
“The players who go up now will be better than us,” repeated the Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas for the umpteenth time after receiving her last award. In this last Under 17 World Cup, up to five Barça players have won the gold medal, including one of the great promises of Spanish football, Vicky López, who was named best player of the tournament.
But the hegemony in the lower categories contrasts with the fiascos of the absolute, which has never played a final, nor has it come close to qualifying for one. Nine months before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the dispute between the Federation and soccer players keeps 15 of the best Spanish internationals out of the team, who demand more professional structures in the team, and the departure of the coach, Jorge Vilda.
