Alicia Arévalo (Barcelona, ??1998) was the voice of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Her narration of Olga Carmona’s goal that made Spain World Champion will forever be stored in the historical archives of Spanish Television. Football is her life, in front of and behind the cameras. She has made the leap from traditional soccer to the Queens League with Aniquiladoras FC and combines it with her successful career as a journalist. Just a year ago she became the first woman to narrate a men’s World Cup match.
After that Croatia-Belgium match she wrote “Now the door is open to more women” on her social networks. How do you see it a year later?
I was the first to narrate at a World Cup, but previously other journalists had broken glass ceilings such as Danae Boronat, Alba Oliveros, and also Andrea Segura… There are quite a few of us narrators who are already in the thick of things. It is true that a World Cup is a different scenario, with much more visibility and for this reason I think it was a step forward, a woman was allowed to have this opportunity, a small window to show that she is capable.
Do you remember what it was like the day you were offered to go to Qatar?
Yes, obviously. The director of Teledeporte, Javier Grima, and the general director of sports of RTVE, Arsenio Cañada, were there in an office, they called me and said: ‘Hey, what would you think about going on a trip to Qatar?’ I thought they were playing a joke on me.
Did it pose a dilemma for you on an ethical level?
It is true that at first you may feel a little repulsed by the fact of traveling to a country where women are so unprotected, but on the other hand, I thought it was a good opportunity to show the inhabitants of that country that women are valid. to do anything, even narrate a football game.
Were you aware at that moment of the significance that what you were doing could have?
I was conscious, but for me gender doesn’t influence that much. It is true that women face many more barriers and difficulties, but we are reaching a point where it is no longer a matter of whether you are a man or a woman, the important thing is that you have that power, that worth, that knowledge and the ability to do the job. job you want to do.
Since that game, do you feel that more doors have been opened?
Nothing has changed for me at a work level, I have continued to have the same opportunities, but I do consider that my company has been an example of giving opportunities to female talents. That he takes a recently turned 24-year-old girl that she was at the time and offers her the possibility of narrating a match in a World Cup, I think it gives a positive message.
This summer she was the voice of the Women’s World Cup. What do you feel when you remember it?
I have fulfilled a dream, from a very young age my father told him that he wanted to do this, interview the players, explain football. This summer I was lucky enough to be able to give voice to those games and everything turned out perfectly, because Spain also ended up world champion, everything turned out perfectly.
What was it like narrating that Olga Carmona goal?
I’m going to tell you something that very few people know. I like to have everything under control to minimize errors and the night before I couldn’t sleep. I was very nervous about what it meant, the final of a World Cup, a historic moment. If Spain scored a goal, that goal was going to go down in history, they had to live up to that feat, they wanted to do it well.
I was thinking at night ‘if so-and-so scores, I’ll say this, if the other one scores, I’ll say that’… and the time came for Olga’s goal. She had three or four sentences, even handwritten, but nothing, I didn’t even look at them, I got carried away with emotion. I had Marta Corredera, Vero [Boquete], Sonia Bermúdez jumping next to me, Paula Murillo was also with us. And I looked at them and I knew that you can’t think about what you’re going to say at a moment like that because it comes out on your own, I got carried away by the emotion of the moment.
It was a month of true madness calling matches practically every day.
There were between 20 and 25 games in a month. During that month my life was only football. I would wake up thinking about the game, I would go to sleep and dream about it. From the morning until I went to bed, I was thinking about players all day, collecting data…
How do you prepare each game?
Normally I like to start preparing for the game two or three days before. All the statistics are, if I look at them beforehand they may play on the weekend and then I wouldn’t have them updated.
The first thing I do is put all the players on a sheet, with their photos, numbers, name, surname, age and teams they have played for. From here I add the statistics of the competitions in which they participate, League, Champions… the record or if they have received any individual distinction.
At the selection or team level, I look at the classification, previous results, statistics such as goals, fouls or possession… and finally, I look at games. How many? It depends on who I find, maybe I have five from Sweden, but only one or two from Japan.
Are you afraid that women are pigeonholed in women’s football?
I have also played men’s matches, although it is true that I am more focused on the women’s, as is the case with Andrea Segura, but we already see her in Dazn, which has also had men’s First and Second matches. We see Alba Oliveros who is completely assigned to the men’s sport… It is a fact that is already being repeated on several networks, they are not only pigeonholing us in women’s sports, we are also beginning to make a place for ourselves in competitions that until recently were only narrated. men.
What would you say to those who say that female voices are not so pleasant to listen to?
Well, I would tell them that they have to adapt, society is changing and we don’t have to pigeonhole a sport to a single voice register. We have always listened to football with deeper voices, more masculine voices and now they are listening to football with more feminine voices. And it is costing them because there is no history of this. Changing customs is difficult, but little by little we are on the path to reversing the mentality of certain people.
Have you had to listen to this type of criticism?
‘What a squeaky voice’, ‘unbearable’, ‘I’ve muted the TV’… These are comments that can be saved. If you don’t like it, I advise you not to watch any game because in the end you don’t have the problem with me, you have it with the game having a higher-pitched, more feminine voice. It is a root problem.
Do you receive a lot of hate on social media?
Every time less. When I started I obviously didn’t have the level I have now, I have been improving and when you start doing something in which you may not feel completely comfortable and on top of that you receive criticism, the learning path becomes much harder.
Did you ever consider leaving?
At several moments I was on the verge of throwing in the towel because I dedicated many hours to preparing the matches and what I received was 20 notifications from social networks insulting me, that if ‘what a deal with the level of the commentators’, ‘why not change?’, ‘Why do women have to be given a voice if they are not worth it?’… these types of comments. That frustrated me a lot at first, but luckily I had several colleagues from here on TV and my family and friends encouraging me not to give up.
And now you say that you no longer receive as much criticism?
Yes, the truth is that now much less. As a result of the World Cup, the social impact it had, narrating all the games… in the end people got a little more used to my voice, they also saw that I was quite prepared, that I gave information, I am a person who likes give a lot of play to the commentators, I like to talk… I think people are starting to like my style, and if you don’t like it, instead of criticizing or insulting, I encourage you if you want to tell me something in a constructive way, Go ahead, I don’t have any kind of problem.
In addition to being a journalist, you are a Queens League player. How did it come about?
I played for Fontsana-Fatjó, a Nacional club, and I wanted to venture into this new experience because the format attracted me and also because it was easier to make it compatible with my work.
What is it like to play for Queens?
It is a very different football from traditional football. It is a format that is made above all for the viewer to enjoy, the time is very limited, many things can happen and chance plays an important role, which is why I think it is attractive both for those who see it and for those who watch it. let’s play.
Is football more equitable than traditional football?
It is, there are no differences between men’s and women’s, we charge the same, the referees are the same, the rules too, the dimensions of the field, the ball… We are under the same conditions and that makes football a little more equitable.
