Beatriz Álvarez: "It is more painful that they take away our autonomy than that they take money from us"

The president of Liga F, Beatriz Álvarez, is not at all satisfied with various issues that directly concern the entity she runs. The president has attended EL MUNDO and has shown her complaints to the Government and the Federation, but also her joy at the evolution that women's football is experiencing in Spain and has revealed all the things she hopes to achieve in the coming years.

What is your assessment of the F League this season? We have achieved great milestones and we are satisfied for having achieved part of the objectives. Among them is all the part of commercial income that we have obtained, the audiovisual sale and the power to broadcast all the matches. I also highlight the creation of this entire structure, of a differentiated brand that we are beginning to build. In a year we have not had time to expand, but in the end we work towards that goal. In addition, we try to transmit values that can differentiate us, and in that part we are very satisfied. We believe that there are still many challenges and objectives to be met and it is true that it has been a very difficult year. All the barriers that have been placed on us have allowed us to grow at a slower rate and are being inconvenient right now. How do you assess the growth of this sport? I think we are a bit of a benchmark for all those women who play sports, and even in other social settings. There are other leagues at a level that are very interested in knowing what steps have been taken to get to this point. It is true that 2015 marked an important milestone. It is when for the first time the clubs decide to associate and start working together with a common goal, which was to be able to become professional.. When we established ourselves as an association, we did not think that this moment would arrive, we believed that we were working so that future generations could enjoy it.. What we did not know was that we were going to have the privilege of being able to live it on the front line. Getting here has been very important and it has been thanks to the work of many people, who have altruistically believed in this when no one did. What support do they receive from the institutions? Well, the President of the Government has said that if the president of the League is complaining, maybe something can be improved. That Pedro Sánchez made these statements is important to us. It is seen that there is a self-criticism and that there are things that can be done. Betting on a league is not only providing it with economic resources, it is giving it autonomy to let it grow. This is what the Government has not understood from the first moment. The professional League is approved with an unfavorable report from the Federation, which did not believe it convenient to have a women's league. In addition, in the different resolutions it has been consenting that this other party would make this project more unsustainable every day and that it would gradually suffocate the clubs. It is misunderstood that a government, which has opted for this project, is now consenting to a third party suffocating and drowning us. Not only because of the 20% of commercial income that we have to give to the Federation, but because it takes away our autonomy, because in some way it deprives us of the possibility of reaching agreements without the consent of the Federation and subjects us to the decisions that are made in men's soccer.. As if we had no capacity to decide for ourselves. In spite of everything, he comments that the Government has made a little self-criticism, during the electoral campaign, where many promises are made. Has something been proposed to you? I read a self-criticism in the words of President Sánchez. However, the Secretary of State has never been self-critical, rather the opposite. He has continually tried to justify himself by saying that through public subsidies everything is done and that there is a political commitment. I would ask you to reflect on the latest decisions that the Higher Sports Council has made and if you consider that they are neutral.. For our part, we are clear that it is not being consistent and that only public aid is not enough. In addition to the fact that the figures that are transferred do not exactly correspond to reality. The president of the CSD recently said in an interview: “The commitment to women's football in Spain is historic.” I can perfectly say that it is time for equality. This is not a question of political groups, but rather a commitment to equality in the different sectors. Within women's sport, soccer has probably been an advantage. The project of this league was really easy to promote politically. It coincided with a time of pandemic, where everything was bad news, where sport was stopped and promoting something could be seen as something positive.. With all this, I think that the Government had all the ingredients to classify this league as professional, except for one, which was the approval of the Federation and who it knew would be dissatisfied. I believe that the CSD feels indebted to her and in some way has tried, after having opted for this and having provided us with economic resources, to satisfy in its resolutions those who were not satisfied and had lost control of the competition. It has given them, not only part of the subsidy that it gives us, but concessions and issues that they had been claiming and requesting for months. As president of the Women's League. What do you claim for the next seasons? I ask for autonomy. That they let us try, that they grant us, at least, the doubt of being able to make the F League a sustainable league, that it continues to generate resources, interest, that it be differentiated from the men's league and that they let us grow to be able to export our product abroad and not just become a competition organization. We want to be a symbol and a change of social transformation. That is not achieved with money, it is done with autonomy. It is what they are cutting us off and it is much more painful than the fact that they do not give you money. Where do you see that you do not have autonomy? From the moment they have consented to a stoppage due to an arbitration situation, which was not generated by the collegiates, but by the Federation, they have taken away our autonomy and they have taken away our power vis-à-vis the Federation. In the different resolutions that they have issued and since the arbitration conflict, it has been one after another. Given the different situations in which we have asked them to mediate, the situation has favored the Federation to satisfy them, probably due to the loss of control of this league or for whatever reason they believe.

Beatriz Álvarez, president of the women's soccer league Javi Martinez Mundo Do you think the Federation is against this league? I'm not telling you. They have said it with an unfavorable report that they raised to the CSD board of directors for the creation of this Professional Women's Soccer League. How is it possible that there is an unfavorable report taking into account the milestones that have been achieved these years? I really could not defend any argument, they would have to defend it. What I think is that they did not want to lose control of this competition, but there were no arguments for not betting.. The product had already grown enough to be able to be televised. There are many things that can be improved. They have had all the years of their history to show that they were capable of professionalizing women's soccer, of making us the case that we deserved and that we needed and now it seems that they want to do it when it is no longer theirs. To what extent is there inequality between the men's and women's leagues? We fall into the error of comparing two completely different industries. Both are football, the same sport, but in the industrial part we are completely different. The masculine generates close to 2,000 million audiovisual income. The feminine, this year in which we have put ourselves on the market we have generated six. We come from zero and we have begun to enter between the commercial and audiovisual part 77 million for the next five years. It continues to be incomparable with the men's industry, but not only football, but the rest of Spanish sport for both sexes. One of the things that has generated the most controversy in the face of the World Cup has been the sale of television rights, because in Europe there have been five countries that almost were left without being able to broadcast it. With respect to the Women's League, how difficult was it for you to obtain those rights? We have launched an open and totally public procedure in which we gave the possibility for any operator or interested party to show us an offer. There were more offers than the final. The one that put up the most money won and the one that gives us the opportunity not only to broadcast the matches here nationally, but also internationally. Also with respect to the World Cup. How do you appreciate that there are so many players from the Women's League who play in the World Cup? Well, it says a lot and well about what we are working on and what the F League is becoming. In the end, we are one of the leading leagues right now at a European and world level. We are in constant contact with all. We have common chats in which we exchange synergies and issues that are important to grow and to do self-criticism. Within the model of each one, it is true that we are being a benchmark and it is satisfying to see that so many footballers who play in our league are in the World Cup, from the American, African or South American market.. In the end it is a privilege to have them with us. Is there something from the other leagues that you would like to implement in the Spanish one? There is one thing common to all of them, which is that they all feel support from their Federation. I would like this to happen in Spain and to promote. From UEFA and FIFA itself, all policies are aimed at supporting women's football. In fact, the Federation collects aid to promote women's football. Instead of boosting us, they take us away. What future prospects do you see for this women's league? I want to imagine that in a few years, I don't know if in five or ten, we manage to generate a product in the sports area that is attractive enough to retain many more people, that stadiums begin to open or that players can regularly compete in stadiums. This year, for example, Eibar opens Ipurúa for all matches, it is an important milestone. I also hope that we can bring in much more money so that the players can improve their conditions, that the clubs become sustainable, that we can match income to expenses, to reduce the indebtedness that they still have today, and that we can create sustainable professional infrastructures.