The pioneers of the Spanish women's team: "My father used to tell me: 'aren't you ashamed, in the middle of so many children, a single woman?'"

For Spain to play its third Women's World Cup, which begins this Thursday, someone had to open the way. Kubalita, Isi, Encarna and Isabel are some of these pioneers who, with their dribbling, goals or saves, made it possible for players like Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí or Jennifer Hermoso to fight for the first star in Australia and New Zealand, starting this Friday.

The four have met again at a Snatt's brand event and have spoken with EL MUNDO, recalling when they put on the national team shirt, in the 70s, when it was not even federated (it took 13 years, until 1983). If they especially remember something, it is that as soon as they jumped onto the field, their hair stood on end and tears fell. They didn't wear the shield, but it didn't matter to them because as Isabel Fuentes, who debuted with the national team in 1971, comments: “In my heart of hearts, I defended my country with all my pride, heart and affection.”

Isabel Fuentes during a match. MS

She started playing with a team that her brother-in-law had in the neighborhood. I trained with them, but I couldn't play because they weren't allowed to create mixed teams. But he realized that there were many women's teams, and he was surprised that a league like the current one was not created.. Of course times were different. “They were the last years of Franco and they told us that we couldn't play, although they knew that we were going to do it anyway.. The police never came or messed with us,” she admits.

That it was another era was not a problem for Carmen Arce, better known as Kubalita (because of her physical resemblance to the mythical player) either.. “My brother played for Don Bosco, my father was a Valencia fan and I grew up with a ball,” he says.. Carmen, who started with the Spanish team in 1971, says that at the age of 14 she saw an ad in a newspaper looking for girls, she didn't think twice and signed up.. His parents took it well and he acknowledges that practicing this sport earned him “a language of complicity and union with my father, which I would not have had without football”. For her there were no barriers: “We filled the stadiums and the press covered us phenomenally.”

Kubalita during a soccer match. MS

Despite the support, Kubalita reveals that playing soccer was not profitable for him. He had to buy his clothes and he did not receive any income. Also, the conditions weren't the best either.. “We played four years without insurance, we didn't have physios or things that are necessary for sports.”

Encarna Caracuel did not care about that. He also started at 14, when he emigrated with his family to Catalonia and played friendlies with the national team against Portugal and Italy in 1971.. “I was playing with the boys all the time, but my father didn't want to. He told me: 'Aren't you ashamed, in the midst of so many children, a single woman?'”. So to continue enjoying this sport, she had to count on the complicity of her classmates, who warned her when they saw her father appear.. Debuted with the Vic as a women's team. For her it was magnificent because she began to score many goals and to highlight: “In 26 games I scored 56 goals”, she tells this newspaper. Neither Messi nor Cristiano have achieved so much.

Caracuel incarnates during a match. MS

His passion was so great that he did not mind not resting so that he could continue doing what he liked the most.. “I would get home from work at six in the afternoon, because it had been twelve hours, and before I got home I would go into the field to play.”

On the other hand, not everything has been pretty. Encarna acknowledges that despite seeing the fields bursting, 50 years ago there was a lot of machismo. “They wanted it to be exclusively for men. “They were going to form two teams to play against each other,” she says.. It began as a hobby, to have fun and make friends, but the president of his team told him to go to Madrid to do the tests to enter the team he played with in 1972.. At that time, there was no scout who went to the soccer fields and selected the best, but they were the ones who had to travel to the capital to demonstrate their talent.. Isi would have liked to dedicate himself to it, but he knew that he could not leave his job to live from football.

Isi during a soccer game. MS

The four of them tell their stories, knowing that now things are different, that there are more facilities and that women's football does not stop breaking records. For this reason, they want this World Cup to be a success and for the team to play a good role in the antipodes.