The "disruptive" Markel Zubizarreta, formerly of Barça, the last request for peace in women's football
The conclusion does not seem very complicated: a new, but friendly face, to calm the fire of an institutional crisis that has completely changed the Las Rozas Football City. This week the Federation appointed Markel Zubizarreta as the entity's new Director of Women's Football. A necessary decision after the departure of the last boss, Jorge Vilda, sports director and coach thanks to Luis Rubiales, and a choice in line with the new times that are taking place in the hallways of the federation building.. “We had to listen to the footballers and solve this problem,” it is explained from within.
This is how Zubizarreta (Mondragón, 1985) arrived, and in case you're wondering, yes: he is Andoni's son. She landed at Barcelona in 2015, aged just 29, a few months after her father left, and built the best team in the history of the women's section of the Barça team, winner of four Leagues, two Champions Leagues (2021 and 2023 ), four Cups and three Spanish Super Cups. But we're not just talking about titles.
Zubizarreta, a graduate from INEF and a Master in Sports Management, was in charge of management and the first team during his time in Barcelona, and with him Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí, Patri Guijarro, Mapi León and company became among the best soccer players in Europe, reaching four of the last five continental finals and accumulating three Ballon d'Ors: two Alexia and one Aitana. From that evolution and from that brilliant sporting and personal relationship comes the request of the internationals and the reflection of the Federation. Why is that: a question from the federation directors and a candidate from the players. The RFEF wins, signing an extraordinary worker, with weight in European women's football, with an outstanding resume and close to the hard core of the national dressing room, and the footballers win, who finally find a trustworthy figure after the plans and the internal wars of recent months with Rubiales and Vilda.
Three missing
This is where Zubizarreta's first task will fall: getting Mapi León, Patri Guijarro and Claudia Pina, the three of 'Las 15' who have not yet returned, to declare themselves eligible again.. He has dealt with them since the beginning both on and off the field, and the players' trust in him, they say, is “very high” and he has even helped them with some problems at home.
Zubizarreta left Barça at the end of September, a few days after Vilda's dismissal. His name was the first on the list of candidates and only a few issues needed to be clarified.. His arrival will go beyond the elections to the Federation, because he is understood as a consensus and independent figure at a time when the internationals demanded to have an organizational chart similar to that of the men's team.. A football director, on the one hand, and a coach on the other, as in the case of Albert Luque and Luis De la Fuente.
On the bench, Zubizarreta seems to trust for the moment in Montse Tomé, who despite initial doubts about being Vilda's assistant, seems to have won over the locker room during these first calls.. In Zubizarreta's Barça, yes, no coach lasted more than two years. We will see now. His idea, as this newspaper learned, is to be “disruptive”, improve the relationship with the clubs, deteriorated in recent times due to the constant war with the League, professionalize the Federation's competitions and sign high-level technicians and trainers who Raise the bar on training methods, something that they also demanded in the senior team during that protest movement called “It's over.”
Along with Zubizarreta comes Gonzalo Rodríguez, lawyer and delegate of the Barça first team during recent seasons.. He will be your right hand in management. Ana Álvarez, until now Director of Women's Football, remains in the organizational chart and will dedicate herself to the work of developing women's football in the Federation. New faces and new times for peace.