Aitana Bonmatí has said Spain‘s victory at the 2023 Women’s World Cup was “for nothing” as little has changed in the women’s football infrastructure in the country.
Bonmatí, who holds the Ballon d’Or Féminin and the FIFA The Best women’s award, told French outlet L’Equipe that she is jealous of the England women’s team after the response to the Lionesses’ triumph at the European Championships in 2022.
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“Unfortunately, I can’t say that much has changed,” Bonmatí said when asked about the impact of the World Cup win. “We have the example of the English — when they won the Euros, we saw a big change after the success at the national level.
“There were knock-on effects. Investment in the domestic league, full stadiums when England play. It makes me want it because I can’t say that it is the same here [in Spain]. There is still so much left to do here and I feel like the World Cup was for nothing.”
Bonmatí listed a number of elements that require improvement in order to bring greater equality to football in Spain.
“It all starts with doing things well, promoting the matches properly, wanting to organise them in adequate stadiums, not changing the ground one week before the game — because that makes everything more complicated for the fans,” the 26-year-old said.
“Promoting the league as well — in the country in general, it is not at the level that we deserve.”
Bonmatí, who plays her club football for Barcelona in Liga F, went on to cite the example of the women’s Nations League final against France on Wednesday as a demonstration of the failures in properly advocating for women’s football.
“We were supposed to play in Cádiz and in the end we changed location to play at the Cartuja [in Seville]. That wouldn’t happen to the men’s team for a Nations League final,” she said.
“We have to pay attention to these details. When we do these things well, people respond.”
Spain qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in their history by winning their Nations League semifinal against the Netherlands on Friday.