Spain women's national football team

Spain
Nickname(s) La Roja (The Red [One])[1]
Association Royal Spanish Football Federation
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Jorge Vilda
Captain Marta Torrejón
Most caps Marta Torrejón (80)
Top scorer Verónica Boquete (38)
FIFA code ESP
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 12 Steady (28 September 2018)
Highest 12 (March 2018 – June 2018)
Lowest 21 (June–August 2004, March 2008)
First international
Unofficial
Spain Spain 3–3 Portugal Portugal
(Murcia, Spain; 21 February 1971)
Official
Spain Spain 0–1 Portugal Portugal
(A Guarda, Spain; 5 February 1983)
Biggest win
Spain Spain 17–0 Slovenia Slovenia
(Palamós, Spain; 20 March 1994)
Biggest defeat
Spain Spain 0–8 Sweden Sweden
(Gandía, Spain; 2 June 1996)
World Cup
Appearances 2 (first in 2015)
Best result Group Stage (2015)
European Championship
Appearances 3 (first in 1997)
Best result Semi-finals (1997)

The Spain women's national football team (Spanish: Selección Española de Fútbol Femenina) represents Spain in international women's football and is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), since 1980. Spain have qualified two times for the FIFA Women's World Cup and three times for the UEFA Women's Championship, reaching the semifinals in 1997.

Spain's youth teams have enjoyed a great success in recent times, like winning three UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (2004, 2017, 2018) and four UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship (2010, 2011, 2015, 2018). At the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, it has reached the final in 2018, while at FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, it has reached the final once in 2014 and placed third place in 2010 and 2016.[2]

History

Early years

After underground women's football clubs started appearing in Spain around 1970 one of its instigators, Rafael Muga, decided to create a national team. It was an unofficial project as football was considered an unsuitable sport for women by both the Royal Spanish Football Federation and National Movement's Women's Section, which organized women's sports in Francoist Spain. When asked about the initiative in January 1971 RFEF president José Luis Pérez Payá answered I'm not against women's football, but I don't like it either. I don't think it's feminine from a esthetic point of view. Women are not favored wearing shirt and trousers. Any regional dress would fit them better.[3]

One month later, on 21 February 1971, the unofficial Spanish national team, including Conchi Sánchez, who played professionally in the Italian league, made its debut in Murcia's La Condomina against Portugal, ending in a 3–3 draw. The team wasn't allowed to wear RFEF's crest and the referee couldn't wear an official uniform either. On July 15, with a 5-days delay for transfer issues, it played its first game abroad against Italy in Turin's Stadio Comunale, suffering an 8–1 defeat. It was then invited to the 2nd edition of unofficial women's world cup (Mundialito 1981), but RFEF forbid them to take part in the competition.[4] Despite these conditions Spain was entrusted hosting the 1972 World Cup. RFEF vetoed the project, and the competition was cancelled and disbanded. The unofficial Spanish team itself broke up shortly after.

1980s: Officiality of the team

After the transition to democracy in the second half of the decade RFEF finally accepted women's football in November 1980, creating first a national cup and next a national team, which finally made its debut under coach Teodoro Nieto on 5 February 1983 in A Guarda, Pontevedra. The opponent was again Portugal, which defeated Spain 0–1. The team subsequently played 2-leg friendlies against France and Switzerland drawing with both opponents in Aranjuez and Barcelona and losing in Perpignan before it finally clinched its first victory in Zürich (0–1).[5] On 27 April 1985 it played its first official match in the 1987 European Championship's qualification, losing 1–0 against Hungary. After losing the first four matches Spain defeated Switzerland and drew with Italy to end third. The team also ended in its group's bottom positions in the subsequent 1989 and 1991 qualifiers. After the former Nieto was replaced by Ignacio Quereda, who has coached the team since September 1, 1988. Teodoro Nieto left the most International Footballer Conchi sanchez (Amancio) out of the Spanish Team even when the player was the first Capitain during the 70s, She was playing in Italy at the time winning championships and Italian Cups, there was not substantial reasons to leave such extraordinary player out at the peak of her career, the damaged was done to such brilliant player who loved to play for her country and fully deserved more respect and recognition.

1990s and 2000s: Growing up

The 1995 Euro qualifying marked an improvement as Spain ended 2nd, one point from England, which qualified for the final tournament. In these qualifiers Spain attained its biggest victory to date, a 17–0 over Slovenia. In the 1997 Euro qualifying it made a weaker performance, including a record 0–8 loss against Sweden in Gandia, but the European Championship was expanded to eight teams and Spain still made it to the repechage, where it defeated England on a 3–2 aggregate to qualify for the competition for the first time. In the first stage the team drew 1–1 against France, lost 0–1 against host Sweden, and beat 1–0 Russia to qualify on goal average over France to the semifinals, where it was defeated 2–1 by Italy. All three goals were scored by Ángeles Parejo.

This success was followed by a long series of unsuccessful qualifiers. In the 1999 World Cup's qualifying Spain ended last for the first time, not winning a single game. In the 2001 Euro's it made it to the repechage, where it suffered a 3–10 aggregate defeat against Denmark. In the 2003 World Cup's it again ended last despite starting with a 6–1 win over Iceland. In the 2005 Euro's, where a 9–1 win over Belgium was followed by a 5-game non scoring streak, it ended 3rd behind Denmark and Norway. In the 2007 World Cup's the team again ended 3rd behind Denmark and Finland despite earning 7 more points.

In the 2009 Euro's Spain made its better performance since the 1995 qualifiers, narrowly missing qualification as England clinched the top position by overcoming a 2–0 in the final match's second half. Spain had to play the repechage, where it lost both games against the Netherlands. In the 2011 World Cup's Spain again ended 2nd, with no repechage, after England again overcame a half-time 2–0 in their second confrontation.[6]

2010s: First World Cup

Spain achieved 16 years later a place for the final stage of a European Championship. The team qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013, after beating Scotland in the qualifiers playoff. In the group stage, a win over England and a draw against Russia was enough to qualify for the quarterfinals, where it was eliminated by Norway.

Two years later, Spain qualified for the first time ever to a World Cup, winning nine of its ten matches of the qualifying round. In the group stage of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Their campaign, however, ended up being a disaster. Spain managed only a 1–1 draw into the weakest team in the group, Costa Rica, before losing 0–1 to Brazil. In the last match with South Korea, they still lost 1–2 after an initial lead, becoming the worst European team in the tournament. After the World Cup, the 23 players on the roster issued a collective statement for the end of Ignacio Quereda’s reign as head coach.[7] Later that summer, Quereda stepped down and was replaced by Jorge Vilda, who had previously coached the U-19 team, and was on the shortlist for the 2014 FIFA World Coach of the Year.[8][9]

Spain has achieved to qualify for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 by winning all the matches and ahead in 11 points to the second classified. In 2017 the national team participated for the first time in the Algarve Cup winning the tournament.[10] However, its performance in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 was very disappointing: only one match won (against Portugal, the worst ranked team in Euro), two defeats against England (0–2) and Scotland (0–1) in group stage, Miraculously Spain advanted to the quarter-finals, where losing against Austria in a quarter-final finishing 0–0 after extra time, then 3–5 in penalty shoot-out. Eventually, the national football team was eliminated after more than 345 minutes without scoring a single goal.

Competitive record

World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D * L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
China 1991 Did Not Qualify1991 UEFA Women's Championship
Sweden 1995UEFA Women's Euro 1995
United States 19996024510
United States 20036204811
China 200784221914
Germany 20118611374
Canada 2015Group Stage20th30122410910422
France 2019Qualified8800252
Total2/80 Titles301224452861113443

European Championship

UEFA Women's Championship record UEFA Euro Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
1984Did Not EnterDeclined Participation
Norway 1987Did Not Qualify611479
West Germany 1989822448
Denmark 19916024313
Italy 1993411226
EnglandGermanyNorwaySweden19956330290
Norway Sweden 1997Semi-Finals4th4112346123815
Germany 2001Did Not Qualify6114617
England 200582151010
Finland 20098521247
Sweden 2013Quarter-Finals7th411257106224314
Netherlands 2017Quarter-Finals8th4112238800402
Total3/1212336101476301729193101

Olympic Games

Year Round Position MP W D L GF GA
United States 1996Did Not Qualify
Australia 2000
Greece 2004
China 2008
United Kingdom 2012
Brazil 2016
Total0/6––––––-

Team

Current squad

The following players were called up for a training session in early October 2018.

Caps and goals as of 5 September 2018
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
Goalkeeper
1GK María Asunción Quiñones (1996-10-29) October 29, 1996 1 0 Spain Real Sociedad
1GK Sara Serrat (1995-09-10) September 10, 1995 0 0 Spain Sporting de Huelva
Defender
2DF Ivana Andrés (1994-07-13) July 13, 1994 15 0 Spain Levante UD
2DF Marta Carro (1991-01-06) January 6, 1991 4 0 Spain Valencia CF
2DF Rocío Gálvez (1997-05-15) May 15, 1997 2 0 Spain Real Betis
2DF Celia Jiménez (1995-06-20) June 20, 1995 17 0 Sweden FC Rosengård
2DF Carmen Menayo (1998-04-14) April 14, 1998 0 0 Spain Atlético Madrid
2DF Núria Mendoza (1995-12-15) December 15, 1995 0 0 Spain Real Sociedad
2DF Paula Nicart (1994-09-08) September 8, 1994 3 0 Spain Valencia CF
2DF Leila Ouahabi (1993-03-22) March 22, 1993 20 1 Spain FC Barcelona
Midfielder
3MF Aitana Bonmatí (1998-01-18) January 18, 1998 6 0 Spain FC Barcelona
3MF Andrea Falcón (1997-02-28) February 28, 1997 2 0 Spain Atlético Madrid
3MF Gemma Gili (1994-05-21) May 21, 1994 2 0 Spain FC Barcelona
3MF Irene Guerrero (1996-12-12) December 12, 1996 0 0 Spain Real Betis
3MF Sandra Hernández (1997-05-25) May 25, 1997 4 0 Spain Valencia CF
3MF Ángela Sosa (1993-01-16) January 16, 1993 0 0 Spain Atlético Madrid
3MF Claudia Zornoza (1990-10-20) October 20, 1990 1 0 Spain Levante UD
Forward
4FW Mariona Caldentey (1996-03-19) March 19, 1996 12 2 Spain FC Barcelona
4FW Lucía García (1998-07-14) July 14, 1998 6 0 Spain Athletic Club
4FW Nahikari García (1996-03-19) March 19, 1996 1 1 Spain Real Sociedad
4FW Olga García (1992-06-01) June 1, 1992 25 5 Spain Atlético Madrid
4FW Lucía Gómez (1996-10-11) October 11, 1996 0 0 Spain Levante UD
4FW Esther González (1992-12-08) December 8, 1992 3 0 Spain Atlético Madrid
4FW Alba Redondo (1996-08-27) August 27, 1996 0 0 Spain Fundación Albacete

Recent call-ups

The following players were named to a squad in the last twelve months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Dolores Gallardo (1993-06-10) June 10, 1993 26 0 Spain Atlético Madrid v.  Finland; August 31, 2018
GK Sandra Paños (1992-11-04) November 4, 1992 23 0 Spain FC Barcelona v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
DF Eunate Arraiza (1991-06-03) June 3, 1991 4 0 Spain Athletic Club v.  Israel; June 7, 2018PRE
DF María Pilar León (1995-06-13) June 13, 1995 16 0 Spain FC Barcelona v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
DF Irene Paredes (vc) (1991-07-04) July 4, 1991 55 8 France Paris Saint-Germain v.  Finland; August 31, 2018
DF Andrea Pereira (1993-09-19) September 19, 1993 20 0 Spain FC Barcelona v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
DF Marta Torrejón (c) (1990-02-27) February 27, 1990 80 9 Spain FC Barcelona v.  Austria; April 10, 2018
MF Alharilla Casado (1990-11-13) November 13, 1990 6 1 Spain Levante UD v.  Czech Republic; March 5, 2018
MF Marta Corredera (1991-08-08) August 8, 1991 58 5 Spain Levante UD v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
MF Patricia Guijarro (1998-05-17) May 17, 1998 14 3 Spain FC Barcelona training sessions in early October 2018PRE
MF Victoria Losada (1991-03-05) March 5, 1991 52 13 Spain FC Barcelona v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
MF Alexia Putellas (1994-02-04) February 4, 1994 57 11 Spain FC Barcelona v.  Finland; August 31, 2018PRE
MF Amanda Sampedro (vc) (1993-06-26) June 26, 1993 40 11 Spain Atlético Madrid v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
MF Virginia Torrecilla (1994-09-04) September 4, 1994 47 5 France Montpellier HSC v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
FW Jennifer Hermoso (1990-05-09) May 9, 1990 60 25 Spain Atlético Madrid v.  Serbia; September 4, 2018
FW Bárbara Latorre (1993-03-14) March 14, 1993 18 1 Spain FC Barcelona training sessions in early October 2018PRE
FW Maripaz Vilas (1988-02-01) February 1, 1988 25 15 Spain Valencia CF v.  Israel; June 7, 2018

Previous squads

Coaching staff

Results and fixtures

For all past match results of the national team, see single-season articles and the team's results page

The following matches were played or are scheduled to be played by the national team in the current or upcoming season.

  Win   Draw   Loss

Date Venue Opponent Result Competition
July 19, 2017 Netherlands Doetinchem Portugal  2–0 Euro 2017
July 23, 2017 Netherlands Breda England  0–2
July 27, 2017 Netherlands Deventer Scotland  0–1
July 30, 2017 Netherlands Tilburg Austria  0–0
September 18, 2017 France Calais France  3–1 Friendly
October 23, 2017 Israel Ramat Gan Israel  0–6 2019 World Cup qualifying
November 24, 2017 Serbia Belgrade Serbia  1–2
November 28, 2017 Spain Palma Austria  4–0
January 20, 2018 Spain San Pedro del Pinatar Netherlands XI  2–0 Trainer
February 28, 2018 Cyprus Larnaca Austria  2–0 2018 Cyprus Cup
March 2, 2018 Cyprus Larnaca Belgium  0–0
March 5, 2018 Cyprus Larnaca Czech Republic  2–0
March 7, 2018 Cyprus Larnaca Italy  2–0
April 6, 2018 Finland Helsinki Finland  0–2 2019 World Cup qualifying
April 10, 2018 Austria Maria Enzersdorf Austria  0–1
June 7, 2018 Spain Murcia Israel  2–0
August 31, 2018 Spain Santander Finland  5–1
September 4, 2018 Spain Logroño Serbia  3–0
November 13, 2018 Germany Erfurt Germany  – Friendly
January 19-20, 2019 Spain United States  –

Overall official record

Honours

Titles

Champions: 2017
Champions: 2018

Other awards

Statistics

Most capped Spanish players

  • Still active national team players in bold.
Marta Torrejón is the most capped player in the history of the Spanish national team.
# Player Career Caps Goals
1 Marta Torrejón 2007– 80 9
2 Arantza del Puerto 1990–2005 71 ??
3 Mar Prieto 1989–2000 62 27
4 Sonia Bermúdez 2005–2017 61 34
5 Jennifer Hermoso 2011– 60 24
6 Marta Corredera 2013– 58 5
7 Rosa Castillo 1993–2000 57 ??
Silvia Meseguer 2008–2017 57 5
Alexia Putellas 2013– 57 11
10 Verónica Boquete 2005–2017 56 38

Top Spain goalscorers

  • Still active national team players in bold.
Verónica Boquete is Spain's all-time scorer with 38 goals.
# Player Career Goals Caps Average
1 Verónica Boquete 2005–2017 38 56 0.679
2 Sonia Bermúdez 2005–2017 34 61 0.557
3 Adriana Martín 2005–2015 33 37 0.892
4 Mar Prieto 1989–2000 27 62 0.435
5 Jennifer Hermoso 2011– 25 60 0.417
6 María Paz Vilas 2008–2018 15 25 0.600

Hat-tricks

Adriana Martin has scored 4 hat-tricks with Spain in her career
PlayerCompetitionAgainstHome/AwayResultDate
Mar Prieto71995 EURO QSlovenia SloveniaHome17–020 March 1994
Itziar Bakero
Laura del Río52005 EURO QBelgium BelgiumHome7–029 February 2004
Adriana Martín52007 WC QPoland PolandHome7–030 March 2006
Adriana Martín42011 WC QMalta MaltaAway0–1319 September 2009
Sonia Bermúdez
Ana "Willy" Romero
Adriana Martín2011 WC QTurkey TurkeyAway0–521 November 2009
Adriana Martín42011 WC QMalta MaltaHome9–024 June 2010
Verónica Boquete2013 EURO QTurkey TurkeyAway1–1017 September 2011
María Paz Vilas72013 EURO QKazakhstan KazakhstanHome14–05 April 2012
Natalia Pablos52015 WC QRepublic of Macedonia MacedoniaHome12–013 February 2014
Sonia Bermúdez2015 WC QRepublic of Macedonia MacedoniaAway0–1010 April 2014
Jennifer Hermoso
Sonia Bermúdez 52017 EURO QMontenegro MontenegroHome13–015 September 2016
Verónica Boquete4
Ainhoa Tirapu holds the Spanish record for most international career clean sheets

4 Player scored 4 goals
5 Player scored 5 goals
7 Player scored 7 goals

Clean sheets

  • Still active national team players in bold.
# Player Career Clean Sheets Caps Average
1 Ainhoa Tirapu 2007–2015 20 46 0.435
2 Dolores Gallardo 2012– 13 26 0.500
3 Sandra Paños 2011– 12 23 0.522
4 Roser Serra 1991–1998 10? 33 0.303?
5 Ana Ruiz 1984–1988 4 17 0.235
Elixabete Capa 1997–2005 4 ?? ??

Progression

Youth teams

Under-20

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
2002: did not qualify 2004: 1st round 2006: did not qualify
2008: did not qualify 2010: did not qualify 2012: did not qualify
2014: did not qualify 2016: 5th 2018: Runner-up

Under-19

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
2002: Final Round 2003: Final Round 2004: Champion
2005: Second Round 2006: Second Round 2007: Final Round
2008: Final Round 2009: Second Round 2010: Final Round
2011: Final Round 2012: Runner-up 2013: did not qualify
2014: Runner-up 2015: Runner-up 2016: Runner-up
2017: Champion 2018: Champion 2019: TBD

Under-18

UEFA Women's Under-18 Championship
1998: did not qualify 1999: did not qualify 2000: Runner-up 2001: 4th (last edition)

Under-17

FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
2008: did not qualify 2010: Third Place 2012: did not qualify
2014: Runner-up 2016: Third Place 2018: Qualified
UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship
UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship
2008: did not qualify 2009: Runner-up 2010: Champion
2011: Champion 2012: did not qualify 2013: Third Place
2014: Runner-up 2015: Champion 2016: Runner-up
2017: Runner-up 2018: Champion 2019: TBD

Under-16

There is also a women's national team that represents Spain in international football in under-16 categories and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. This team usually participates each year in UEFA Women U-16 Development Tournament (although it is not an official tournament) with remarkable success[17]

Spanish autonomous women's football teams

These teams from several Autonomous communities of Spain are not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and therefore they are only allowed to play friendly matches.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Spain's women add to La Roja euphoria". FIFA. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
  2. ↑ "Equalizer Soccer – Laura del Rio enjoying new found freedom". Equalizersoccer.com. 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
  3. ↑ The underground origin of the women's national team. Marca, 23 April 2013. David Menayo
  4. ↑ Conchi Amancio's national team shook up the 1970s Spain. As Color, 17 July 2012
  5. ↑ The official baptism of the women's national team. Marca, 14 May 2013. David Menayo.
  6. ↑ "Why Spain is absent from the World Cup". Fox Soccer. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  7. ↑ Spain players call firing Ignacio Quereda women's World Cup exit
  8. ↑ "Quereda's reign as Spain coach ends after 27 years". Equalizer Soccer. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "Vilda appointed coach of Spain's women's team". FIFA.com. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Champions of Algarve Cup
  11. ↑ The Spanish women's national team honored at the 2014 National Sports Awards
  12. ↑ UEFA Women's National Team Coefficient Overview (June 2016)
  13. ↑ UEFA Women's National Team Coefficient Overview (November 2017)
  14. ↑ UEFA Women's National Team Coefficient Overview (June 2018)
  15. ↑ UEFA Women's National Team Coefficient Overview (September 2018)
  16. ↑ Ranking women's national football teams based on a formula invented and developed by Mark Ziaian
  17. ↑ The U16s debut with a brilliant victory at the UEFA Development Tournament
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