Spain women's national football team

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 15 July, 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.

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 1 September 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.

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]

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 they were 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.

At the 2019 Women's World Cup, Spain were in Group B with China PR, South Africa, and Germany. They finished second in the group to progress to the knockout stage of a World Cup for the first time in their history.[11] However, the team was eliminated in the round of 16 by the eventual champions United States.

In October 2019, the federation announced the creation of España Promesas (essentially Spain B), a team for players too old for younger age groups but not in the latest full squad, to provide training and occasional match experience for those in consideration for the future.[12]

The following players were called up for the 2020 SheBelieves Cup.

Caps and goals as of 12 March 2019.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
Goalkeeper
1	1GK	Dolores Gallardo	(1993-06-10) 10 June 1993	31	0	Atlético Madrid
13	1GK	Sandra Paños	(1992-11-04) 4 November 1992	39	0	Barcelona
23	1GK	María Asunción Quiñones	(1996-10-29) 29 October 1996	3	0	Real Sociedad
Defender
5	2DF	Ivana Andrés	(1994-07-13) 13 July 1994	23	0	Levante
2	2DF	Ona Batlle	(1999-06-10) 10 June 1999	5	0	Levante
16	2DF	Mapi León	(1995-06-13) 13 June 1995	34	0	Barcelona
15	2DF	Leila Ouahabi	(1993-03-22) 22 March 1993	34	1	Barcelona
4	2DF	Irene Paredes (c)	(1991-07-04) 4 July 1991	72	9	Paris Saint-Germain
20	2DF	Andrea Pereira	(1993-09-19) 19 September 1993	29	0	Barcelona
3	2DF	Ainhoa Vicente Moraza	(1995-08-20) 20 August 1995	1	0	Athletic Bilbao
Midfielder
6	3MF	Aitana Bonmatí	(1998-01-18) 18 January 1998	21	4	Barcelona
9	3MF	Marta Cardona	(1995-05-26) 26 May 1995	5	0	Real Sociedad
7	3MF	Marta Corredera	(1991-08-08) 8 August 1991	78	5	Levante
12	3MF	Patricia Guijarro	(1998-05-17) 17 May 1998	28	4	Barcelona
11	3MF	Alexia Putellas	(1994-02-04) 4 February 1994	77	14	Barcelona
19	3MF	Amanda Sampedro	(1993-06-26) 26 June 1993	52	11	Atlético Madrid
18	3MF	Ángela Sosa	(1993-01-16) 16 January 1993	6	0	Atlético Madrid
14	3MF	Virginia Torrecilla	(1994-09-04) 4 September 1994	65	7	Atlético Madrid
Forward
8	4FW	Mariona Caldentey	(1996-03-19) 19 March 1996	32	3	Barcelona
17	4FW	Lucía García	(1998-07-14) 14 July 1998	23	3	Athletic Bilbao
21	4FW	Sheila García	(1997-03-15) 15 March 1997	3	0	Rayo Vallecano
10	4FW	Jennifer Hermoso	(1990-05-09) 9 May 1990	78	32	Barcelona
22	4FW	Alba Redondo	(1996-08-27) 27 August 1996	9	2	Levante

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	Sara Serrat	(1995-09-10) 10 September 1995	1	0	Sevilla	v.  Poland; 12 November 2019
GK	Patricia Larqué	(1992-05-02) 2 May 1992	0	0	Rayo Vallecano	v.  Czech Republic; 8 October 2019 PRE
DF	Laia Aleixandri	(2000-08-25) 25 August 2000	1	1	Atlético Madrid	v.  Czech Republic; 8 October 2019 PRE
DF	Celia Jiménez	(1995-06-20) 20 June 1995	25	0	OL Reign	v.  France; 31 August 2019
MF	Andrea Falcón	(1997-02-28) 28 February 1997	12	1	Barcelona	v.  Poland; 12 November 2019
MF	Irene Guerrero	(1996-12-12) 12 December 1996	2	1	Real Betis	v.  Poland; 12 November 2019
MF	Maitane López	(1995-03-13) 13 March 1995	0	0	Levante	v.  Czech Republic; 8 October 2019 PRE
MF	Victoria Losada	(1991-03-05) 5 March 1991	64	13	Barcelona	v.  France; 31 August 2019
MF	Gemma Gili	(1994-05-21) 21 May 1994	2	0	Levante	v.  France; 31 August 2019
FW	Nahikari García	(1997-03-10) 10 March 1997	14	1	Real Sociedad	2020 SheBelieves Cup PRE
FW	Esther González	(1992-12-08) 8 December 1992	6	0	Levante	v.  Poland; 12 November 2019
FW	Eva Navarro	(2001-01-27) 27 January 2001	2	0	Levante	v.  Poland; 12 November 2019
FW	Bárbara Latorre	(1993-03-14) 14 March 1993	18	1	Real Sociedad	v.  Czech Republic; 8 October 2019 PRE

• Algarve Cup

Champions: 2017

• Cyprus Cup

Champions: 2018

• SheBelieves Cup

runners-up: 2020

• Premios Nacionales del Deporte (National Sports Awards): Baron de Güell Cup (2014)[13]

• Still active national team players in bold.

Marta Torrejón is the most capped player in the history of the Spanish national team.

• Still active national team players in bold.

Verónica Boquete is Spain's all-time scorer with 38 goals.

Adriana Martin has scored 4 hat-tricks with Spain in her career

Player	Competition	Against	Home/Away	Result	Date
Mar Prieto7	1995 EURO Q	Slovenia	Home	17–0	20 March 1994
Itziar Bakero
Laura del Río5	2005 EURO Q	Belgium	Home	7–0	29 February 2004
Adriana Martín5	2007 WC Q	Poland	Home	7–0	30 March 2006
Adriana Martín4	2011 WC Q	Malta	Away	0–13	19 September 2009
Sonia Bermúdez
Ana "Willy" Romero
Adriana Martín		Turkey	Away	0–5	21 November 2009
Adriana Martín4		Malta	Home	9–0	24 June 2010
Verónica Boquete	2013 EURO Q	Turkey	Away	1–10	17 September 2011
María Paz Vilas7		Kazakhstan	Home	14–0	5 April 2012
Natalia Pablos5	2015 WC Q	Macedonia	Home	12–0	13 February 2014
Sonia Bermúdez		Macedonia	Away	0–10	10 April 2014
Jennifer Hermoso
Sonia Bermúdez 5	2017 EURO Q	Montenegro	Home	13–0	15 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

• Still active national team players in bold.

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:	Champion

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:	Third Place

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[20]