Women’s football is living a new era, that’s a fact; and the players who are mostly responsible for it are wearing the blaugrana shirt. That’s irrefutable. Barça’s successes both collectively –with last season’s treble and the recent Spanish Super Cup– and individually –Alexia Putellas is the undisputed queen of the year– are inspiring thousands of girls who want to become like their idols.
In this first formative phase, supporters’ clubs are playing an important role, which, with the support of the World Confederation and its Federations, are decisively backing women’s grassroots football. Some of them, members of the Agrupació de Penyes, are incorporating and consolidating women’s teams in their ranks, such as PB Cervelló, CB Terlenka and PB Sant Vicenç dels Horts (Fed. Baix Llobregat), as well as PB Anguera (Fed. Barcelonès Oest).
On the other hand, in the Federació del Vallès, we must underline PB Montmeló, which has four women’s futsal teams, and PB Gualba, whose young female players are already training and are waiting to start competing.
Support for clubs
In addition to the supporters’ clubs that have their own teams, there are also others that participate in this promotion of women’s football by supporting local clubs. In the Federació Lleida Sud i la Franja, for instance, there is a large group of them: PB Soses, PB Pla d’Urgell, PB Agramunt i Comarca, PB Fraga i Comarca, PB Borges Blanques, PB Cervera, PB Seròs, PB Bellcaire d’Urgell, PB Almacelles and PB Alcarràs. All of them collaborate or have collaborated with women’s football or futsal teams in their respective localities.
On the rise
This boom in women’s football has no intention of slowing down, and the supporters’ clubs bear witness to this. Organisations such as PB Cervelló and CB Terlenka have expressed their aim to expand their teams, while PB Vallirana (Fed. Baix Llobregat) already has a group of young players who will soon begin to compete. The same goes for PB Barberà del Vallès (Fed. Vallès), which for several years had a women’s team and is now looking to recover it after the difficulties of the pandemic.
On the other hand, there are more and more girls who are forming part of the supporters’ clubs’ teams, which used to be all-male and are now mixed. This trend suggests that the formation of new all-female teams is not far off.
Handball and hockey, also for women
The presence of women’s grassroots sports within the Barcelona supporters’ clubs is not only limited to the beautiful game. In addition to its futsal teams, the Penya Blaugrana de Montmeló also has two women’s handball teams that have been competing for some time. On the other hand, the Penya Blaugrana d’Hockey, belonging to the Fed. Barcelonès Oest, has a women’s hockey team.
