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 Soccer City. This week the Federation appointed Markel Zubizarreta like new Director of Women’s Soccer Of the entity. A necessary decision after the departure of the last boss, Jorge Vildasports director and coach by grace of Luis Rubiales, and an election in line with the new times that are taking place in the corridors of the federative 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 the son of Andoni. He landed at Barcelona in 2015, with barely 29 yearsa 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, dos Champions League (2021 and 2023), four Cups and three Spanish Super Cups. But we’re not just talking about titles.
Zubizarreta, Graduated from INEF and with a Master in Sports Managementwas in charge of management and the first team during his time in Barcelona, and with him the Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí, Patri Guijarro, Mapi León and company became 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. Because that’s what it is: 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.
This is where Zubizarreta’s first task will fall: ensuring that Mapi León, Patri Guijarro and Claudia Pina, the three of ‘Las 15′ who have not yet returned, declare themselves eligible again. He has had contact 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 his house.
Zubizarreta He left Barça at the end of September, a few days after Vilda’s dismissal. Her name was the first on the list of candidates and only a few issues needed to be clarified. Her 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 required having 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.