Spain’s women battled sexism and indifference. Now the world champions are eyeing European title

BARCELONA Spain AP If the women s soccer players of Spain have gone from nobodies to title contenders in less than a decade it hasn t come easy The national organization has had to fight for better coaching decent voyage conditions and modern training facilities It paid off with a World Cup title in the Nations League crown last year and on Sunday they face England in the European Championship final It has been a constant with the national band that we have had to fight for acceptable work conditions that would allow us to play at our best former Spain defender Marta Torrej n stated The Associated Press by phone on Friday Torrej n lived through the lean years the time when playing for her country felt like in her words a waste of time And she knows from talking with Barcelona teammates who still play for their country how much things have improved Torrej n retired from international soccer after the World Cup as Spain s then most-capped member with appearances The -year-old has since helped Barcelona win three Champions League titles and a slew of other trophies She also played a part in one of the revolts Spain s women have staged to demand more from the men who run the event After the World Cup Torrej n and other players successfully pushed for the removal of coach Ignacio Quereda who had run the group for nearly three decades for his poor preparation ahead of the band s first appearance in the competition Quereda was later accused by former players of verbal abuse an allegation he denied I enjoyed playing for the national association but the preparation and attention to the athlete was minimum It felt to put it bluntly like a waste of time Torrej n revealed The level of practice and the level of physical training both plummeted compared to what we had at Barcelona It was like taking a step back I am advised that isn t the matter now and I am very glad to hear that Torrej n noted she saw moves in the right direction under former Spain coach Jorge Vilda who replaced Quereda but felt there was still more untapped foreseen in the company when she retired After Torrej n quit the company certain players released in they would no longer play for Vilda unless he ran a more professional operation He was backed by the federation Several players returned to play for him and the squad made history by winning the World Cup The celebrations were overshadowed by the behavior of then-federation president Luis Rubiales who kissed a player on the lips without her consent during the awards ceremony in Sydney Vilda supported Rubiales initially and he was swept away with his boss when the players stood up to force change from the removal of Rubiales to improving the trip conditions and handling of the gang Torrej n commented she had heard from Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes stalwarts of Spain and Barcelona that things are better since Rubiales and Vilda left New coach Montse Tom has enhanced the training methods Spain leads the way at the Euros for goals scored ball possession passing accuracy and clean sheets In Spain s - semifinal win over Germany Aitana Bonmat leaned on the organization s analysts who informed her the opposing goalkeeper tended to leave her near post unprotected The consequence was an exquisite winner from a tight angle Torrej n noted that sort of tactical insight from the staff was unthinkable a decade ago Barcelona and other clubs have lifted Spain Spain midfielder Patri Guijarro agrees with Torrej n that the sustained stake Barcelona has provided for the past decade in the women s competition has boosted the national squad Each and every day we work well in our clubs and I think that is reflected in the achievements of the clubs but also in the national squad Guijarro declared at Spain s camp in Lausanne Switzerland on Friday Guijarro also credits the professionalization of Spain s women s league in which allowed players to dedicate ourselves fully to soccer Guijarro is one of Barcelona players on Spain s -member squad The Barcelona contingent includes Bonmat and Putellas who have split the last four Ballon d Or awards between them Former Barcelona official Xavier Vilajoana oversaw the women s club and the club s training academy from - During that time the club dramatically increased its funding for women s soccer and built a training effort for girls Vilajoana stated one critical decision was having the same coaches train the boys and girls teams That way the Barcelona style was instilled in all the kids and that ball-possession short-passing and pressure became fundamentals of the women s teams as well Let s not fool ourselves we spent multiple years in a very sexist society and that was reflected in women s soccer So clearly the change in the mentality of society has helped Vilajoana stated the AP But I also believe that Bar a s style of play has helped us see women players in the same way as men We had talent In the background Spain s strong feminist movement helped get the inhabitants behind the players as they made strides for equality and success There were countless of us players who gave it our all for the national company but weren t able to get this far Torrej n mentioned The one thing we knew is that we had talent We just needed more advocacy AP sports writer Graham Dunbar contributed from Lausanne Switzerland AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source