Aitana Bonmatí expressed her dismay at how ladies footballers in Spain are handled whereas praising the NWSL and Ladies’s Tremendous League (WSL) for the way by which they give the impression of being after their gamers.
Bonmatí, 26, gained her second successive Ballon d’Or earlier this month after a trophy-laden 2024 that noticed her win a historic quadruple with Barcelona in addition to the inaugural Ladies’s Nations League with Spain.
In September, she signed a bumper four-year contract with Barça that, in accordance with ESPN sources, made her the best-paid lady footballer on the planet. Regardless of committing her future to stay in Spain, Bonmatí acknowledges that there are a number of facets by which the Liga F lags behind different leagues.
In an interview with ESPN, after ending prime of the ESPN FC Ladies’s Rank, Bonmatí stated: “The league in USA, they’re doing the issues good when it comes to advertising and communication and so they need to be the highest one, in addition to [the WSL] additionally in England. So I feel these each leagues are among the finest when it comes to therapy, how they deal with the ladies’s soccer, how we deserve.
“I at all times say the identical about my league. I am not completely satisfied how they deal with us as a result of I feel they’ve a product … the footballers, a great product as a result of we’re winners of the Champions League thrice and in addition World Cup winners and Nations League winners. So you’ve gotten the product to blow up that when it comes to advertising and industrial to become profitable as a result of it is very important become profitable to develop.
“And I feel there’s a lot to do right here and I want to have a extra aggressive league as a result of that is one of the best for the people who find themselves watching us and in addition for us to be higher yearly. In case you compete in a great league, you possibly can compete with one of the best gamers, with one of the best groups and you’ll be higher.
Bonmatí has beforehand spoken of how Liga F is being overtaken by different leagues, however she does not consider the Spanish federation is making an attempt to comply with within the leads of the WSL and NWSL.
When requested what it could to take for change to be affected, she stated: “I do not know as a result of we’re speaking about this each time I’ve a query about that, I reply the identical. We’re speaking clear[ly] and we’re saying what we want, however not less than we’re doing our job within the subject.
“Who has to do their job out of the sector? We’re not in management. We’re not these folks. So I want to have people who find themselves main these type of issues, which have the capability to develop this league.
“… Additionally they should need as a result of in order for you, you’ll do. In case you do not care, [you won’t].
Whereas the NWSL has grown to develop into probably the most well-liked leagues within the ladies’s recreation and United States ladies’s nationwide workforce gained Olympic gold this previous summer time, Bonmatí believes that hole in high quality between the USWNT and the remainder of the world has considerably decreased. The USWNT suffered its worst-ever efficiency on the final Ladies’s World Cup however gained gold underneath new coach Emma Hayes.
“I feel within the final tournaments, USA was the one favorite of the event and I do not see this proper now,” she stated.
“I see them as an excellent workforce. They’re succesful to win each single event additionally. However there are different groups which might be succesful too. And for those who see the previous, you possibly can present USA right here and the opposite groups right here. However for me proper now there’s equality and it may be stunning generally.”