Real Madrid Femenino and their ambitions.

Ambition is a theme that runs very heavily through Real Madrid. They are one of the ultimate football institutions and one of those names that represent success, money, trophies and power. When you think about Real Madrid, you think about one of the biggest football clubs in the entire world, and millions of players everywhere dream of playing for them.

However, the same cannot be said about Real Madrid in women’s football. In fact, they are still trying to make their impact felt in that level of professional football.

See, women’s football is a topic that has been heavily discussed among Real Madrid supporters for years before their birth in 2020. This was due to the fact that the last decade saw an important growth in women’s football, and the Real Madrid supporters, understandably, were asking their club president, Florentino Perez, to join in the action.

Perez had his own reservations over the years, often offering inconsistent comments about the making of a women’s team, but eventually, in 2019, he agreed to merge a local football club from Madrid that had just got promoted to the Primera Division, CD TACÓN, with what was eventually going to become Real Madrid Femenino in 2020.

This is how their story began and this is how we get one of the most interesting projects in the making as we consider who Real Madrid are in the world of football and how they need to start from the ground up in order for the ladies to reach that same level.

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Slowly making their way to the top.

The improvement of Real Madrid Femenino in recent years has been both slow and fast at the same time. This is due to the fact that the team has been existing for merely two years now, but they are already one of the competitive sides in Spain and are slowly becoming a regular presence in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

This is also due to the fact that the club merged with an already established side from the first division, CD TACÓN, which gave them a solid base to work with. Sure, some of their key players, such as Argentine talent Ruth Bravo, left during the merger years, which was from 2019 to 2020, but it was, in hindsight, a small cost to pay in order for the club to improve considerably.

As most football fans know by now, Real Madrid are known for their “Galactico” signings. They love having some of the biggest names in football in order to challenge for the biggest trophies. And while that still hasn’t happened as of this writing at Real Madrid Femenino, signings such as Swede talent Kosovare Asllani, who played at the club since their foundation in 2020 to 2022, and Scottish starlet Caroline Weir, who recently signed for the club and helped them kick her former team, Manchester City, by scoring against them in the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

Despite not having a monumental squad in terms of individual talents like, say, Lyon, Chelsea or Barcelona, the word that you can use to define this Madrid side is “solid”. They are a very solid, competitive team that knows their strengths and weaknesses, which allows them to challenge on a regular basis even if they haven’t won the trophies yet.

Pulling off upsets.

It’s hard to look at Real Madrid and think about the word “upset”. They are one of the biggest clubs in the world, but that doesn’t mean their women’s team can boast that same heritage–they need to earn it on the pitch. And truth be told, they are getting there.

The Spanish league is ruled by Barcelona. Anyone that follows women’s football on a rudimentary basis knows that by now. But the fact that Madrid have managed to pull a second and third place in their first two seasons in the first division, that goes a long way in showing what they are all about and how they are a serious project that wants to compete.

This can also be complemented with their input in their Champions League campaigns. Last year they qualified for the first time and they reached the quarterfinals where they lost against, you guessed it, Barcelona. They were two very exciting matches, but Barcelona simply have too much firepower in this point of the game and were too much for Madrid.

Having said all that, it has been a couple of eventful seasons for Las Blancas and they have proven that they can compete with the best of the best, even if there is room for improvement. But a lot of Madrid supporters are going to feel very encouraged by what they are doing in recent seasons and the potential they have for future seasons.

What lies ahead?

The club has constantly made a lot of signings over the years and they are constantly challenging for those UEFA Women’s Champions League spots. They are slowly becoming regular Champions League participants and they have already cemented their place as a top three squad, so things are looking up for Real Madrid Femenino in a lot of different ways.

But beating Barcelona in the Spanish league and making it to the top of the Champions League may be the hardest things this Madrid team has to do. Not because they lack quality, but rather because the opposition has much more experience and they are filled with world class players, making the gap a lot more pronounced.

It is also worth pointing out that that can lead to frustration and to trying to speed their way to the top, but is a lot more logical to slowly build the team up in order to have a much stronger base to work with. This is something that Barcelona did over the years and it paid dividends for them in a big way, so Real Madrid Femenino should do the same.

Even so, this is a bit of a success story, considering that the team is only in its third season and is already making a difference.