Africa will experience its first women’s Champions League starting this Friday. A tournament that takes relevance beyond the playing fields, providing enthusiasm and optimism for all those girls and young people who dream of playing soccer on the African continent. All of them will live with a special illusion the appointment that is will be held from November 5 to 19 in Cairo.
The capital of Egypt will host the first tournament extended to all of Africa involving women’s football clubs, with the participation in this first edition of eight teams spread over different areas of the continent. One of these participating clubs, the Malabo Kings of Equatorial Guinea, has great Spanish influence, with Rubén Gallego as a coach
This coach, who was the coach of Equatorial Guinea U-20 in 2015 and assistant in the Absolute of the same country for almost three years, is a globetrotter. And it is that, in addition to Africa, Galician has trained in China, being coach of Guangzhou Evergrande women’s teams with the Real Madrid Foundation.
Now, the Spanish coach faces a new, beautiful and great challenge in Africa, where he will become the first Spanish-born coach to coach a team in the Women’s Champions League. “It is special because of how people are living in the country and in general on the continent. It is an incentive for all clubs“, declares Gallego in an interview with AS during the concentration of his team in Morocco before making his debut in this competition.
The Spanish coach insists on the importance of this the dispute of this first Champions League so that women’s football begins to be promoted more and more on the African continent. “In Equatorial Guinea it is already being heard that other clubs want to start working with the women’s section for next season and this will help more girls to have the possibility to compete and indirectly help the national team “, continues to be highlighted in a talk in which he details aspects of the African women’s football game, the keys to this Champions League or experiences of his own career in the benches, among other issues.
Ruben Gallego
Africa will celebrate its first Women’s Champions League, how are you living this great milestone from within?
It is special because of how people are living in the country and in general on the continent. It is an incentive for all clubs that have an objective to achieve at an international level and not only to be able to get national tournaments without this being able to mean something else outside the country.
What is the situation of women’s football in Africa?
Currently, international competitions are basically those that are contested with the senior teams and in their different lower categories, but until now the players did not have the possibility of competing outside the country with their teams. For example, in Equatorial Guinea, you are already hearing that other clubs want to start working with the women’s section for next season and this will help more girls have the possibility to compete and indirectly help the national team.
How is women’s football there (characteristics, type of game …)?
Like men’s soccer, the type of game is more physical than in other countries, but this does not mean that you do not find players with very good technical qualities. My first experience in Guinea was in 2015 and you could already see players with qualities to play in other leagues. They only needed to enter into training dynamics and knowledge of the game, since what they have some shortcomings is at the tactical level and decision-making. But they have already been working for years on training coaches and bringing in foreign coaches to help improve tactical aspects of the game.
What peculiarities have you detected in African women’s football?
Mainly in the game. I have to adapt to how they are playing and gradually introduce improvements so that this change is not abrupt. It is necessary to achieve the growth of each one of them and of the team. For the rest, in general, it is similar to what you can find in China or Spain.
How has the impact of the birth of the Women’s Champions League been on the African continent? Has optimism for female footballers increased?
Of course, optimism has increased in soccer players. Currently some of them have an opportunity for the world to see them in a competition other than the World Cup, which few teams attend, or the African Cup of Nations, which do not have all the opportunity to play.
At the specific level, Equatorial Guinea is a power on the continent, but at the club level it is not among the countries considered important. However, the president of Malabo Kings FC has committed to the growth of football in the country, both male and female, making a large investment in both sections and leading the two teams to compete internationally in 3-4 years of creation . The women’s is possibly the surprise of the Champions League, since it was expected that the Cameroonian team could be the one to reach this final phase and we managed to overcome them in the first round.
You will be the first Spanish coach to lead a team in the Women’s Champions League in Africa, have you ever imagined achieving something like that?
The truth is that since 2015 I have been alternating women’s and men’s soccer and I have received criticism from close people for betting on projects of this type, since they do not understand that you can be as a tactical analyst in the Spanish professional league with UD Logroñés and then accept women’s projects . However, I think that women’s football is an attractive football for coaches at the tactical level and, above all, at the structural level of the lower categories and training. Anyone who knows me knows very well what my passion is, to be able to work with grassroots players, organize their structure and see that in a few years those players have achieved their goals.
As for if I imagined that my name could be written as the first Spanish coach in an event like this … Obviously, I never imagined it since I have always wanted to be able to enjoy in some Spanish quarry, as was the case in Getafe CF, but then opportunities appear and you grow professionally. And opportunities of this type come to you, which I hope to enjoy to the fullest.
And you can be the first to win it. What would it mean for you to get it?
For me? I think what it would be for Equatorial Guinea, for its people, for its football, for President Juan Mañe, who is making so many efforts for the growth of football in the country … I think of all of them long before I do. And, although we are the Cinderella of the final phase, we go with the hope of doing something important. Anyway, any success goes hand in hand with the coaches who are with me Doceline and Inocencio and the rest of the coaching staff: Javi (coach), Moisés (physiotherapist), Juan (goalkeeper coach), Rondo (delegate), Zambo (doctor) , Enrique (head of the women’s area) … and more people who work and have worked so that this moment arrives.
What do you expect from the Women’s Champions League dispute in Africa?
Well, I really hope that we do a very good tournament and win, although it is clear that other clubs arrive with much more experience at the international level, since they have many international players from their respective countries. Although, a priori, we are the team that nobody expected in this final phase, I think we can do something important.
What is your favorite team to win the title?
Malabo Kings FC. And then Mamelodi from South Africa, our first rival, the Ghanaian Hasaacas, or the host, Wadi Degla.
Any player you want to highlight?
From Mamelodi, I like midfielder Smidt, who has a long history and is smart when it comes to distributing or destroying. From Hasaacas, forward Verónica Appiah understands very well when to fall between the lines or break behind, having quality and being physically strong. But I could also highlight several Malabo Kings players and I’m sure that at the end of the tournament the award for best player remains in Equatorial Guinea.
How did you get here? Or rather, how did all this adventure come about?
I arrived in 2015 as a women’s U-20 coach and head of lower categories in a project in which I worked with many people to improve women’s football. After this period, a person has arrived such as the president of Malabo Kings FC, Juan Mañe, who, advised by people with whom I worked previously, contacted me to offer me the possibility of coming to work on this project that we have in the short term. , with a view to carrying out a future medium / long project in which we can seek the growth of football in the country.
You are a globetrotter in women’s football (China, Africa …), how do you assess the growth of this category worldwide?
It is true that I have had to go abroad and I think this has been good for my professional and personal growth and I have been able to observe how other countries want to achieve or are on the way to achieve what we are achieving little by little in women’s football Spanish.
Do you follow Spanish women’s football? What do you think about its rise?
Of course I follow. Luckily, I have many friends in different categories and it is always good that international championships are achieved, such as the Champions League, or that, thanks to the good work they have been doing for years, we can have a very high level of competition and not only because of the Barça or Atlético de Madrid, if not also for the improvement of Basque teams such as Real Sociedad, Athletic, Alavés and Eibar. Also the arrival of Villarreal, which if it works the same as in the men’s section in a few years will give a lot to talk about, or the incorporation of Real Madrid, which has been very important although they are not having good results. In the case of White, they have a very good coach and coaching staff and they will surely soon get them where they should be.
Would you like to train again in Spain or do you prefer to continue abroad?
I would very much like to have the possibility to train in a team in Spain, but not to do it in any way. I would like to be able to come up with a project in which they seek to promote the first team, but that they know that the real value of the club will come from grassroots football and they want me to get to work there, either as head of the first team or of the lower categories . until that time comes, I am open again to go out of Spain. My priority now will continue to be the growth of Malabo Kings and Equatorial Guinean football, without ruling out returning to China or trying my luck in South American countries.
Has being a Spanish coach opened more doors for you in football? Do you talk about the good level of our football outside our borders?
Of course. I think this is clear to all the coaches who are training abroad. Spanish training is very good both at the provincial, national federative level or even in private academies that also do a very good job.