MADRID, 5 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The almighty FC Barcelona wants to win its fifth consecutive Liga F, which will start this weekend against Deportivo de La Coruña at Riazor, and in which it will have the threat of a Real Madrid that has renewed its squad and hopes to fight it more closely for the title, while Atlético de Madrid will try to stay in the top positions and quickly erase the bad taste left by the Champions League qualifiers.
The Catalans, with debutant Pere Romeu in charge, will begin their journey towards their fifth consecutive title after a summer in which they have brought in Polish forward Ewa Pajor and Portuguese attacker Kika Nazareth. The two signings will reinforce a top-level squad with the talent of Aitana Bonmatí, Alexia Putellas, Patri Guijarro, Salma Paralluelo and Caroline Graham Hansen, all of whom were nominated for last season’s Ballon d’Or.
The Blaugranas won all four titles last season: Liga F, Supercopa de España, Copa de la Reina and Champions League, and are facing the difficult challenge of equalling something historic. Their insatiable ambition will push them to fight to repeat those successes. To do so, they are once again the big favourites, making their debut in Liga F against the recently promoted Dépor.
The Coruña team returns to the First Division after three seasons in 1º RFEF and will try to stay in the category. They will not have the easiest rival to start the season, but with the support of Riazor and their desire to remain in the elite of women’s football, they will try to compete against the current champion of all national titles.
Real Madrid, who have finished second in the two previous editions of the Liga F, are aiming to challenge Barça. They have been greatly overhauled with the signings of Spanish world champions Eva Navarro and Alba Redondo, as well as German Melanie Leupolz and French Maëlle Lakrar, not to mention former Levante players María Méndez and Antonia Silva, and Swedish player Filippa Angeldahl.
All this combined with the renewal of key players from last season such as Teresa Abelleira, Sandie Toletti, Linda Caicedo or Athenea del Castillo, and the recovery of Caroline Weir, who was injured in September last year after being one of the best players in the competition in the 2022/23 season.
The team managed by Alberto Toril will debut against another newly promoted team, Espanyol, which returns to Liga F after three seasons in the Second Division and does so with the presence of Sara Monforte on the bench, coach for the last three seasons at Villarreal, which was promoted and with which she has played in the top flight.
In the presumed third place is Atlético de Madrid, who want to make up for the disappointment of being eliminated in the Champions League in the qualifying round. The team managed by Víctor Martín has lost key players this summer such as Leicy Santos, Ludmila da Silva or Eva Navarro, and has brought in high-quality players such as Gio Garbelini, Tatiana Pinto, Synne Jensen or Fiamma Benítez.
Atleti’s new project will be put to the test in this first round of the F League against a Granada team managed by the former Atleti coach Arturo Ruiz, who will try to achieve salvation for the second consecutive season and even suffer a little less than last season, when they achieved it in an agonizing way on the last day.
FIGHT FOR FOURTH POSITION
Athletic Club is in fourth place as favourites. Last season, they were the great revelations after finishing fifth after being the third best team in the second half of the season. With David Aznar in charge and the continuity of their pillars Nahikari García, Ane Azkona, Adriana Nanclares, Maddi Torre, Nerea Nevado and Irene Oguiza, the Bilbao team will try to fight for European positions.
To this end, they have also been reinforced by the midfielder Leire Baños, who came from Levante UD and where she had an excellent performance last season. The ‘granotas’ will be Athletic’s first league rival; with the support of Buñol, far from fighting for European places, the aim of the Levante team will be to maintain their category as comfortably as possible.
After finishing in fourth place last season, the club’s poor financial situation has forced them to let go of key players such as Núria Mendoza, Paula Tomás, Alba Redondo, María Méndez, Antonia Silva, Leire Baños and Natasa Andonova, who have not been replaced with players of the same level, meaning that the aspirations will be lower for Roger Lamesa’s team.
To take advantage of Levante UD’s possible decline, Madrid CFF and Costa Adeje Tenerife will be playing against each other in this first round of matches in an attempt to compete for top spots. The Madrid team has lost important figures such as Gio Garbelini, Luany Vitoria, Ana González or Itziar Pinillos, but has brought in high-level names such as Kayla McKenna, Núria Mendoza or Bárbara López. There has also been a change on the bench, with the departure of Víctor Martín and the arrival of debutant Juanjo Vila.
The Canary Islands team will have the same objective, which will also have a new manager with the signing of Eder Maestre after the departure of José Herrera. The island team has managed to keep a good part of its core from last season, bolstered by the signings of Cinta Rodríguez and Claudia Iglesias, and will fight to improve on last season’s eighth position and get closer to the top positions.
Sevilla and Real Sociedad are in the lower tier, and will also face each other on the first matchday. The Sevillians are facing a deep reconstruction following the departures of key players such as Amanda Sampedro, Cristina Martín-Prieto, Inma Gabarro and Toni Payne, as well as coach Cristian Toro, who had been in charge of Sevilla for six seasons.
Interesting players have arrived in their place, such as Lucía Corrales, Lucía Moral, Paula Partido, Natalia Padilla, Alicia Redondo and Fatou Kanteh, who will join the youth team player Alba Cerrato, top scorer in the last European Under-17 Championship, and the goalkeeper Esther Sullastres, as pillars that remain from last season.
The San Sebastian team have also changed coaches after four seasons of Natalia Arroyo in charge, succeeded by José Luis Sánchez Vera, who will try to return Nerea Eizagirre and Sanni Franssi to the top positions. In addition, the signings of the French Claire Lavogez and the Czech Klara Cahynová will give them an extra boost to try to excite a fan base that has not had much joy in the last two seasons.
DUELS TO AVOID RELEGATION
Eibar, Betis, Valencia and Levante Badalona will face each other in a different battle, this matchday in duels between teams that do not want to suffer relegation after difficult years. Armeras and Betis will play in Ipurua a competitive duel in which adding the three points can help them face this start of the season with peace of mind.
Valencia CF and FC Levante Badalona will face each other again. For the Catalan team, Berta Pujadas and Macarena Portales will play against their former team, while Yasmin Mrabet will do the same against the team she captained last season. Both teams are hoping to save themselves as soon as possible and not suffer like last season to guarantee their presence in Liga F.