MADRID, 14 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The unions FUTPRO, the Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE), Soccer Players ON and FeSMC-UGT expressed their satisfaction with the approval this Monday of the statutes to finally launch the professional women’s soccer league, although they do not forget that there is still do in aspects such as the negotiation of the collective agreement or in getting other sports to achieve this distinction.
Thus, FUTPRO, the majority union chosen by the soccer players, stressed that with this professionalization the players “will be able to carry out their work in the appropriate means, especially in areas such as transfers to matches, sports facilities or medical services” and extended his hand ” to all the candidates” who stand for the next elections to direct this League “in order to be able to work hand in hand in an even better future for soccer players”.
For the association, with this step “a new path begins as important as the one that has been closed today, the renegotiation of the Collective Agreement”. “During this period, FUTPRO, as the majority union of the Primera Iberdrola players, will fight for the soccer players to have the conditions they deserve and that, to date, have not been changed,” he warned in a press release.
“Today is a very important day, the Professional League is a reality, but our work does not end here, we seek real measures within the Collective Agreement that help all professionals to carry out their work in the conditions that we believe they should have. This is something that has not been achieved so far, but the confidence that the Primera Iberdrola players gave us has to materialize in a renegotiation that is up to them,” said Amanda Gutiérrez, president of the union.
For the lawyer, “the players trust FUTPRO”. “They know that we will work for and for them, with the sole purpose of achieving everything that they have not been given in recent years,” she said.
For its part, from the Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE) a professionalization was celebrated that “means equalizing the competition with the men’s (First and Second Division) in terms of rights” and stressed that “a precedent is created that must be taken advantage of by other sports specialties, which over time should tend towards professionalism”.
In addition, the association considered “very important” that women’s clubs “will have the ability to jointly market television rights, which will have repercussions on the competition and on the pay level of the players” and that the 2015 law that regularized the men’s football “establishes that the women’s professional league will be incorporated into this joint marketing”.
“Justice has been done with our colleagues and I am proud, as president, of the work that AFE has done so that the Iberdrola League becomes the fourth professional competition, the first in the women’s field, in our country”, said David Aganzo in a statement.
The former soccer player believes that now the soccer players “will be able to exercise their profession more protected and sheltered.” “Football doesn’t understand genders and finally some soccer players are recognized who show the same passion for soccer every day as their peers, and who from now on will have the recognition they deserve,” he added.
FOOTBALL PLAYERS ON TILDA THE “MIRACULOUS” DAY
For its part, from Futbolistas ON, its manager, Tamara Ramos, showed a somewhat critical perspective for what it has cost. “More than historical, I would almost brand this day as miraculous because, unfortunately, women’s football has inherited all the vices of men’s,” she warned.
“Simply achieving a consensus for a professional league has been titanic,” recalled the directive, which called for “the union of all the unions to start working for a collective agreement that is much more adjustable to the day-to-day work reality.”
The manager of Futbolistas ON pointed out that the soccer players ask them “what they gain from this professionalism.” “That is why we have to work so that this is an improvement in their working conditions, because there are many parts to improve,” she added, also demanding that “in other sports we have to start getting this recognition” as a professional.
Finally, FeSMC-UGT stressed that the approval of the statutes and the launch of this women’s league “represents another step towards equality in the world of professional sports, making the two soccer competitions equal next season, feminine and masculine, as professional leagues”.
“Now our only aim is to achieve a renewed agreement for women’s football that recognizes the work and professionalism of the players. For FeSMC-UGT there is still much to be achieved in women’s sports and women’s football,” he concluded in a press release.