womenforfootball.com – A surely ambitious plan is brewing between Europe’s best women team and World’s finest national women league: Four time European Champions, Barcelona, plans to develop a franchise team to compete in America’s National Women Soccer League, NWSL. The club’s president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, unveiled the club’s plan in their official club office launch in New York.
Barcelona club’s goal is to improve the club’s revenue to €1bn ($1.1bn) by 2021, and a Spanish franchise at NWSL may just be one of the great solutions. No official from NWSL has made any comment yet. But this news is considered win-win situation for both sides. Barcelona women’s team is the highest ranked UEFA Women’s team, having won European women Championship for 4 consecutive years between 2011-2015. Last season, another Spanish side, Athletic Bilbao won UEFA Women’s title.
Overall, Spain has the highest ranking in women’s football by UEFA. On the other side, U.S is the highest ranking national women team by FIFA, and majority of U.S National team players play in NWSL. Therefore, in terms of talent, Barcelona club is wise to tap into NWSL.
Also, the fact that this is going to be a franchise version of Barcelona women’s team, shows the extent of Barcelona women’s talent pool, and also the importance of their women’s team in the long-term vision of the club.
It cannot be more exciting to see Spanish flare in NWSL. Lets just hope this plan is implemented sooner than later.
