World Cup and Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí says that not much has changed in Spain after their World Cup win.
She even went as far as to say that the victory was “for nothing.” Bonmatí told French outlet L’Equipe that she looks at the response after England won the European Championships in 2022 and is jealous of the response after.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say that much has changed,” Bonmatí said when asked about the impact of the World Cup win. “We have the example of the English — when they won the Euros, we saw a big change after the success at the national level.
“There were knock-on effects. Investment in the domestic league, full stadiums when England play. It makes me want it because I can’t say that it is the same here [in Spain]. There is still so much left to do here and I feel like the World Cup was for nothing.”
There has been change at a higher level, as fallout of Luis Rubiales kissing Jenni Hermoso without her consent led to the resignation of the Spanish federation president, coach Jorge Vilda and other structural changes.
But for Bonmatí, the country hasn’t been doing enough to promote matches and put Spain in a position to succeed from a marketing standpoint.
“It all starts with doing things well, promoting the matches properly, wanting to organize them in adequate stadiums, not changing the ground one week before the game — because that makes everything more complicated for the fans,” she said. “Promoting the league as well — in the country in general, it is not at the level that we deserve.”
Bonmatí currently plays for Barcelona in Liga F. She cited Spain’s women’s Nations League final against France on Wednesday – which had to be moved last-minute. Teammate Irene Paredes was also forced to sit out an international match with Italy due to administrative issues by the RFEF.
“We were supposed to play in Cádiz and in the end we changed location to play at the Cartuja [in Seville]. That wouldn’t happen to the men’s team for a Nations League final,” she said. “We have to pay attention to these details. When we do these things well, people respond.”