Beatriz Álvarez: "It is a privilege to lead this super project of the F League"

MADRID, 15 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the F League, Beatriz Álvarez Mesa, assured this Thursday that it is "a privilege to lead the super project" that involves the professionalization of women's football, a process that has not been "easy" and that has "much to grow" ".

"This does not make me feel more important, it does make me aware of the project that I am leading, which is exciting, which raises passions and which worries us all. It is a privilege to lead this super project and I believe in it, it is in my DNA", he pointed out. Álvarez Mesa at the 'Sports Breakfasts' of Europa Press sponsored by DAZN, State Lotteries and Betting, Repsol and Unicaja Banco.

The leader stressed that "nobody believed" in this project and that "right now it seems very easy and attractive to preside over a league." "But I was reminded of when I wasn't so sweet and a lot of people cross my mind," she added.

The Asturian, who does not consider herself "particularly ambitious" and who likes to be "a close person", stated that "giving voice" to this project "is not easy". "You have to get a lot of people to agree and it moved me that the clubs came looking for me because I wanted someone who wouldn't land suddenly, who came from the 'mud'. I hadn't considered it and I had already moved away from football a bit, but It was something that touched me a lot emotionally", stressed the former general director of Sports of the Principality of Asturias.

"The project itself" was also key. "It's not mine, it was built many years ago and by many people, which grew hand in hand with the clubs. I felt it as part of my life," Álvarez Mesa confessed that he did not forget "the social part" since his position can help "make many women visible" and tell them that "you can be a woman, a mother and hold a position like that without any kind of guilt and conciliating".

"The path to professionalization was not easy. The clubs were exhausted from fighting, we decided to unite and create the Association of Women's Football Clubs (ACFF) in 2015. Then came the first sale of audiovisual rights in 2019 and the collective agreement in 2020 "And that's when the ACFF decides in a slightly crazy way to request the CSD to qualify as a professional. It was not easy for Irene Lozano (then president of the CSD), she had to fight through many obstacles," she reviewed the journey to professionalization. , which ended in May 2022.

The president of the F League remarked that there is still "a lot to grow" for a championship, which needed "its own identity". "The letter 'F' represents many of the values ​​that we have been living in our lives," she explained about the name chosen for the competition.

This has as its "fundamental objective to be sustainable and for the clubs to become more professional" and stressed key aspects such as "commercial exploitation". "We had very little time and it was essential to start the competition with the greatest security and economic tranquility for the clubs," he explained.

It also celebrated the agreement for 42 million over five years with LaLiga so that this is the commercial agency of the F League. "We are first cousins ​​and we must benefit from whoever opens the way. Men's football is an example of commercial and audiovisual exploitation, nobody better than LaLiga can reach potential sponsors", he admitted.

In this sense, the Asturian leader confirmed that in "the next few days" they will close new "important sponsorships with sectors that may be interested" and thanked Finetwork, "a partner more than a sponsor", for betting on women's football and give it the 'naming'. "It is an innovative company and we share a point of madness. It comes to add many things to the project and will make the product grow exponentially," she added.

Álvarez Mesa spoke of the 35 million in five seasons for DAZN to be the audiovisual 'tender', an agreement that cost "a lot of sweat". "It was not easy to get all the games broadcast in a short time because visibility was completely necessary," he said.

In any case, they know that they must "improve the audiovisual image" and for this reason they will launch an audiovisual manual "to clarify common criteria" in this regard. "It is not a sanctioning regulation like that of LaLiga because we are at an initial moment and it is more something pedagogical," he clarified.

Looking to the future, it is clear that they must "improve the facilities to improve the quality of the product", the signing of a new collective agreement "to improve aspects of the previous one and that it be in accordance with the current situation" of women's football in order to "go together hand in hand in growth because professionalization does not come with a 'golden chest'", he warned.

Digitization, the professionalization of the clubs, "because there are five that are exclusively female" and need to "help them with economic and human resources", the development of the Liga F Foundation for social projects, the "specialization regarding men's football" to differentiate themselves because they do not have the "same spectator or sponsor", and the "internationalization" because they are "a little fashionable" and also with a view to "learning from leagues that are powerful now", are other objectives that the Asturian sets for herself, which sees it as "a privilege" that they are "paving the way" for other sports to become professional.