REAL MADRID HAVE decided to launch their own womenโs team, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has confirmed.
Real Madrid have agreed to buy CD Tacon, a Madrid-based team promoted to Liga Iberdrola โ the domestic womenโs top-flight โ at the end of last season.
Spanish news outlet El Mundo reports that Madrid president Florentino Perez has sanctioned a deal worth around โฌ500,000 for Taconโs licence to be transferred to Real, with the re-branded team to take up their place in the league next season.
Confirming the arrangement, Rafael del Amo, president of the RFEF Womenโs Soccer Committee, told Efe: โThe Federation has had something to do, we thought it was very important that the best national teams have a female team.
I always jokingly told my Real Madrid friends that they would not be great without a female team. I can say they are great.
The arrangement apparently only covers the first team, with a decision on an academy dependent on development. The womenโs team will train and play at Realโs Ciudad Real Madrid complex in Valdebebas.
Tacon were founded in 2014 by the management company of ex-player Ana Rossell, AR10, with the idea of ultimately becoming part of the fold at Real once they had reached the top level.
Real now shed their tag as one of elite European soccerโs last clubs without a womenโs team, with the Tacรณn acquisition allowing the club to invest in an existing side.
Barcelona, are the top-spending club in the Spanish womenโs top-flight, spending close to โฌ4 million a year, but most clubโs operate on a budget closer to โฌ500,000.
The news comes shortly after the RFEF announced that next season there will be about โฌ20 million allocated for womenโs soccer, of which โฌ6.5 million will go to the national team and the rest to club competitions.
Of the club allocation, the national soccer body will only contribute roughly seven per cent, according to Palco23, while the rest will come from commercial rights.
Last seasonโs Primera Division was dominated by Atletico Madrid and Barcelona as both teams completed the campaign more than 30 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Levante.
Meanwhile, Barcelona won their second straight Copa de la Reina and reached the final of the Champions League, where they were beaten by Lyon.
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Jaysus, what has Aidan OโShea done wrong?
@Brian Corbett: injury
@Brian Corbett: didnโt look near fit when introduced vs Galway
It would be great to see Derry get the upset here. Would be a brilliant result for football. They only lost to a Tyrone side, who along with Dublin and Kerry, look to be one of the top 3 teams in the country. Mayo with be favorites no doubt but Derry will have 31 counties behind them.
We get it. Youโre both obsessed with and hate Mayo. You donโt need to keep saying the same scutter every time Mayo play