Real Madrid to have women's side by 2020
June 26, 2019
Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid on Tuesday announced plans to form a women's side for the first time.
The club said it has reached an agreement to purchase Deportivo Tacon, a Madrid-based women's team founded in 2014 that is set to play next season in the Liga Iberdrola, Spain's top division.
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported last week that Real Madrid had paid €400,000 ($455,000) to buy the club.
Tacon will operate under its original name for the 2019-20 season before merging with Real Madrid on July 1 of next year, the club said.
Late to the party
Real Madrid have long been criticized for being one of the few top European clubs without a women's team. Meanwhile, their biggest domestic rivals, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, have women's sides that regularly compete for titles.
Atletico have won the last two Liga Iberdrola titles while Barcelona reached the final of this season's Champions League before losing to French powerhouse Olympique Lyon.
A match between Atletico and Barcelona at Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in March set an attendance record for a women's game in Spain with more than 60,000 spectators. Additionally, 16 of the 23 members of Spain's squad at this year's Women's World Cup in France play for either Atletico or Barcelona at the club level.
Real Betis, Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla, Valencia and Real Sociedad are some of the other large Spanish clubs with a women's team in the Liga Iberdrola.
dv/se (AP, Reuters)
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