Real's move came after several other giants of the men's game took similar decisions to invest in women's football in recent years, including Manchester United's 2018 re-formation of their women's team and Italian giants Juventus' move to set up a female side in 2017.
Real Madrid: Spanish giants' launch of women's team 'a huge positive'
Real Madrid have finally launched their own women’s team – a decision hailed as “a huge positive”.
Los Blancos completed a 300,000 euros (£271,000) buyout of Madrid-based club Tacon, which has now been officially renamed Real Madrid Femenino.
In a statement Real said it wanted to “contribute to the sport’s development and growth”.
Real president Florentino Perez said: “The time has come to build a team that you will all be very proud of.”
Real were one of the only major football clubs in Europe that didn’t have a women’s team.
Lyon forward Ada Hegerberg, the first winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018, said the creation was “a huge positive”.
The 24-year-old added: “I’m hoping they will stabilise the investment over a long period and that they have a long-term perspective because it can’t happen overnight.”
Tacon, formed in 2014, went on a recruitment drive after promotion to the Spanish women’s top flight last season, knowing there was the likelihood of a takeover.
They signed Sweden internationals Kosovare Asllani and Sofia Jakobsson, who was nominated for the 2019 Women’s Ballon d’Or, and Brazil midfielder Thaisa from AC Milan.
Why Real may find it hard to go straight to the top – Analysis
Tom Garry, BBC Sport
The long-awaited arrival of the Real Madrid brand in women’s football leaves German club Borussia Dortmund as arguably the biggest European outfit not to have a senior women’s team to their name, and one of the few remaining absentees from across all the continent’s top men’s divisions.
Real’s move came after several other giants of the men’s game took similar decisions to invest in women’s football in recent years, including Manchester United’s 2018 re-formation of their women’s team and Italian giants Juventus’ move to set up a female side in 2017.
Those teams have enjoyed relatively quick success – United finishing fourth in England’s top tier in their second season, while Juve have quickly raced on to lift three consecutive Women’s Series A titles.
However, dominance in Spain won’t come easily for Los Blancos, with their rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid already having well-established, world-class teams and an ongoing battle for trophies between themselves.
Masters had earlier told MPs: “What we’ve been able to do about the women’s game is to help them to the tune of around £1m to help get their testing programme up and running.
“We’ve recently made that funding gesture to them and I believe on that basis they are able to start their 2021 season.”
The Football Association runs the women’s game in England but Masters said there have been discussions about the Premier League taking over.
He said: “Over the past year, we’ve had lots of dialogue with the FA and our own clubs about the Premier League, at some point in the future, assuming responsibility for the professional game.
“We decided collectively, that’s the FA and the Premier League and the WSL and Women’s Championship boards, that now isn’t the right time but we will return to that topic at some point in the near future.”
The FA announced on Monday it was making extensive cuts to cover losses of about £300m caused by the pandemic.
“We want the women’s game to be successful, which is why we are helping them and why we’ve engaged in those discussions with the FA about resuming responsibility for it,” Masters added.
“From a personal perspective, it is something I would like to do in the future for this organisation – being not just responsible for top of the pyramid in terms of the men’s game but also the women’s game.
“Those two things would work hand in hand very well, and would inspire a generation of young female footballers to get involved in the game.”
Original article 01.07.20 on BBC Sport website
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