At the last European Championship, the best female footballer in the world wished she was home – now her participation in the tournament in Switzerland is in jeopardy

The news on Friday evening was a shock. Aitana Bonmatí, the world's best player, had to be hospitalized with viral meningitis. How long she will have to stay there is uncertain. Her coach Montse Tome said: "Aitana is vital to us, and we will wait patiently for her return – no matter how long it takes." Aitana's absence would be a severe blow not only for Spain, but for the entire tournament.

It's been three years since her star first rose to prominence at the last European Championship. International tournaments are even more important in women's football than in men's football, because many observers don't really pay attention during the regular club season. They didn't know that Aitana Bonmatí had already played a key role in FC Barcelona's first Champions League title in 2021. However, they saw at the 2022 European Championship: There had probably never been such a complete midfielder with such a distinctive balance between pace and technique.

What nobody saw, couldn't see: Aitana wasn't having fun.

"I'll be honest: I wanted to go home, it was hard to play." This is how she recalled the bleak past of Spanish women's football at a media day in the team's headquarters this week. The professionals from Barça and the English league, in particular, were stunned by the neglectful treatment of the women's section in the RFEF (Federal Football Federation). After that Euro 2022, 15 national players, including Aitana, launched a boycott. The rest is history: Some, including Aitana, returned for the 2023 World Cup and won the tournament despite the strange atmosphere – until a kiss on the mouth from the association's chairman, Luis Rubiales, during the awards ceremony finally set the revolution in motion.

Ahead of the upcoming 2025 European Championship in Switzerland, two-time World Player of the Year Aitana said: "Everything is better, the whole group is doing better." Rubiales and his clique are gone, the conditions have become more professional, and they now resemble those of the men. The insurgents of yesteryear can look back on their development with satisfaction after their – for now – final battle in autumn 2023, Aitana believes: "You also have to appreciate things when things are done well." The team, coaches, and increasingly also the association are now "rowing in the same direction."

These were remarkable statements – after national coach Montsé Tomé's decision to drop Jenni Hermoso from the European Championship had sparked a heated debate, illustrating the fragility of the new harmony. Aitana, however, garnered the highest ratings in the tabloids with a completely different statement. In response to a question about the Club World Cup, she explained that she hadn't seen anything yet. "Barça isn't playing, so why watch?" Since Real Madrid is participating, the Spanish capital's media immediately took this as a dig.

Aitana probably feels the same way. The 27-year-old wears the number 14 jersey of Saint Johan Cruyff at club level and canceled all plans to transfer to a US college when Barça professionalized its women's team in 2015 – thus giving her future meaning. Aitana loves her Barça and her Catalonia, whose language and culture she vehemently defends, where she enjoys going to concerts and continuing to hang out with old friends (under one condition: no conversations about football). Living in her birthplace of Sant Pere de Ribes, she says, gives her the "unique peace" of connecting with her roots.

Aitana comes from an intellectual family. Her parents are teachers. Her home was so full of books, "I'm not sure if it was a house or a library." She also enjoys reading and has always played the piano and guitar. But her personal priority was always soccer, even though she was the only one in town who played soccer, played on the boys' team, and always had to change in the referee's locker room. "Everything was full of stuff and smelled terrible."

Today, Aitana is certain that this solitary, special role has further fueled her fighting spirit. It's in her blood, anyway: Her parents once fought for a legal amendment allowing the mother's surname to be placed before the father's, among the two surnames commonly used in Spain. In a sense, Aitana Bonmatí (mother) Conca (father) became a feminist icon while still in her romper suit.

Above all, she is a football revelation. Born on the same date as Pep Guardiola, January 18th, her idol has always been Xavi Hernández – whose number 6 she wears for the national team – and many compare her technique to that of Andrés Iniesta. A compendium of the Barça midfield school, in other words: agility and ball control, vision of the game and passing variations. In addition to all of the above, Aitana also has a pronounced instinct for goal, epitomized a few months ago in her goal of the year in the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, when she shot high into the top corner after running halfway across the pitch. It is such moves of extreme acceleration yet perfect control that make Aitana so unique.

This season, she was named Champions League MVP for the third time in a row, but serial winners Barça surprisingly lost the tournament in the final to Arsenal. Aitana was heartbroken after the final whistle. The chance for quick redemption now lies in Switzerland, where the Spanish women's team is based in Lausanne and will face their neighbors Portugal in Bern next Thursday. After the gloom and quarter-final exit in 2022, the world champions and Nations League champions still lack the European Championship. "It would confirm this generation as a historic one," says Aitana. Until the 2023 World Cup, Spain had never won a single title.

But the pioneers see themselves as such off the pitch as well. After the association, Aitana turns her attention to the Spanish league, which she has criticized several times in recent years. While the English league, with 12 competitive teams, continues to grow, the Spanish league, with 16 teams, is stagnating, with too large a gap, and too few locations with genuine ambition. In the long run, Aitana fears, the best players will leave: "No one in Spain is looking out for our interests." So it's time for them to remind themselves at the Euros. Hopefully with the best.

Caroline Graham Hansen, 30, recently finally received the recognition she deserved. She finished second in the Ballon d'Or voting. At her club, FC Barcelona, ​​the Norwegian is considered a true magician with her dribbling skills on the right wing. But things have been more difficult with the national team since a runner-up finish at the 2013 European Championship. She was demoted at the 2023 World Cup and clashed with the coach. Her successor, Gemma Grainger, has now moved Graham Hansen to the center of the pitch – in a central role behind the strikers. (fhp.)

The 26-year-old is a naturally gifted finisher. Her goal tally of 37 in 52 international matches is excellent. However, Katoto has also experienced her fair share of controversy. At her club, Paris Saint-Germain, she caused a stir, among other things, when she sided with the alleged perpetrator, Aminata Diallo, in the murky affair surrounding the iron bar attack on Kheira Hamraoui. Now she's had enough of the intrigue at PSG – and is moving to arch-rivals Olympique Lyonnais. (fhp.)

The almost 26-year-old is captain of the German national team and has already fought back from cruciate ligament tears twice, missing the unsuccessful 2023 World Cup due to injury. The defender is considered to be a strong-minded player, and as a leader, she must lead a team in transition through the tournament. The responsibility rests even more heavily on her shoulders as Lena Oberdorf, the team's star, is not fit enough for the European Championship after tearing her cruciate ligament. (cen.)

On May 24 of this year, the 26-year-old Englishwoman caused a surprise: With her club Arsenal, she beat Barcelona in the Champions League final. Russo is the woman for beautiful goals; her most spectacular came at the 2022 European Championship on home soil, which ended with the title. Despite being pressed by two Swedish defenders, she magically slotted the ball diagonally into the net with her heel. The goal was named Goal of the Tournament. Now she's aiming to defend the title with England. (cen.)

The Dutch striker has what one would call a killer instinct. Her talent was evident early on: As a 17-year-old, she scored a hat trick in just 16 minutes in a World Cup qualifier against Portugal. At the 2017 European Championship, she led her team to the title with two goals in the final, becoming the Netherlands' record goalscorer. Since the summer of 2024, the 28-year-old has played for Manchester City, the new club of Swiss striker Iman Beney. (cen.)

An article from the « NZZ am Sonntag »