Decades of “systemic discrimination” have long forced Spain’s female players to shoulder more than football, the Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas said as she and her fellow World Cup winner Irene Paredes for the first time directly addressed the month-long crisis that has engulfed football in the country.
“We had to fight very hard to be heard, which comes with wear and tear that we don’t want,” Putellas told reporters on Thursday on the eve of their Nations League match against Sweden. “For many decades – too many – we detected that there was systemic discrimination against women’s football.”
