Spain’s Domestic and Global Success: What can Australia Learn?

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Image credit: Destination NSW

Spain has now won back-to-back UEFA Women’s Nations League titles following their decisive victory over Germany in the final on Tuesday. Goals from Vicky Lopez and Claudia Pina helped ‘La Roja’ to their third international trophy in three consecutive years, prolonging the team’s dominant status within the women’s game. The achievement not only solidifies Spain’s standing at the top of international football, but displays an essential model for other nations to follow when developing women’s football.

In Australia, as the excitement of hosting the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 builds and the buzz around women’s football is reignited, looking to Spain’s investments could be the first crucial step in ensuring both short and long-term success for women’s football across the country.

International Investment

Just a week before Spain achieved its second consecutive Nations League trophy, multinational renewable energy company, Iberdrola, reaffirmed its dedication to supporting the women’s game both on and off the pitch.

Since 2016, Iberdrola has cemented its position as the main supporter of women’s football in Spain. Its partnership with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has led to member numbers reaching over 100,000, as well as fan attendance and viewership skyrocketing in recent years.

Television viewership has seen similar momentum, increasing by 90%. The final of the most recent European Championship against England reached a 42% audience share and peaked at almost 6.5 million viewers.

The growing number of fans attending live matches was evident at the final on Tuesday evening in Madrid, where the Riyadh Air Metropolitano witnessed a record-breaking crowd of 55,843 fans. Given that the previous record was 32,657, it is clear to see that women’s football in Spain is attracting fans on scales far beyond the numbers currently seen in the A-League Women. According to the ALW Report, the league saw an average attendance of 1,559 last season.

Although the gap may appear impossible to overcome, it shows that women’s football is more than capable of attracting crowds large enough to rival the men’s game when backed by meaningul investment.

Domestic Developments 

It is not only the national team which has seen the benefits of continued investment into women’s football over the last decade. Clubs like Barcelona have seen their women’s team achieve huge success both in La Liga and in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, winning two of the last three competitions.

However, one of the crowning achievements of the last decade for women’s football in Spain was a world record set at Barcelona’s Camp Nou in 2022, where 91,648 fans were present for a UEFA Women’s Champions League match against Wolfsburg.

Although there are few clubs on the planet with both the infrastructure and football culture to match Barcelona, it nevertheless, shows that when resources and attention are directed towards the women’s game, it can encourage success on the pitch alongside a strong community of dedicated fans off it.

The Women’s Game in Australia – Time for Change?  

Last month’s A-League Women Report, released by the PFA, underlined a desperate need for investment if the ALW is to keep pace with foreign leagues.

The report highlighted that the increasing talent drain, falling attendances and financial insecurity for players are some of the main issues negatively impacting the growth of the ALW. Following the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, attendances dropped by 26%, showing a failure to capitalise on the buzz surrounding the tournament jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Furthermore, with player dissatisfaction increasing and calls to professionalise the women’s game growing louder, the need for change is becoming more and more desperate. If Australia is to ensure the sustained success of women’s football on both the international and national stage, then looking at the work of the RFEF in Spain could be a valuable first step.

How do we Move Forward?

In the last decade, Spain has shown that consistent investment into the women’s game can bring huge success both domestically and globally. Therefore, by following this example, governing bodies can see how long-term commitment and meaningful investments could improve the structure of Australia’s domestic leagues and ultimately raise the profile of Australian women’s football on the global stage.

While women’s football in Australia has reached a decisive moment, recent developments still indicate reasons to remain optimistic. CommBank’s renewed support for the Matildas ahead of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup™ due to be held in Australia in March 2026 displays their intention to continue backing the development of the women’s game.

Ensuring this support is acknowledged and then followed through after the tournament has heard the final whistle will be crucial.

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Active Club Program offers South Australian football clubs a funding boost

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Image Credits: Shutterstock 2327752993

South Australian football clubs can tap into another round of government support, with the Active Club Program offering grants of up to $3,000 to help clubs improve participation and strengthen their local communities. The Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing (ORSR) opened its new round of funding on the 28th of August. Clubs have until midday on Wednesday, 14 October 2026 to apply.

The grassroots benefits

The South Australian Government has allocated $1.448 million to the round. Clubs with fewer than 100 members can receive $1,500. Clubs with 100 or more members can receive $3,000. The program targets grassroots sport, including football. It helps clubs purchase equipment and resources that make participation easier and more affordable.

Football clubs can use the funding for sporting equipment, uniforms and protective gear. They can also fund playing venue maintenance equipment, professional development, medical equipment and training. The program also supports projects that improve inclusion. Clubs can use grants for positive health initiatives and hardship subsidies. These measures can help remove barriers that stop people from playing sport.

That focus creates opportunities for football clubs to support more women and girls. It can also help clubs create more welcoming environments for players of different ages and backgrounds. Water and energy efficiency also form part of the program. Clubs can fund eligible initiatives that reduce water use or improve energy efficiency. That could prove particularly valuable for football clubs managing local playing venues and facilities. The program also allows minor club infrastructure upgrades and technology that directly supports participation or club sustainability.

Who is eligible?

To qualify, a club must operate as a not-for-profit sport or active recreation organisation in South Australia. It must have at least 20 members and have operated for at least 12 months.

ORSR will also consider a club’s participation profile when assessing applications. The assessment looks at female and male junior and senior participation, alongside factors such as the club’s affiliation and when it last received Active Club Program funding.

How to apply

The funding can make a direct difference at grassroots level. In the previous round, 558 South Australian clubs shared more than $1.4 million. The government says the investment helped clubs meet essential costs while supporting participation and inclusion.

For football, that support can stretch beyond the playing field. Stronger clubs create more opportunities for players, coaches and volunteers. They also provide places where people can build connections and stay active. Applications for Round 56 will be screened in November, assessed in December, with clubs notified in January 2027.

To learn more about the South Australian Active Club Program, visit their website.

The Spreadsheet Is Dead: Majestri’s Fix for How Clubs Actually Assess Players

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If you’ve ever sat through a club’s end-of-season review, you’ll know the drill. A coach pulls out a folder of notes, someone half-remembers what a player was like back in Round 3 and a parent quietly wonders what they actually got for their rego fees beyond a team photo. Football club platform Majestri says it has a fix for that, and it’s built directly into its Player Assessment module.

Why clubs bother assessing players in the first place

According to Majestri, clubs run player assessments for one of three reasons – usually more than one at once. Some are chasing genuine development, using the data to lift the level across their high-performance squads. Others are after a fairer way to pick teams, putting every player on the same measurable scale so selection is based on evidence rather than a coach’s gut feel about who “looks the part.” And for clubs operating under a Football Australia or state federation licence, assessments at set intervals often aren’t optional – they’re a compliance requirement, with the paperwork to prove it when asked.

Whatever the motivation, Majestri’s pitch is the same: don’t let that assessment data die in a spreadsheet on someone’s laptop.

Build your own assessment, your way

There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. The Assessment Designer lets technical directors set their own criteria, sort them into whatever categories their coaching staff already use – think core skills, possession, defending, attacking – and decide what each point on the rating scale actually means. Crucially, every criterion also gets a comment field, because a bare number rarely tells the full story of a player’s development.

The Assessment Module Builder for an NPL Juniors assessment
The Assessment Module Builder, showing an NPL Juniors assessment with a 1-10 rating scale banded from under performing through to excelling and role-specific criteria grouped into core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

Build it once and it’s reusable every time that assessment cycle comes around, so every player and every coach – is working off the same yardstick.

Something for the parents to actually take home

One of the more relatable pain points Majestri is targeting: most families never see much tangible return from a season of fees beyond a team photo. Player Assessment addresses that with report cards – colour-coded against the same scale coaches used, grouped by category with averages calculated automatically, and delivered as a PDF or an interactive web page a parent can read without needing a coaching badge themselves.

A player report card for an under-15 player
A report card for an under-15 player, colour-coded from under performing to excelling, with a score for every criterion and a group average across core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

 

Turning the numbers into something useful

The real value, though, sits in what Majestri calls the Player Analysis Lab. This is where clubs can plot a player against their team-mates or an entire age group across two categories at once, spotting clusters and outliers at a glance. Every score gets read against the group average – so a “7” actually means something in context – and clubs can report at the broad category level or drill into individual fields underneath. The results can be filtered down and exported for selection meetings or grading purposes.

The Player Analysis Lab comparing players in an under-15 and under-16 squad
The Player Analysis Lab comparing seven players across under-15 and under-16 squads, with a scatter plot, a sortable table of scores against the player average, and controls for choosing which categories and fields to report on. Source: Majestri.

The admin side nobody enjoys, made easier

Beyond the flashy analytics, there’s a practical layer built for the volunteers actually running the process:

  • Sweep monitoring – a quick view of which assessments are done and which are still outstanding, organised into defined assessment periods so progress can be tracked against peers.
  • Individual development plans – every player gets a personalised plan, and clubs can group common improvement areas to run cross-team training sessions that lift the whole club rather than just one squad.
  • Access control – coaches and technical staff can only see assessments for the teams they’re responsible for, and completed assessments are only visible to people linked to that player’s registration.
“Hard numbers to draw on when you review coaching staff and curriculum – and something tangible for the players and parents who pay the fees.” – Majestri

 

The bigger picture

Majestri frames all of this as sitting on top of the club’s own data – assessment results live on each player’s profile inside the platform rather than in a spreadsheet that walks out the door when a technical director moves on. For committees, it also means hard numbers to lean on when reviewing coaching staff or curriculum, rather than relying on anecdote.

It’s a fairly clear read on where club administration software is heading: less about digitising paperwork for its own sake, and more about making the data clubs already collect actually work for player development, team selection and compliance  without adding to the workload of the volunteers who run the show.

For more information on Majestri’s Player Assessment module, visit majestri.com.au/player-assessment.

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