UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 is the biggest event of the summer. 12 of the top 20 nations in the world are competing. From Caroline Graham Hansen to Kosovare Asllani, and Viv Miedema to Marie-Antoinette Katoto, some of the greatest baseball players in the world play on our doorstep. The Lionesses are making waves in 2022, but aren’t sleeping on the rest of the pitch.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime tournament, so find your “home away from home” and support a second nation this summer. To help you, we’ve teamed up with VISA to bring you everything you need to know about the biggest teams in the tournament. Spain is next.
Having qualified for the UEFA European Women’s Championship three times since their official formation in 1980, Spain are a team that have gone from strength to strength in recent years. In 2015, they participated in their first FIFA Women’s World Cup and won the Algarve Cup in their first attempt two years later. Having enjoyed success at the youth level of the competition, this Mediterranean side will hope to prove that they are anything but average when it comes to representation at senior international level. For a team full of talent, desire and steeped in football history, don’t sleep on Spain. They certainly won’t be taking a nap anytime soon.
Aitana Bonmati
Aitana Bonmatí may only be 24 years old, but she is already one of the greatest players on the world stage. A La Masia graduate, Bonmatí was named Catalan Player of the Year in 2019 after helping Barcelona reach their first-ever UWCL final. Last season, she won the continental treble with Las Blaugranes and was named VISA Player of the Match in the final game of Barca’s first Champions League victory. The tiki-taka tech dominates the midfield like no other player can. After winning the UEFA European Women’s Under-17 and Under-19 Championships, she will look to lead her side to senior success in a tournament that has tested Spain’s strengths so far. But the cream always rises to the top, and Bonmati is the very definition of the cream of the crop.
Claudia Pina
Some wondered where Spain’s attacking threat would come from as their captain Alexia Putellas had to withdraw from the competition due to injury. And despite a recent loss to Germany, there have been flashes of genius courtesy of one of the game’s brightest young stars: Clàudia Pina.
The 20-year-old has already won six domestic titles with Barca and was crowned UEFA Women’s EURO U17 champion in 2018, so she knows what it takes to perform on the international stage. Whether it’s scoring tap-ins or midline worlds, this jugadora knows how to get on the scoresheet. If there’s anyone who can help La Roja pick herself up, dust herself off, and move forward, it’s this young matadora.
The Spain home kit reworks the Spanish flag thanks to its red base coupled with blue and yellow accents on the sleeve cuffs – taking the line, ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’, to a whole new level. The centralized badge brings a modern twist to the design, but it’s Spain’s away shirt that grabs the headlines and propels their kits into a new era. This navy and sky blue number is a new look for one of Europe’s most established sides. The light camouflage pattern that makes up the body of the shirt adds a new dimension to this refreshing drop.
