The Real spanish soccer federation who, for the moment, presides Pedro Rochabehind the scandal of the ‘Rubiales case’has already reached an agreement with the two young people, Markel Zubizarreta (Mondragón, 1985) and Gonzalo Rodríguez (Badajoz, 1995)architects of one of the most successful projects in the world of sports, which has turned, in the last seven years, the FCBarcelona in the team with the most titles in Europe and, of course, a benchmark both for its beautiful football and for its management model, which already began to be important in the times of Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Zubizarreta, eldest son of the legendary Basque goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta and, at the time, Barça’s top manager in the sporting field, he counted on Rodríguez, a young lawyer who settled in Barcelona as soon as he finished his law degree, to, with fewer means than anyone else, relaunch culé women’s football and ensure that became a role model. Zubizarreta and Rodríguez worked like real little ants and ended up turning the Barça team into a true two-time European champion (2021 and 2023)in addition to a world reference.
Uncertain future
Markel, who left the Barça women’s sports management at the end of last September despite having a contract until June 2024, as he did not see clearly the future of the team and its fit in an entity that does not consider women’s football as football but as sports center (stance that he devised Mateu Alemany and continue to maintain decoration), will become, from today, the head of the entire structure of Spanish women’s football bringing together, apparently, the power that they shared director Rafael del Amo and the coach Jorge Vilda.
Zubizarreta, conqueror of 16 great titles with Barça (2 Champions Leagues, 4 Leagues, 4 Queen’s Cups, 3 Super Cups and 3 Catalan Cups)arrived at Barça in the summer of 2017 and, in seven seasons, transformed women’s football in the ‘more than a club’ in what everyone considers, at the moment, as a clear example of how things should be done in the difficult and competitive world football.
Always in the shadows, always giving maximum prominence to the culé leaders, to the technical team headed by Jonathan Giraldez and the squad now led by Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatítwo of the five best players in the world, Zubizarreta relied for much of these seven years on Gonzalo Rodrigueza lawyer who, given the limited financial resources that the section had, carried out all kinds of procedures so that the project grew little by little, from paperwork, to contracts, negotiations and even finding an apartment for the players and resolving everything. type of procedures.
Rodríguez was, is, much more than Zubizarreta’s right-hand man, he is an essential professional to the extent that if this young lawyer had not been able to accompany him in this new challenge faced by the son of the legendary Basque goalkeeper, Markel would have rejected the offer of the Federation and chosen any of the three offers it currently has, from two large, immense teams, British and another French.
The signing of Markel Zubizarreta by the Spanish Football Federation has the approval and encouragement of all the world champions
The circumstance occurs, as published by El Periódico, on June 13that Gonzalo Rodríguez was fired by Alemany and, evidently, by Joan Laporta’s board, after having had him for two long years in the shadow of the delegate of the Barça professional team, Carles Naval, after snatching him from the office next to Zubizarreta’s, promising him that, in a short space of time, he would replace Naval as delegate of the big team. Not only did that not happen, but Alemany fired Rodríguez in the middle of their honeymoon.
The last service
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Everything seems to indicate that the signing of Markel Zubizarreta as head of Spanish women’s football occurs, not only because of his enormous management capacity, because of the great experience he has accumulated in the last seven years, because of his great knowledge of the sector, because of his such a reserved personality and professionalism, but also because it is the name that the stars of the world champion women’s team in Australia and New Zealand put on the table in the conversations in Oliva (Valencia), as the person most and best qualified to pacify a situation that became completely out of control as a result of the scandal starring Luis Rubiales and that, with the addition of Zubizarreta to the top of the Spanish Federation, it can be channeled in a positive way.
We must not forget that, even minutes after Zubizarreta signed his termination at Barça, that is, having already ceased to belong to the Barça club, the top Barcelona officials asked him, almost as a personal favor, as the last institutional action, to travel to Oliva (Valencia), where the women’s team was concentrated before traveling to Australia, and to show, not only their support, but to help them in everything they needed to resolve the conflict in which a good part of their team were involved. players. Zubizarreta did not hesitate to travel to Valencia and completely side with the footballers.