He put together the best FC Barcelona. He was the architect of women’s football in the Culé House and was the main person responsible for the development of the two-time champion and current king of Europe for six years. Now, two months after terminating his contract with Barça – he still had a year to fulfill it – he has signed as the current head of the women’s team at national level. Markel Zubizarreta (Mondragón, 1985) is the new director of women’s football at the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Due to his experience and training, he is a great expert on the market and has dealt with a large part of the national team squad during his time at Barcelona. As a participant in the Oliva Summit and with 16 Barça titles under his belt, according to El Periódico, he enters the organizational structure of Spanish women’s football, accompanied by Gonzalo Rodríguez, lawyer and Markel’s confidant at Barça. The current director, Ana Álvarez, will be responsible for the development of this area.
“A decision that is part of a profound restructuring to strengthen this department,” the RFEF statement said. The former Barcelona women’s sporting director lands in a team led by captains and with a large presence of culés heavyweights. Aitana Bonmatí, Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas, among many others, complete the squad of national players. It was precisely Markel who, shortly before the announcement of his departure, traveled to Oliva (Valencia) together with the Barça club psychologist to accompany the Barça players in their concentration before the Nations League, a critical moment for footballers. There, the foundations for restructuring the association were destroyed as a result of the drastic changes demanded by the players in a night meeting after the Rubiales case.
Markel, son of Dream Team goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta – a former Athletic Barcelona and Valencia goalkeeper as well as the national team – tried football under the goal. But he has found his place outside the grass. He hung up his gloves and graduated from INEF and later earned a master’s degree in sports management. He landed at FC Barcelona in 2015 to take up the position of head of women’s sports management. But two years later he became sports director. And under his wing, four coaches shaped Barcelona’s sporting career: Xavi Llorens, Fran Sánchez, Lluís Cortés and Jonatan Giráldez. The club trusted him and the successes of the following seasons justified the decision.
Zubizarreta left Barcelona and set the bar high: 16 titles as team boss – four leagues, two Champions Leagues, four Copa del Rey, three Super Cups and three Catalan Cups – and signing big stars. Lieke Martens – the best player in the European Cup at the time of its creation – Caroline Graham Hansen, Ana Maria Crnogorcevic, Irene Paredes, Keira Walsh, Salma Paralluelo and Ona Batlle are some examples. Even under his leadership, Barcelona recovered from Jennifer Hermoso and achieved her return to the Barça club. But Markel left the company at a sensitive time and prematurely: he had a contract until June next year. Now it’s Marc Vivés who collects his inheritance until major renovations take place. A total of eight players such as Alexia Putellas, Mapi León and Mariona Caldentey will end their contracts in 2024. And coach Jonatan Giráldez will also have to sit down for negotiations.
His departure had been discussed for months. El Periódico reported that Markel asked to leave before the Champions League final in Eindhoven in May this year, but Zubizarreta held out until the end of September last year, where he left some negotiations in limbo, such as the one with Patri Guijarro . With Zubizarreta’s integration into the Spanish Federation’s top women’s game, the players are now in familiar hands. A new phase in the offices for Markel and a new challenge for him: from building Barcelona to dismantling the old team and continuing to build the new team according to the players’ needs.
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