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When Atletico de Madrid broke the 99-year-old attendance record for a club game in women's football in 2019, the future seemed bright.
Some 60,739 people watched from the stands that day as Barcelona beat the hosts 2-0 in what felt like a turning point for women's football in Spain. But a year later, the pandemic hit and the growth came to a halt.
This week, Barcelona have a chance to break that record again in what will be the most important women's El Clasico to date.
While this won't be Barcelona's debut at the club's iconic Nou Camp, Europe's largest stadium, it certainly feels like a first.
Barcelona's 5-0 victory against Espanyol there in January 2021 was greeted by silence as Covid restrictions meant the game was played out in an empty stadium.
Contrast this with Wednesday's match, when they will host their biggest rivals Real Madrid in the second leg of their Women's Champions League quarter-final - which they lead 3-1 - in front of an anticipated crowd of 90,000.
Barcelona usually play their matches at their 6,000-seater Johan Cruyff Stadium, rather than the 99,354-capacity Nou Camp
In a year in which Barca's men's team have struggled to find their pace and identity, the success of the women's side has made fans proud and spiked interest.
For Barcelona supporters, the Nou Camp game marks a real milestone for the team.
"These stadiums are the symbols, the icons of these clubs," explains Lorena Lopez, who has been following Barcelona's women's team since 2018 and travelled to Budapest to watch the team win the Champions League final last season.
"Giving the women a chance to play at these stadiums makes these matches special and helps the sport progress because it attracts more supporters to the women's game."
Lopez's thoughts are echoed by Natalia Robles, who will be attending the game as a neutral.
"It's great for exposure," she says. "Many people can't afford to pay 200 euros to watch a game in that type of stadium, but the ticket prices for women's games are much more affordable."
Club members were initially offered the chance to claim tickets for free, while for non-members ticket prices started at 9 euros (£7.50). Some 70,000 tickets were snapped up within a few days of being made available in January and only a small number remain available.
| Record attendances in women's club football |
|---|
| 1. 60,739 - Barcelona v Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano (March 2019) |
| 2. 53,000 - Dick, Kerr Ladies v St Helens Ladies at Goodison Park (December 1920) |
| 3. 51,211 - Monterrey vs Tigres at Estadio BBVA Bancomer (May 2018) |
| 4. 48,121 - Athletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid at the San Mames stadium (January, 2019) |
| 5. 45,423 - Chelsea v Arsenal at Wembley (May 2018) |
When Atletico Madrid and Barcelona faced each other at the Wanda Metropolitano in 2019, women's football in Spain seemed to be on an unstoppable upward trend.
The league had never been as accessible to fans - with many games on TV every weekend and more and more clubs opening up their stadiums to their women's side - while clubs and players were negotiating their first collective agreement over pay and conditions.
However, the long-standing battle between La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation spread over into the women's game. After years of fighting to control the sport in the country, the two governing bodies started battling for dominance in women's football, with the Federation announcing the creation of a new league separate from the one organised by La Liga.
The conflict caused the pay negotiations to stall, which led to the first player strike in Spanish women's football. Since then, the league's accessibility has significantly decreased, making it nearly impossible to watch games on TV for most teams, and there has been slow progress in the professionalisation of the Primera División.
The Spanish women's football community is hopeful that's about to change, though. With the 2022 Euros just around the corner, Barcelona's dominance and Alexia Putellas' spectacular form have brought back a sense of optimism and new attention to women's football in the country.
Covid restrictions that have impacted sport events over the past couple of years have made it hard for women's teams to reclaim their presence in these iconic arenas.
Barcelona's game at the Nou Camp could provide the push women's football in Spain needs to get back onto the track they were on before the health crisis.
But these games becoming a regular occurrence is probably unrealistic in the near future. Although Barcelona have the largest crowds in the Spanish league, their average attendance figure is shy of 3,000.
"I'm completely sure we'll see this more often moving forward, but we have to understand the context," explains Miki Soria, who has been covering Barcelona Femeni for the last 10 years at SPORT, one of the main sports newspapers in the country.
"For now, I don't think it's feasible to play every match at the Nou Camp. We're still far away from that."
It's also unclear how many, out of those 90,000-plus tickets holders, will attend. There's concern that some season-ticket holders and supporters with invitations might not turn up.
To prevent this, the club has redoubled its marketing efforts over the last couple of weeks to convince everyone with a ticket to be part of this historic event.
Regardless of whether attendance records are broken or not, the excitement around the game should be the encouragement other teams need to bring some of those key matches to the biggest stages. Could the Bernabeu be next?
