EU Business School Barcelona’s MBA Project With RCD Espanyol Women’s Football Club
EU Barcelona MBA Students Elicit Fascinating Insight into Life at RCD Espanyol Women’s Football Club and Current State of Women’s Football
EU Business School Barcelona was delighted to welcome three female footballers from RCD Espanyol this past Friday, April 16. The insightful talk was organized by EU Barcelona MBA students as part of a new and exciting project with the Catalonian women’s football club, as well as to mark the 50-year anniversary of the feminine football club.
“This is the moment where we (RCD Espanyol Women’s Football Club) are actually growing. This is a time of evolution.”
Paula Nicart, RCD Espanyol Women’s Football Club
Marta Turmo (Spain), Paula Nicart (Spain) and Nicole Olelberg-Modin (Sweden) were the three visiting players who were invited to speak on behalf of their club regarding the uniqueness of RCD Espanyol women’s football club, how the brand positioning at the club can be projected, as well as its internalization strategy. Read on to discover the full extent of the eye-opening conversation between EU Business School Barcelona MBA students and the three RCDE women footballers.
Uniqueness of RCD Espanyol: Insight into Identity of RCD Espanyol Women’s Football Team
According to Ms. Nicart, Ms. Odelberg-Modin and Ms. Turmo, RCD Espanyol women’s football club nurtures confidence and player progression whilst also instilling the idea of importance of all players who represent the football club. Asked to briefly define the club, the players united in agreement by stating that the club ethos of RCD Espanyol women’s football club is to “be humble, be together and work hard.”
Supporting and encouraging each other are also other noteworthy attributes that were associated with the Catalonian female football club, who incidentally find themselves in a determined battle to avoid relegation in the Pro Second Division as the 2020/2021 draws to a close.
Having recently joined the RCD Espanyol women’s football team, the initial impressions that the three professional footballers have of the club are undoubtedly positive. Paula Nicart, a Spanish central defender who was born in Cornellá de Llobregat and who joined the club at the beginning of the 2020/2021 season, stated that she was “very pleased” to be a present-day footballing representative of the 50-year-old football club.
“I am very proud of what we (at RCD Espanyol women’s football club) are doing,” she continued. “We always support each other with the mentality of “I’m pushing you because I want you to be better.” This is the football world that I know and this is what it’s like here.”
This feeling was seconded by Marta Turmo, a 23-year-old Spanish defender signed from Madrid CFF in the summer of 2020. “I love Espanyol. They take care of us as players, and they let us know that we are important. We are a group of people who love to work, love to compete,” shared the young defender, who enjoyed a three-year playing stint in the U.S.A. from 2015 to 2018. “Now I feel like a professional, and I didn’t before joining this club. They treat you as a professional football player here.”
Swedish striker Nicole Odelberg-Modin, who is currently settling into life in Barcelona and at the football club after having only joined at the beginning of this year, was also keen to express positivity with regards to the Cornella de Llobregat-based football club. The 26-year-old, a European Championship winner, revealed that she felt welcomed by the club thus far.
A Work in Progress: Equal Exposure of RCD Espanyol Men’s & Women’s Football Club
A resounding sentiment of “progress being made but more needing to be done” was the take home message in relation to the players sharing their opinions on equal exposure of the men’s and women’s side. “They (certainly) try to equal the importance through social media,” acknowledged Marta Turmo. “They are trying to support us by making us feel like we can grow.”
All current female staff at RCD Espanyol women’s F.C., as these three first-team members see it, are “taking a step forward” in the attempt to ensure female football receives an equal amount of visibility when compared to their male counterparts. “Everything is going in the right direction,” asserted Paula Nicart. “This is the time that we are actually growing. We are taking baby steps (to achieve equal exposure for women’s football). This is a time of evolution.”
Whilst the overall opinion shone a positive light on the ever-decreasing gap between the visibility of men’s and women’s football, the three women did acknowledge that more could most certainly be done. Specifically referring to sponsors and the potential role they could play in ultimately increasing fanbase and visibility of women’s football, the professional footballers recognised that more television coverage and social media promotion was necessary to plant the female side of the sport on the same pedestal as male football.
