The Barcelona effect on Spain: The pros and cons of a club dominating the national side

New York Times

16-07-2025

When you watch Spain you get the feeling this is a team that play alongside each other every weekend, as if it were club football rather than a group thrown together on the international stage.
The reason? In large part, it is because so many players come from one club, to a far greater extent than is usually the case with national teams.
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Following Spain's 6-2 win over Belgium, The Athletic's Michael Cox wrote that 'it is not unfair to suggest that football this cohesive and sophisticated would have been almost unthinkable a decade ago in the women's game'.
Given the influence and volume of Barcelona players on Montse Tome's team, it comes as no surprise the reigning world champions have been one of the standout sides at the Women's Euros so far, winning all three of their group games, scoring 14 goals (no team has more) and setting up a quarter-final against hosts Switzerland on Friday.
In the 5-0 victory against Portugal, there were five Barcelona players in the starting line-up: Ona Batlle, Patri Guijarro, Vicky Lopez, Alexia Putellas and Claudia Pina. That's without adding Laia Aleixandri, who spent her formative years with Barca and has just re-signed for the Catalan club from Manchester City, or Mariona Caldentey, who played there for 10 years before leaving last summer.
That list of five might have been seven had Irene Paredes not been suspended and Cata Coll not had tonsillitis. Two-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati was only a substitute for the opening game because she was in the final stages of recovery from viral meningitis, which she contracted shortly before the start of the tournament. She was replaced in the starting line-up by another Barca player: Lopez. Two of their club team-mates were also brought on as substitutes: Salma Paralluelo and Jana Fernandez.
That makes eight of the 16 players who featured in the match.
In the thrashing of Belgium, the starting line-up was the same as against Portugal, with the addition of Paredes, and against Italy (3-1) changes were made but the side still featured six Barca players.
Fernandez replaced Batlle, Bonmati came in for Lopez and Pina did not play, but Paralluelo did. Leila Ouahabi, from Manchester City, has spent a huge part of her career at Barca. Eight of the 11 players selected for that match either play or have played for them. And that is even though Coll, who is expected to be the starting goalkeeper for the rest of the competition, has not yet made her first appearance at these Euros.
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In a Nations League match on April 8 against Portugal (7-1), Tome fielded a starting XI of players who all either play for Barcelona now or had done at some point in their careers.
There were eight active Barca players (Coll, Fernandez, Paredes, Bonmati, Guijarro, Putellas, Pina, Paralluelo) along with Caldentey, Aleixandri and Ouahabi.
Of the 23 called up for Euro 2025, 10 are current Barcelona players — 11 if you count Aleixandri. Thirteen either are or have been Barcelona players.
But why is it like this?
Obviously, this dominance is not a coincidence — it is the result of years of strategic development, local talent cultivation and a footballing philosophy deeply rooted in the identity of both club and country.
The women's side of the Catalan club has never been stronger. They have played in the past five Champions League finals, winning three and losing two. In La Liga, they have been champions for six consecutive seasons.
While Barca do have overseas stars — their team that started the Champions League final in May included Denmark's Caroline Graham Hansen, Poland's Ewa Pajor and Sweden's Fridolina Rolfo — they have a strategy that prioritises local talent first. They consider Catalonia and Spain in general to be one of the best breeding grounds for footballers.
This is especially true for finding those who fit Barca's style of play — a game of touch, possession and attack that they believe is naturally understood by players who have grown up in the region.
Their plan is to build a solid core of Spaniards in the first team, complemented by international talent to make the team more complete and competitive.
This is true for both the women's and men's teams.
However, this has not always been the case. The turning point came in 2015, when Barcelona's women's side turned professional. Since then, they have become the best team in Spain, light years ahead of the rest — even Real Madrid.
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This has also meant a better academy has been built and that players are being developed with a clear understanding of the Barca DNA. Lopez is a prime example — one of the first products to come out of La Masia, to have lived there and the 18-year-old is part of a generation that is already much better prepared for the first team than those players who came before her.
By focusing on local talent first, the club has become a breeding ground for players who are eligible to play for Spain. And if the team is at such a high level and has brought together one of its best generations, the answer is quite simple.
There is a stylistic synergy between club and the national team. Both sides emphasise possession-based football, positional play, and quick passing — hallmarks of the famed 'tiki-taka' approach that Barcelona helped define over the past two decades.
Tome — and Jorge Vilda before her — is aware of the advantage of fielding players accustomed to this system, so naturally leans on Barca's core group. These players do not just fit the style — they have lived and breathed it since they were young.
Choosing players who already have strong on-field relationships — like those built at club level — provides an invaluable advantage. And you can tell that while watching Spain games.
'The fact the national team has so many Barca players tells me that my club is doing a great job and that's why it's producing so many international players,' Putellas said in an interview with Diario Sport. 'Not just for Spain, but for other national teams as well. And it speaks highly of us, of the competitive team we have, all capable of playing in big games.'
That is why the best teams in Spain, which have won major titles, coincide with great generations of Barcelona players. The 2010 men's World Cup was won during Barca's 'Guardiola era', just one year after they won the club's first treble.
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The same is true for the women's team, which is starting to win tournaments after previously always falling in the first knockout stage. Since 2023, they have won a World Cup and a Nations League, and they are clear favourites for the Euros. This is a period in which Barca have won consecutive Champions Leagues and reached a final, which they lost to Arsenal.
That is not to say there is no downside. Barca's dominance of the women's football landscape in Spain is self-perpetuating — the more successful they are, the more they attract the best young talent and the harder it is for other teams to compete. They have won the Liga F title by eight, 15, 10, 24 and 25 points respectively over the past five seasons. No other Spanish team has yet reached a Women's Champions League semi-final.
In the long run, this might not be healthy for Barcelona either because it means a less competitive league that does not help them prepare for European competitions.
Historically, Spain has nurtured and taken advantage of Barcelona's happy years, translating them into historic success for the national team. And seeing how the club are increasingly taking care of its football academy, it does not seem this dynamic is going to change.
Spain has its magic formula for success and the hope is they will capitalise on it this summer.
(Andrea Amato/NurPhoto via Getty Images).