Women’s Soccer in La Latina: More Than a Sport, a Support Network

From the Akar Socio-Educational Center in Aluche (Madrid), this year we are promoting women’s soccer together with Espacios Abiertos PIBA Caño Roto. We believe soccer is more than a sport: it’s a powerful tool for physical, emotional, and social development.

Through play, the girls strengthen their self-esteem, identity, and connections with other young women in the neighborhood, creating a diverse community united by respect, trust, and teamwork.

The La Latina team was born from the voices of many girls in this Madrid district who, through youth leisure spaces, demanded a place of their own to play, share, and grow.
Thanks to the support of Itaka-Escolapios through Akar, and the initiative Espacios Abiertos PIBA Caño Roto—which promotes the use of public spaces through the participation of neighbors in Caño Roto with various activities—today that dream has come true: a group of young women who, rain or shine, keep meeting every week to do what they love most—play soccer—but also to build something much greater.

Equal access to sports remains a challenge. Girls and teenagers still face social, cultural, and even institutional barriers to participating in public spaces, especially in traditionally male-dominated sports like soccer. This project was born to break down those barriers: to promote sports through equality, to showcase female talent, and to offer real, local role models within the district.
The team is also a safe, discrimination-free space where each girl can express herself freely, learn from others, and feel part of a network that supports and values her. Here they practice essential values such as teamwork, self-confidence, equality, and respect.

Supporting this project means investing in young women’s physical and mental health, in real equality in sports, and in a more inclusive, fair, and participatory La Latina. Because when girls have space to play, they also have space to dream, grow, and lead.

This team needs to keep growing, strengthening its presence, and ensuring its continuity. Because they deserve it, because sports belong to girls too, and because together we build more equal neighborhoods.