Trailblazer | Part 20 | Massive Potential in Madrid

Freja Holm rebuilt a Wrexham AFC Women squad to claim a historic Welsh treble and add the Adran Premier title to those won in Italy, Japan, France and USA. A few days on from that success, Holm resigned yet again and went in search of her ninth club.

After nearly a month of unemployment, during which she surmised that it was indeed impossible to get a job in Australia, Holm turned down an interview at Toulouse before a successful interview took her to Spain for the first time.

Who Are Madrid CFF?

Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino is a women’s football club based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, a municipality just north of Madrid. The club was formed in 2010, starting out in Spain’s regional leagues before gaining promotion to Segunda División in 2013 and First División four years later.

The club has yet to win a major honour, recording a record-high finish of 3rd in First División in 2039. However, they dropped to 5th last season, which was apparently disappointing enough for manager Arturo Ruiz to be sacked after six years in charge.

Madrid CFF play at the 16,000-capacity Estadio Fernando Torres in Fuenlabrada, which was built in 2010 and is supported by average training facilities, adequate youth facilities, excellent academy coaching and exceptional youth recruitment. The club has £3.3m in the bank, a £350k transfer budget and £4k spare in a £36k weekly wage budget. However, the ongoing financial issues in women’s football in FM26 weren’t far away, as Holm soon found out the club had an outstanding £8m of debt.

Madrid CFF’s strength was definitely in attacking areas. Their best player is striker Olaia de Castro, who scored 13 in 25 in her first season after signing from Alavés, along with exciting homegrown 19-year-olds Yolanda Lahuerta and Ana Morera, Norwegian midfielder Linnea Rehnstrom, Colombian midfielder Paula Puertas and defenders Lily Nicholls, Daniella Cerdá and Aiara Agirrezabala.

They also had plenty of potential at the club, including centre back Alexandre Meffometou, who Holm promoted into the first team at 16, goalkeeper Paula, wingback Olga Telna, Bosnian midfielder Andrea Masinovic and striker Soukeyna Vogt.

Holm discovered a mass of players lingering in Madrid’s U19, B and C squads and set about selling 18 players for a £700k profit and sending 8 more out on loan. She turned to youth in their place, bringing in her Wrexham wingback sensation Valeria Flores Olvera for £8k, exciting American attacker Sarah Meléndez for £150k from Angel City, midfielder Nathalia, who went on loan to Granada, on a free from Palmeiras and centre back Julie Norreriis for £6k from AGF.

Given the attacking strength, Holm decided to go for a fairly aggressive approach, with an interesting take on a 4-4-2 that dropped into a 4-5-1. Morera and de Castro will lead the line with Lahuerta and Puertas providing the threat from wide positions and Olvera providing width on the left.

Getting Started in Spain

The bookies made Madrid CFF third favourites for Liga F with odds of 50/1. However, Holm’s board as oddly only expecting a top-half finish. Holders Real Madrid are 4/7 favourites followed by Barcelona (9/5), Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao (50/1), and Real and Barca have shared every title since 2019.

Holm’s Madrid reign began well as Olvera made an instant impact, scoring after half an hour before Puertas and Morera sealed a dominant 3-0 win at home to Atlético. They were equally good a week later as attackers Isabel Uueziua and Castro led a 3-0 win at Badalona, before Puertas scored the only goal at home to Bilbao, Lahuerta followed suit at Getafe and Rehnstrom did the same at home to Real Betis – taking Holm to five games played, five wins and none conceded, which she was sure was a personal clean sheets record.

That particular streak ended at Tenerife, but Lahuerta was the difference maker in three consecutive victories. The strong start gave them confidence heading into Madrid CFF’s first big test at Barcelona, which showed as they cruised to a stunning 4-0 victory with a Uueziua brace and Meléndez and Masinovic’s first goals for the club. They eventually dropped points for the first time with a 2-2 at home to Sevilla and again a week later at Valencia, before their first meeting with their city rival champions. Madrid CFF edged the first half but annoyingly conceded either side of halftime, Morera missed a sitter and Puertas got kicked out of the game before Real’s striker completed her hat trick.

Madrid CFF got back to form in style as Uuezuia’s hat trick and Vogt’s first senior goal inspired a 6-0 demolition of Coruna. They cruised past Villarreal and Levante 3-0 to go top of Liga F at the halfway point of the season, but a wasteful performance was punished in a disappointing 4-1 defeat at Atlético.

Losing Ground to Real Madrid

2041 ended with Lahuerta becoming Madrid CFF’s first winner of the European Golden Girl and Holm’s first since her Everton players Andiwise Mbane and Noemie Mulot won it in 2029 and 2030. The new year also began with an injury crisis, which led to Madrid CFF losing 2-1 at Bilbao to drop 5 points behind their city rivals. But they bounced back with a dominant 4-1 win at home to Getafe before a 2-1 defeat at Betis probably killed off any outside title hopes.

With that in mind, Holm decided to blood more of the club’s exciting prospects through the remainder of the season. And the youngsters continued to impress, including de Castro’s brace leading a 5-0 thrashing of Lleida, Uuezuia scoring four as they thrashed Barcelona again and Morera scoring twice in a 6-2 demolition of Valencia.

Madrid CFF went on to wrap up a club-record high finish of 2nd in Liga F, finishing on 68 points after 22 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats, scoring 80 and conceding 31. However, they finished 10 points behind champions Real Madrid. Uueziua was the league’s top scorer with 22 goals in 26 games, overperforming her xG by 7.58, and Morera was 5th with 16 in 28. While the club had three of the top four assisters, led by de Castro (16) followed by Lahuerta (14) and Puertas (11).

Spanish Cup Final

Away from league matters, Madrid CFF defeated Alhama 6-0, Lleida on penalties and eased past Barcelona 7-5 on aggregate in the semis to reach their first Spanish Cup Final. That gave them a shot at their first-ever major honour in an all-Madrid clash with Atlético in front of 83,186 people at Santiago Bernabéu. Holm had a fresh bill of health and lined up:

Andersen; Agirrezabala, Norreriis, Cerdá, Olvera; Rehnstrom; Puertas, Uuezuia, Lahuerta; de Castro, Morera
Subs: Vogt, Fialho, Meffometeou, Masinovic, Meléndez, Cuadra, Peralta, Vinetic, Telna, Gili

That cup final was the first match played since the update with “shouts” was introduced into FM26. But it began in familiar fashion as Madrid CFF dominated the first half with 11 shots to 1… but nothing actually happened. That was until they hit the bar for the second time from a freekick and Lahuerta tapped in the rebound. Olvera was hacked down for about the 12th time on 55 minutes, and Atlético’s midfielder was finally sent off. Madrid CFF really took control as Puertas cut inside and curled into the far corner, before de Castro hit the bar again. But they cruised to a dominant 2-0 victory.

Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino won their first trophy by lifting the Spanish Cup!

Promising Signs at Madrid CFF

Madrid CFF’s exciting attacking threat took them to a new club-record high in the league and their first major honour in the Spanish Cup. Uueziua led the way with 23 goals, followed by Morera and de Castro (15), Lauherta (11), Olvera (8) and Puertas (7). But their star performer was definitely de Castro, who led the way with a new club record 20 assists, followed by Lahuerta (15), Puertas (12), Morera (7) and Olvera (5).

But Holm felt there was much more to come from this exciting young squad, led by the massive potential of Lahuerta, Morera, Vogt, Mélendez, Meffometou, Norreriis, right back Heydi Peralta and midfielders Abril Gili and América Cuadra. That gave Holm hope that this could easily become the best squad she’d ever managed. And that potential was boosted by a decent youth intake led by attacking midfielder Eva Villares, winger Pilar Andeme and centre back Neneh Helbi.