In a Liga F increasingly populated by the women’s sections of great historic clubs, Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino remains an anomaly. It was not born as an extension of a men’s structure, nor did it inherit a fan base built up over decades. Alfredo Ulloa founded it in 2010 as a project devoted exclusively to women’s football. Sixteen years on, the first team competes at the top level and beneath it grows one of the most extensive academies in the country.
According to figures published by the club itself, Madrid CFF had more than 700 players spread across 40 teams during the 2025/26 season. Since its creation, it claims to have offered a place to play football to more than 2,000 girls and women. The club presents itself as the largest exclusively female project in Europe.
The claim comes from the club and is difficult to verify with precision, but the figures convey the scale. Madrid CFF is not merely a Liga F team with youth categories. It is a structure conceived from the outset to take players in, accompany their development and offer them a complete pathway within women’s football.
A club born to fill an empty space
When Madrid CFF began competing, the map of women’s football in Madrid looked very different. Real Madrid had not yet created their women’s section, and the opportunities for a girl to grow within a dedicated structure were far more limited.
Ulloa’s project was born in that context. It started from the bottom, worked its way through the regional divisions and reached the top flight in 2017. Since then, Madrid CFF has remained in the elite while continuing to defend a singular identity: all of its teams belong to the same women’s project.
That trait does not guarantee an automatic competitive advantage. The 2025/26 season ended with the first team in ninth place, well short of the European spots. But it also demands that success be measured differently. In an ever more demanding competition, staying in the top division for nine consecutive seasons without the backing of a large men’s structure already constitutes a form of sporting resistance.
The academy as a gateway
Madrid CFF’s growth rests on a broad base. The club has sites in Madrid and Fuenlabrada and runs trials from an early age. For many girls who are still playing in mixed teams or who are looking for an exclusively female environment, that structure offers a visible and accessible way in.
The journey does not end with the formative categories. The reserve team competes in Segunda Federación, the third tier of Spanish women’s football. It is not the second division, but it is a national category that narrows the gap between youth football and the first team. For a young player, having that intermediate rung can prove decisive: it allows her to compete against adult opposition before she is ready to face the demands of Liga F on a regular basis.
The model cannot be understood through organisation charts alone. It can also be observed through the names that have passed through it.
Vicky López, Cristina Librán and Sandra Villafañe
Vicky López was developed at Madrid CFF before joining FC Barcelona. She made her top-flight debut at just fifteen and soon became one of the most visible examples of the club’s capacity to spot and develop precocious talent.
Cristina Librán followed a different path. She arrived at the club at alevín level and made her elite debut at fifteen. Her growth within the club turned her into a mainstay of Spain’s youth national teams.
The case of Sandra Villafañe adds another dimension. The defender entered the Madrid CFF academy at eleven, made her top-flight debut at sixteen and has remained tied to the club despite interest from elsewhere. An Under-17 world champion with Spain in 2022, she represents a precious exception: a homegrown footballer who not only reaches the first team but stays in it.
The three cases show the two faces of the model. Madrid CFF can spot talent, offer minutes at an early age and prepare players for the elite. But the more a footballer grows, the harder it becomes to keep her in the face of clubs with bigger budgets, better facilities and the capacity to compete for titles.
Producing is not always retaining
Therein lies the most interesting question about Madrid CFF’s future. The club has already shown it can build a giant academy and open pathways into professional football. The next challenge is to turn that formative capacity into a sustainable sporting advantage for its first team.
It is not easy. The growth of women’s football has raised the level of Liga F, but it has also widened the gap between its clubs. The big institutions hunt for talent at ever younger ages and can offer sporting horizons that are hard to match. For an independent project, every player who progresses represents at once a success and a threat of departure.
That is why Madrid CFF deserves to be watched beyond its league position each season. Its importance does not lie solely in winning matches or occasionally appearing near the European places. It also lies in something less visible: creating a structure where hundreds of girls can start playing and some find a real path to the elite.
In a competition increasingly dominated by big crests, Madrid CFF keeps posing an uncomfortable and necessary question: how much room is left for a club built exclusively on women’s football, and how far can it go without ceasing to be one.