Some summers are told through signings, and some are told through farewells. The summer of 2026, at least at the outset, clearly belongs to the second kind. As of 14 June, with the window only just open, the sixteen Liga F clubs have made more than eighty departures official and confirmed barely a handful of senior arrivals.
The nuance matters: it is not that there will be no signings. Those will come in July and August, as they do every year. It is that the first image of the window is not the unveilings, the new shirts or the welcome videos. It is the farewell statements, the contracts expiring on 30 June and the squads beginning the summer with more gaps than certainties.
Five external signings and two promotions
It is worth putting the window in order before interpreting it. As of 14 June, the confirmed external senior arrivals number five.
Real Madrid have opened their rebuild with two midfielders: Germany’s Elisa Senß, from Eintracht Frankfurt, and Portugal’s Andreia Jacinto, who joins on a free transfer from Real Sociedad. La Real, in turn, have strengthened their midfield with Laura Camino, from Eibar, and Ainoa Campo, until now the Espanyol captain, both signed until 2029. And Sevilla have added midfielder Iris Arnaiz, also from Real Sociedad.
Five signings. Nothing more. To these can be added two moves that are not external arrivals but do reshape the senior squads: the promotions of Natalia Peñalvo at Atlético de Madrid and of Bárbara Martínez, ‘Pola’, at Costa Adeje Tenerife, two players making the definitive step up from the youth ranks.
And against that, more than eighty departures.
The end of a generation at the big clubs
The most symbolic snapshot comes from Barça. The champions begin the summer with the exits of Alexia Putellas, Mapi León and Ona Batlle. These are not three squad numbers: they are a large part of the backbone of the section’s finest era. They leave having won almost everything, with the club at its peak. And that is precisely why it carries more weight: this is not a break-up caused by failure, but a crack opening in the middle of success.
Real Madrid are undergoing their own transformation, and one of the deepest. In a matter of days they have announced the departures of Misa Rodríguez — their captain and goalkeeper, the player with the most appearances in the team’s history — Teresa Abelleira, Caroline Weir, Yasmim Ribeiro, Rocío Gálvez and Naomie Feller, the latter bound for PSG after four seasons in Valdebebas. Six departures at a stroke, several of them reference points for the project. The contrast with their two arrivals is telling: rather than a side that is adding, Real Madrid are right now a side rebuilding.
The modest clubs, emptying out
If at the big clubs the window is told through recognisable names, in mid-table and at the bottom it is told by volume. Eibar have announced thirteen departures; Deportivo Abanca, a dozen; Alavés and Espanyol, nine apiece; Atlético and Athletic, five each. Added together, they amount to dozens of players whose contracts end on 30 June and whom the club, quite simply, is not renewing.
In many cases these are weighty endings. Atlético are letting Carmen Menayo go after ten seasons. Athletic lose Naroa Uriarte, retired at twenty-five because of injuries. Granada have said goodbye to three captains at once — Lauri Requena, Laura Pérez and Alba Pérez — legends of more than a decade. Tenerife lose María Estella after that period and more than two hundred appearances. These are not squad tweaks: they are farewells with a biography.
They are also a symptom of a game still tied to the short contract, where every summer many clubs rebuild almost the entire dressing room and many players find themselves up in the air again. Liga F is growing in visibility, in sponsorship and in narrative, but the job security of many of its protagonists remains fragile.
A case apart: Badalona reinvents itself
Badalona Women deserve a mention of their own. Having completed the first season in their history in Liga F, the club have made six departures official in one go — Ana González, Lice Chamorro, Estefanía Banini, Sarah Jankovska, Sofie Junge and Loreta Kullashi — all out of contract. This is not a quiet club: it is a club dismantling the squad of its debut to build a different one. Its arrivals, for now, are not yet official.
The silence of the newcomers
The other reading lies in the absences. As of 14 June, the two promoted sides — Alavés and Valencia — and Madrid CFF have yet to announce a single senior arrival. For a newly promoted side, reaching mid-June without one confirmed signing need not be alarming, but it is a signal worth watching. Survival is not built in September: it begins now, when a club decides which core stays and how much room each sporting department really has.
For the moment, what is most visible at several clubs are renewals — Marta Mascarell at Valencia, Catalina Ongaro at DUX, Nay Cáceres at Tenerife: tying down what you already have before going to market. Understandable, but insufficient if the squad has lost too many pieces.
The collective agreement, in the background
The window is not moving in a vacuum. The second collective bargaining agreement for women’s football expires on 30 June, and negotiations over the next one arrive amid tension. The detail matters because a good part of the announced departures are, quite simply, contracts ending just as the legal framework is once again under discussion. Not every exit is explained by this — there are sporting decisions, better offers, personal cycles — but the context helps to understand the full picture: too many players are still negotiating their future a year at a time.
A talent drain, or internal rotation?
It is worth asking whether these eighty-plus departures amount to a drain towards foreign leagues or a simple reshuffle at home. The honest answer, as of 14 June, is that neither can yet be claimed: the vast majority of the exits are out-of-contract moves with no official destination announced. Most of those leaving, as yet, have no known landing spot.
The few destinations that have emerged point in both directions. Abroad, the most resonant names: Naomie Feller, who according to the French press will play for PSG, and Natalia Padilla, returning to Bayern at the end of her loan at Sevilla. And at home, a notable reorganisation within Liga F itself: the swaps between Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Espanyol, or the loan endings returning players to their parent clubs. So, rather than an exodus, it is better to speak for now of a transition: contracts expiring and pieces rotating within the competition itself, while the bulk of the market waits until July to settle destinations.
What this picture tells us
It is worth not over-reading an image taken in the first fortnight of June. The window has only just opened, and signings, loans and returns that have not even been announced yet will arrive. In a month’s time, this count will be a different one.
But the first picture matters because it shows the starting point. And the starting point is clear: Liga F 2026/27 begins with far more goodbyes than arrivals. The big clubs are losing reference points, the modest ones are emptying squads, Badalona is reinventing itself and the newcomers are not yet showing their hand. Meanwhile, the only confirmed external arrivals fit on a list of five names: Elisa Senß, Andreia Jacinto, Laura Camino, Ainoa Campo and Iris Arnaiz.
The Spanish women’s football summer has indeed begun. It is just that it has begun by saying goodbye.
Figures verified club by club as of 14 June 2026 from the official statements of the sixteen Liga F clubs. Renewals and unannounced loan returns are not counted as arrivals.
