ANDROCENTRIC CLUB NARRATIVES AROUND SPANISH FOOTBALL: PRESS COVERAGE OF ATHLETIC BILBAO’S MEN AND WOMEN TEAMS

Abstract

This research focuses on the androcentric hierarchy of identity narratives in football. We explore how such discourses are planned in terms of gender at The club level. We enquire into the presence of and the role played by women footballers in the narrative construction of clubs as portrayed in media outlets. Our case study focuses on Athletic Bilbao, a pioneering club in women’s football in Spain. The methodology used is based on content analysis, covering three full seasons (2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21) of the front pages of four newspapers (As, MundoDeportivo, El Correo and Deia). We found a sexist relational system with two major categories – sequential and normative – in the construction and reproduction of information. We point out the prevalence of sporting narratives focused on men and, in relational terms, the invisibility and, in a best-case scenario, the peripheralization of information about women.