Anyone who knows Sara Gutiérrez (Barcelona, 1994) knows the passion and professionalism she puts into everything she does.. The RTVE journalist, a great fan of reading – she reads an average of 50 books a year – has just published her first literary work. ‘Champions’ (Planeta, 2024) is the intimate and personal journey of 23 women who made history by winning the 2023 World Cup, forever changing Spanish women’s sport. A story of motivation and vindication in which many young women can see themselves. “They have stated on more than one occasion that if it were up to them they would dedicate themselves only to playing football, but at the moment that cannot be the case, so they have to take advantage of the media spotlight to claim and vindicate themselves,” the author highlights in MARCA. .
A call in full concentration of the Spanish team in September 2023 was the initial whistle for the match that Sara dared to play. “The publishing house called me to suggest that I write a book about the World Cup won by the Spanish team. By myself I would never have decided to do something like that, but I saw it as an opportunity and a challenge. I made a video call with those responsible and I presented them with the proposal of making a chapter about each player so that each one would have the same space,” says the journalist.
Escape from controversy to focus on them
The project was born in the middle of the ‘Rubiales case’ and the federative earthquake, something that did not affect its development. “I was always very clear that I didn’t want to deal with any of that. The feeling we all had was that they had won the World Cup and attention had immediately been diverted. I wanted to give them that focus back, for them to be the protagonists, for it to be counted and It highlighted not only the success achieved but also the effort behind each of their careers. They have had to fight a lot to become world champions,” he says. “The only thing I comment between the lines about it is a phrase in the epilogue in which I say that ‘every struggle, both before and after winning the World Cup, has served to enable them to get to where they have done.’ I appreciate the freedom that I have had to write what I wanted,” he says.
Forty days between New Zealand and Australia provide more than just bringing a good collection of souvenirs. “I think the World Cup helped us get to know each other and create certain bonds. The fact that it was also played on the other side of the world made a very special bond form between the small group of people who were there: players, staff, family members, journalists… I talked more with them than with my family! Having a certain proximity to them, which is not possible in other sports, made everything have much more value for me,” he explains. Sara, who told everything that happened in oceanic lands for the public entity. “Honestly, I never thought they could win the World Cup. The only journalists who trusted from the first minute were Roberto Quintana (TVE) and Pablo Parra (RadioMARCA). I started to believe after beating Switzerland in the round of 16 and I was convinced after the games against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and Sweden in the semifinals. I did go to the final against England with my mind set on victory…”, he points out.
Very real stories
The 300 pages and 23 chapters that has the book, Sara wrote them between her home in Barcelona, the different trips with the Spanish women’s soccer team, and the 20 days in the desert covering the Dakar -The engine is his other great passion. “I had the feeling of starting the book 23 times because I wanted each story to be different from the previous one. Obviously all the protagonists are footballers and there are things they have in common, but I have dedicated a lot of time to the documentation and the creative process so that each chapter had the essence of each player and so that the reader did not find it repetitive,” says the author. “I consider myself very romantic in the sense of putting poetry down to the last comma, I like to fictionalize everything, so I have the feeling of having written a book of very real stories,” she emphasizes.
Asked about the most special chapters, Sara highlights the chapters by Irene Paredes and Eva Navarro. “Irene’s is the chapter where the change that has occurred in football is most evident. I highlight Eva’s because of the way she opened up to me. When I spoke with her after the World Cup she told me that she had had a tough chapter of anxieties, agoraphobia, not even being able to take the car to see his parents, and all after a cruciate injury that went much further. I think there are still people who read his story and are going through the same thing. and it can help her,” he says.
For all audiences
The book, of which the illustrations – the work of Ed Carosia – can also be highlighted, has a double objective for the author. “I want the younger generations to see that a World Cup is not a matter of two days and that after reading their stories they realize that, even if you have talent as a footballer, if there is no passion, effort, work and sacrifice behind it, it is impossible to get there.” to play in a World Cup and much less win it,” he explains. “I would like people who usually follow football to discover things they didn’t know about and people who are not involved in sports to find 23 stories about 23 women that make them curious to learn more about them and see them in action,” he adds.
‘Campeonas’ has been on sale since last May 29 and the author has gone from interviewer to interviewee in the presentation of the work. “It’s very strange to be on the other side,” Sara confesses. “It’s helping me empathize with the soccer players when dealing with the media,” he adds. the journalist, who, even savoring the success of this installment, does not rule out that there will be more in the future: “Writing this book has awakened a concern in me that I didn’t know I had, so…”.
