Ferreras’ Formula: Deportivo Femenino’s 2023/24 promotion strategies revealed – tactical analysis

With Barcelona Femení’s fifth consecutive Liga F title mathematically confirmed following the weekend’s win at Granada Femenino, there is not much left to play for in the current Spanish top-flight season, with only the team joining Sporting de Huelva Femenino in being relegated to the Primera Federación and the remaining Champions League places left to be determined.

As a result, attention is quickly turning towards the 2024/25 campaign. What might occur when the league resumes later on in the year, and one thing that has got fans talking is the return of Irene Ferreras Deportivo de La Coruña Femenino to top-flight action, following a period in the second tier. Their history of challenging in the higher echelons of Liga F, finishing as high as fourth in the 2019/20 campaign, means they are not a team that anyone should underestimate.

Whilst a return to the top four is unlikely, given the current strength of the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid Femenino, Atlético Madrid Femenino, and Levante Femenino, there will be a number of other sides in the league who will need to be wary of what they are capable of. This tactical analysis and scout report will take a closer look at what they can expect from the newly promoted side once the new season gets underway.

Build-up play

When forming any analysis of why Deportivo de La Coruña Femenino were so difficult to beat in the Primera Federación last season, what will always top the list is how they moved the ball around and controlled the flow of their matches. They averaged 58.66% per game throughout the last campaign and used that as the key foundation for the rest of their tactics.

What should be pointed out is that there is nothing unique about their play. Instead, a lot of what they do is based on the much-utilised but highly successful Spanish tiki-taka brand of football, which sees teams make sequences of shorter passes in a bid to ensure that the ball is continually circulated around the pitch whilst minimising the risk of it being given away. It is something that Barcelona, in particular, have long championed and is a set of tactical principles that their men’s and women’s senior teams have deployed to great effect over the years. It is clear that Deportivo are another who firmly believe in it as the way to play football.

However, what makes it such a successful philosophy is teams having passing options available every time that the ball travels from one player to the next, and that is something that Deportivo have really worked on and which is clear to see here, with defender Raquel García receiving the ball against Europa Femenino here and instantly having five different passes available for her to select from. In the end, she moves the ball towards Lucía Martínez, who is making a run towards her, and that then leads to the process starting again as players look to give her the same number of options to choose from.

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