As dusk falls, the heat begins to subside and a breeze blows in from the bay. The beaches empty out. Tourists head back to their hotels. Locals finishing their working day take to the bar terraces.
At UD Collerense, meanwhile, girls in football boots are heading out for training.
Collerense is a club based in Palma on the Spanish island of Mallorca. This is where Patri Guijarro, Mariona Caldentey and Cata Coll all started. This year, all three have been nominated to win the Ballon d’Or.
The island’s inhabitants say there’s something special about Mallorca. It has produced many elite sportspeople, including tennis star Rafael Nadal.
You can smell the sea from the Collerense stadium, it’s just a block from the coast. Surfers carrying their boards file past in the late afternoon. When you walk through the entrance gate, there’s nothing to suggest that three of the best 30 players in European women’s football emerged here.
Guijarro, Caldentey and Coll all moved on to Barcelona, where they won three Champions League titles (2021, 2023 and 2024) together. Caldentey won the 2025 trophy in her debut campaign with Arsenal after leaving Catalonia. Guijarro and Coll are still at Barca, and added a fourth title of their own in May.
Today, Collerense play in the fourth tier of women’s football in Spain, but between 2009 and 2016 they were in the top flight. It is a modest club, but its youth system is renowned throughout Spain — with good reason.
To learn about Collerense, you have to speak to Pili Espadas. She is the heart and soul of this club. You’ll have to wait your turn though.
As I walk around the grounds, I spot a woman holding a hefty bunch of keys in her hand. I realise it’s Espadas and go over to speak to her, but to do so you have to queue up like at the greengrocer’s; she’s always surrounded by parents, players and coaches looking for advice.
Espadas was one of the players who founded Collerense’s women’s team in 1999, made up of sisters of the male players and a few other families from the Palma neighbourhood that gave the club its name — Coll de’n Rabassa.
She played for the club from its inception, progressed through all the age groups and retired in 2024, aged 43. She remains involved as a coach.
“Twenty-six years ago, it was a different era,” she says. “We girls didn’t dare play with the boys, it was frowned upon. The early days were tough. We played on dirt pitches, we didn’t have any of the facilities we have now.”
When Collerense were promoted to the Liga Nacional in 2002 — Spain’s second tier at the time — the competition required them to have a reserve team, so they set one up. Espadas became the reserve team’s coach whilst playing for the first team and helping them achieve promotion to the top flight.
“We don’t have the structure or the budget of the big clubs, but in terms of the players’ commitment, passion and sacrifice, we never stopped believing,” says Espadas. “We didn’t get paid; we did it for the love of the game. We were a group of friends.”
In 27 years, the club has grown to include six women’s teams which promote the development of young talent and new players. What they could scarcely have imagined was that the cradle of women’s football in the Balearic Islands would end up playing a significant role in the World Cup-winning Spain team and the incredible success of Barcelona.
Caldentey and Coll were on the pitch as Spain beat England 1-0 in that August 2023 final. Guijarro was one of Las 15, a group of players who said they did not want to play until changes were made to the coaching staff.
“The day they lifted the World Cup, I had a proper cry,” says Espadas.
“When I was playing, I had no role models, but they are role models now, both in Spain and on the world stage.”
The first of the three to join Collerense was Caldentey, now 30. That was in 2010. The Arsenal player was living in Felanitx, a town in the island’s interior, situated in the east, with a population of almost 20,000.
Among its traditional houses with colourful doors and windows, at the heart of the town lies the Penya Barcelonista Tamarell, one of Mallorca’s best-known official Barcelona supporters’ clubs, where fans gather to watch the matches. It was founded in 2003 by Miquel Angel Caldentey, Mariona’s father, who passed away in 2018.
The village where the player grew up is about 30 miles from Collerense’s training ground, a car journey of around 48 minutes. Now, on the outskirts of the village, Felanitx’s municipal football stadium bears the name of Mariona Caldentey.
“She came from a mixed-gender team and was already standing out there,” says Espadas. “She was a lovely person. She was always smiling. She hasn’t changed in that respect, either.
“I used to call her ‘the magician’, because she could spot a pass where no one else could. In her second training session with Collerense, she injured her knee and had to undergo cruciate ligament surgery. She’s missed important matches and finals, but football has given her what she deserves.”
In 2012, another promising young footballer joined the ranks of Collerense. Her name was Patri Guijarro. Unlike Caldentey, she lived in the capital, Palma de Mallorca.
“Patri joined the under-12s and had to play in the mixed team because she was under 15,” Espadas says. “Even then, she was making a difference. She took control of the midfield straight away. And then there was her shot from outside the box.
“She scored goals practically from the centre of the pitch. She’s the balance, the compass, the rudder of a team that everyone wants to have. She’s a player with great ball distribution, balance, vision and aerial ability. She’s indispensable.”
Espadas regrets that she moved on so soon. In 2015, she followed in Caldentey’s footsteps (who left in 2014) and signed for Barcelona. Now 28, she was made Barca captain this season after Alexia Putellas’ departure.
“Right now, she’s the best central midfielder in the world,” says Espadas.
A year later, in 2016, Cata Coll joined Collerense. She was a cheerful little girl who had set her heart on becoming a goalkeeper and idolised Dudu Aouate, the former Mallorca men’s goalkeeper (2009-14).
Coll, now 25, lived in Portol, a town with a population of almost 4,000, 23 minutes north of Palma. In contrast to her character, it is a very quiet town. The local stadium now carries her name, too.
“She was a bit of a wild one,” says Espadas, breaking into a laugh. “They say goalkeepers have to be a bit mad, and she was no exception.
“She brings the team to life. She got on well with everyone and always had a smile for everyone. She made training sessions that much better.
“She exudes confidence and self-assurance. She’s brilliant with her feet. She already had that when she was with us. She’s very strong in the air and conveys confidence to the whole team.”
In 2019, Collerense had become too small for Coll, now 25. She ended up signing, like her predecessors, for Barcelona, where she has been the first-choice goalkeeper since 2023.
But before any of these three illustrious figures there was another Collerense player who paved the way for them.
Virginia Torrecilla, played for two years at Collerense then spent a season at Sporting de Palma before signing for Barca where she spent three seasons (2012-15), sharing a dressing room with, amongst others, Putellas, for whom the midfielder is a very important figure.
Torrecilla was part of the team that laid the foundations for Barca’s success. She left in 2015 to join Montpellier (2015-19), before returning to Spain with Atletico Madrid (2019-23). In 2020, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which she managed to overcome, and in January 2022 she returned to the pitch for the Supercopa de Espana final against Barcelona, where she was celebrated by both teams. She then played one season for Villarreal CF (2023). In 2024, she returned home to play for Baleares and retired that same year.
Torrecilla played a key role in Caldentey’s signing for Barca. Today, she regrets that Collerense finds itself in such a different situation from that of its golden age.
“Collerense today is not what it used to be,” she says. “But those years were wonderful; what they did was groundbreaking. They gave us the chance to turn professional, which is not the case today.”
The first team was relegated in 2016 after seven years in the top flight. Their best players eventually left for bigger teams. The support schemes for smaller clubs that exist today were not yet in place.
For Collerense, the Ballon d’Or ceremony will be a chance to celebrate three extraordinary journeys that began on its pitches.
The harder challenge is making sure the next generation gets the same chance.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Barcelona, Soccer, La Liga, Women's Soccer
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