Sonia Bermúdez: serious, disciplined, of few words and, above all, at home

"A tandem for a new model" was how the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced the appointment of Sonia Bermúdez as national coach and Iraia Iturregi as her deputy. Thus, and despite including the adjective "new" alongside the noun "model," the RFEF once again prioritized continuity over disruption. Because Sonia Bermúdez is a true fixture. Serious, disciplined, and of few words, Reyes Bellver and María Pry, the RFEF's director of women's football and its sports coordinator for women's national teams, respectively, entrust the future of the world champion team to the Vallecas native.

Before becoming a coach, Sonia Bermúdez was a soccer player. And a good one at that. She was part of the best Rayo Vallecano team (2006-2011), the one that competed in the Champions League and won three consecutive La Liga titles. In addition to the Madrid team, the new national team coach played for Barcelona (2011-2014), Atlético de Madrid (2014-2018), and Levante (2003-2005 and 2018-2019). In 2014, she tried her luck with the Western New York Flash in the US.

A forward with a highly developed goal-scoring instinct and a class that few others can match, she earned 63 caps, scoring 35 goals. Her commitment and talent on the pitch earned her the captaincy of the Spanish national team.

Her trophy cabinet includes nine La Liga titles and three Queen's Cups. Sonia Bermúdez became one of the leading figures in football at the time, being crowned La Liga's top scorer four seasons in a row.

Her extensive career with the ball at her feet contrasts with her limited experience in coaching . A circumstance that has drawn initial criticism in Spanish women's football circles. Like Jorge Vilda and Montse Tomé, Sonia Bermúdez has barely had any coaching experience in club football, beyond managing Real Madrid's U19 women's team in 2021, with whom she won the La Liga title. She has spent the rest of her coaching career in the youth categories of the national team (U19 and U20). Her most recent experience is on the bench with the Spanish U23 team.

For this very reason, it's understandable why the RFEF is giving so much importance to the name of Iraia Iturregi, who will be its deputy and has the most experience in coaching. The former Athletic Club player—another legend of Spanish football—trained as a coach at Lezama. Over eight seasons, she progressed through the ranks (youth, cadet, and reserve teams) until reaching the women's first team. She was a Second Division League champion in the 2019–2020 season with Athletic B. Later, in the 2022–2023 season, she received the award for best coach in the First Women's Division.

In addition, she won the league title in the men's Third RFEF and achieved promotion to the 2nd RFEF with Basconia (Athletic's reserve team) as assistant coach (2024-25).

In addition to their appointments, the RFEF announced changes in the rest of the categories . David Aznar will coach the U-19 and U-20 teams, and Milagros Martínez will coach the U-17s. The former was coming off a great season at Athletic Club and was the first female coach in the history of the Real Madrid women's team. Milagros Martínez coached Fundación Albacete (2017-2019) and was also the first woman to coach a professional men's team in Japan: the fourth-tier Suzuka Unlimited (2019-2021). She then continued in Japan, but with women's teams. In fact, in 2022-2023, she won the league title with Urawa Red Diamonds.