For years, La Liga giants Real Madrid, who boast an illustrious list of big names in football and a record haul of 13 Champions League titles, had a peculiarity that looks entirely incongruous with their world-beating status. They held the unwanted distinction of being one of the rare few European powerhouses that don't have a women's team to their name.

However, as Spain is still grappling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Madrid quietly made a monumental change on Wednesday. The club announced on their official website that they have completed a buyout of Madrid-based club CD Tacon, who will become Los Blancos' women's team.

"Real Madrid are looking forward to this new challenge with a commitment to promoting women's football and contributing to its development and growth in our society," read a statement. "The time has come to build a team that you will all be very proud of," added Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. 

Tacon were formed in 2014 and achieved promotion to the top division of Spanish women's football league last season. They were 10th in the table when the whole campaign was prematurely scrapped due to the coronavirus crisis.

Women's football has made great strides in recent years, with attendances at the women's World Cup in 2019 setting numerous records. Almost 59 million people watched Brazil's last-16 game against hosts France, making it the most watched women's football match of all time. The quarter-final between the USA and France drew a record audience of 6.1 million in the U.S., according to FIFA.

As the football's landscape was clouded by the deadly virus, Real's decision to enter the women's arena would provide a timely boost for the sport and herald a new area as an increasing number of football juggernauts, who have long resisted calls to invest in women players, are turning their attention to the long-neglected development in women's game. 

Serie A champions Juventus famously established their first ever women's side in 2017 and cemented their status as the most successful club in Italian football after they clinched three women's titles in a row.

English behemoth Manchester United launched a female team in 2018 and were awarded fourth place on a points per game basis after their maiden Women's Super League campaign was curtailed by the pandemic.

"The Manchester United women's team must be built in the same image and with the same principles as the men's first team and offer academy players a clear route to top-level football within the club," vowed United's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

Lyon star Ada Hegerberg, the first winner of the Women's Ballon d'Or in 2018, beamed that the latest development was "a huge positive."

"I'm hoping they will stabilize the investment over a long period and that they have a long-term perspective because it can't happen overnight," she observed.