When Italy's women's team announced themselves on the global stage at the 2019 World Cup in France by reaching the quarterfinals with a side made up entirely of amateur players, they captured the public's imagination. The women's side were temporarily seen as leaders of a renaissance for Italy's proud footballing nation, as their successes in 2019 came at a time when the men's team had failed to qualify for their own World Cup.
That year accelerated the quest for equal opportunities and the chance to grow the women's game in Italy, as the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced that Serie A Femminile would become professional by 2022. Yet, unfortunately, the national side failed to follow up on their surprise summer in France and were dumped out of both Euro 2022 and the 2023 World Cup in the group stage.
It was a succession of results that not only curbed their progress, but also ended the reign of then-manager Milena Bertolini as she resigned amid a open letter published by the players on Instagram which claimed the team were "not put in the condition" to succeed.
Now, two years on, and going into a third year of professionalism in the domestic league, Italy have a new head coach (the 46-year-old Andrea Soncin), an increasingly impressive squad (featuring the first Italian woman to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or), and domestic clubs which are closing in on lucrative private investment.
Italy's fusion of historical turmoil and recent domestic strides make them an intriguing prospect in Group B alongside Spain, Portugal and Belgium for the upcoming Euro 2025 tournament this summer. But what can we expect from them?
The road to professionalism
The history of women's football in Italy is a familiar tale; one plagued in a deep-rooted "machismo" culture, a lack of interest, investment, or time for those trying to blaze a trail. Indeed, as recently as 2015, the president of the Italian Amateur Football Association (LND), Felice Belloli, was recorded in the minutes of a meeting of the LND's women's football advisory panel saying: "You can't always talk about giving money to these four lesbians." While Belloli denied using the phrase, he was removed from office in May after refusing calls to resign and banned from soccer for four months after an investigation.
While prejudice was rife among senior circles of Italian football, there was also a lack of knowledge of the women's game around the country. Even Bertolini, the national team manager from 2017-2023, had little understanding of the history of her side. After their win against Australia at the 2023 World Cup, she was asked about the 1999 Italian team, the last to qualify before a 20-year absence in the tournament; she replied: "I didn't watch them. In 1999, I didn't even know what women's football was about."
Though a domestic league formed in 1968 was untouched by the FIGC until 2018, a national side filled with amateur players had managed to reach the quarterfinals of the 1991 World Cup and were part of the first four European Championship tournaments from 1984-1991, before reaching the finals of both the four-team Euro 1993 and eight-team event in 1997 [losing to Norway and Germany.
Italy suffered something of a decline for the next two decades -- participating in all the Euros tournaments but going no further than the quarterfinals in 2009 and 2013, while qualification for the next four World Cups eluded them. But their revival and return to the World Cup in 2019 began a rejuvenation of awareness of women's football in the country.
Still boasting a fully amateur side, Italy beat Australia and Jamaica in the group stage and only lost 1-0 to the giants of Brazil in the final to finish top of Group C. Then they earned a memorable round-of-16 victory against China, winning 2-0, to set up a quarterfinal against Netherlands. After Italian television stations finally shifted broadcasts of the games to its main channel for the game, it attracted a record six million viewers for the first time for a women's game.
"Everything was a dream for us," defender Elena Linari told FIFA. "It was amazing to show that women's football in Italy exists, and that we're not as bad as people thought. We had no expectations at that tournament."
Despite a 2-0 defeat, the Italian players were welcomed back as heroes. "We [were] very surprised," Bertolini told Sky Italia. "We knew there was affection towards us, but we certainly did not expect such a welcome. We hope that all this doesn't end, but that the interest continues. The girls deserve it."
Young midfielder Annamaria Serturini added to Sky: "It was an incredible emotion. We dreamed of making these people passionate. We have written history for our movement; soon the professionalism will arrive, this is the greatest joy for us players."
Building on that momentum, a year later, FIGC announced that the players of Serie A would become the first fully professional female athletes in Italy by 2022. As surmised by Linari, the last few years have been part of a process involving "a lot of work and little wars," but the national team are now better placed than ever before to succeed.
Reaping the rewards
The surprise run of the national team in 2019 hammered home the potential of the women's game in Italy, but the first steps had been taken domestically in 2015 when Fiorentina acquired the Serie A license of A.C.F. Firenze to become the first professionally affiliated women's club in the country.
Soon followed by the likes of Juventus (2017) and AS Roma (2018), Serie A's 10-team women's league started to see an improving ecosystem of profile, coaches and training. And that helped them incentivize players to return. For example, Italy's No. 1 goalkeeper Laura Giuliani, who had moved to play in Germany from 2012-2017, headed back to join Juventus and then AC Milan.
"When I left in 2012 there was virtually nothing for me in Italy at the time," she told Milan's club media. "Women's football was entirely amateur, and there was no structure. When I got the call from Juve [in 2017], I didn't need to think about it. I quit Freiburg and went to Turin. The prospect was a future with lots to develop."
Now the league is largely made up of clubs from the established order of men's football. However, an emerging development has been Mercury/13's acquisition of Como Women in March 2024 as part of their global portfolio pledging $100m of investment to female clubs. With further financial backing -- from the likes of Italy legend Giorgio Chiellini -- the future of women's football development in the country looks set to come from a variety of sources.
More immediately impactful, though, was the removal of the salary cap in 2022, roughly €30,000 a season. That afforded the wealthier clubs the freedom to sign foreign players and soak up the best Italian talent from the rest of the league.
As a result, all but one player in the Italy squad selected for the February internationals against Wales and Denmark play their football in Serie A -- the exception being Arianna Caruso, who is on loan at Bayern Munich from Juventus. And only three players from those that started those games were not affiliated to either Juventus or Roma.
Indeed, Roma's rise has further enhanced the exposure of Italian stars. With regular involvement in the UEFA Women's Champions League -- they lost out on progress from Group A this season to Wolfsburg on goal difference -- the club won Serie A back-to-back in 2023 and 2024, and have some of the best women's players in Europe.
The heartbeat of both Roma and Italy's midfield is 27-year-old Manuela Giugliano, who became the first Italian woman in history to receive a Ballon d'Or nomination at the end of last year. Key at the World Cup in 2019, her performances since have elevated her to another level and in a 2018 interview with Marco Migaleddu she spoke about the impact of media outlets like Sky Italia who have been able to "increase the visibility" of women's football and allow them to attract "important players from abroad [who] can arrive to raise both the level of the game and the league."
A far cry from seven years ago, many of Italy's national team stars are thriving in its domestic league. Soncin has the headache of choosing between two of Serie A's top scorers this season, but has tended to give the nod to 31-year-old Juventus striker Cristiana Girelli (who tops the charts with 17 goals) over Lazio's 27-year-old Martina Piemonte (who has 12) up front.
Italy's squad is now stacked with experience of international tournaments and the backbone of the side -- including forward Sofia Cantore and midfielders Caruso and Giada Greggi, who made her Serie A debut at 14 -- are all now 25 and approaching the peak of their careers.
Meanwhile, Serie A has also earned a reputation of being a trusted home for the brightest young names to develop. Milan-born Giulia Dragoni was signed by Barcelona in 2023 before being loaned back to Roma to develop and the 18-year-old creative forward is considered one of the most promising talents in Europe. Elsewhere, the likes of Eva Schatzer, Emma Severini and Chiara Beccari are all aged 21 or younger and will be looking to press their claims for a place at Euro 2025.
A summer of hope?
Although the professional history of the women's game in Italy is short, the country's status as a football powerhouse still weighs heavy. And, with recent successes driving momentum, the pressure has ramped up ahead of their Swiss sojourn this summer.
A historic moment for the women's game in Italy! 🇮🇹⚽️
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) April 10, 2025
For the first time ever, our First Team, U19s and U17s are all going to the Euros in the same year! We're so proud of you all! 💙#Azzurre #LeAzzurreSiamoNoi pic.twitter.com/OHw0OAyPz0
Set up in either a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, or 3-5-1 formation, Italy are flexible, with the dynamism and intelligence of their star midfielder providing an extra creative edge and Giugliano's pinpoint expertise at set pieces offering them another line of attack.
It has been speculated as to whether Soncin -- whose sole previous coaching experience had been at Venezia, primarily in their youth teams -- is a long-term option for Italy, with his assistant Viviana Schiavi, who played at both Euros in 2005 and 2009, tipped to take over eventually.
But the manager has won five of his 12 games in charge, since September 2023, and Italy recently hammered Denmark 3-0 and only fell to a narrow 3-2 defeat to Sweden in the Nations League earlier this month thanks to Fridolina Rolfö's last-minute winner.
The players have certainly appreciated the change of direction in the wake of Bertolini's exit, with results and confidence both improving. "He's [Soncin] brought fresh ideas, focusing on every detail and preparing each match as if it were a final," Cantore told the national team media.
If Italy are to make waves at Euro 2025 and reach their full potential, then it is clear that the FIGC needs to find a way to build on the success of its domestic sides and unify the quest for further investment in the game. Players have been expected to shoulder the burden themselves for too long and Italian Paralympic athlete Giusy Versace, commenting to The Guardian on the team in 2019, revealed a lot when she said: "They are women who have been able to train and reach this level thanks to thoughtful sponsors and their own pockets, not to the state."
The team have long faced a long and uphill battle to find a seat at Europe's top table. Now, with an array of talent all playing at a high level domestically, they travel to Switzerland with a point to prove. If they can hold their own against Spain, and beat Portugal or Belgium, a place in the quarterfinals could spark another wave of momentum as it did back in 2019.