The Serie A Femminile is already three rounds underway and we are going to take a look at the possible candidates to go all out for the title.
It’s safe to say that a lot on the women’s game has developed in recent years. However, of all the 12 teams playing in the Italian women’s top-flight, Juventus have won the last three times in a row since the 2017-18 season. Can anyone be a serious threat to the favorites to be the champions once more? We’ll have to see about that.
Indeed, there are now teams all over with competitive squads around Italy. The level is getting higher and closer as the game continues to be seen as lucrative for the future as in countries such as England, France, German, and Spain.
To talk about women’s football in Italy, we might need to go way back to 1991. That’s when the first female World Cup in history was held and the Italy national team also got to the Quarter-Finals.
Last year, the Azzurre were knocked out by the Netherlands in the Quarter-Finals after eliminating China in the Round of 16. This increased the interest in the beautiful game played by women in the Belpaese.
But, aside from the World Cup or the Olympics games, let’s take our focus back to the domestic calcio femminile and look at the potential Juventus Women contenders.
For this season, Inter Women have made quite a statement in the transfer window so far. The Nerazzurre have signed Illaria Mauro from Fiorentina Women, Flaminia Simonetti on loan from Roma, and also young Danish striker Caroline Moller Hensen.
To increase their solidarity at the back, they snapped up a Brazilian center-back who has been frequently called up by the Seleção first team in Kethellen Souza. She had been linked to Real Madrid Women in 2019, but Bordeaux pulled a plug on any move happening back then.
The Inter Women project was born in 2018, and they looked poised on paper to try to break Juventus’ hegemony. Over the past season, Inter have built an experienced team that has empowered them to have their say in a constantly evolving league.
Although, too much was expected of them and they ended up failing to be competitive as they would have wanted to. Nevertheless, with a more experienced and paced team, La Beneamata will prove to be a serious threat to Juventus this time around.
Another rival who look to be a serious contender are Milan Women. There is still much to come from them despite the disappointment of last season. The Rossonere ended their last campaign on a sour note after failing to notch a Champions League qualification by a mere goal difference. Fiorentina just about beat them to the final spot.
Regardless, manager Maurizio Ganz’s women will face the next season with the right determination not to make any of that happen again and the concerns for their opponents will be great.
Despite such huge departures as those of Nora Heroum, Berglind Bjorg Thorvalsdottir, and Lady Andrade, some excellent signings have been made in Europe to go with. The arrivals of Natasha Dowie, Julia Simic, and Caroline Rask will give the Rossonere a good boost to fight for a place in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
One of the other teams who can also cause some trouble is Napoli Ladies. The Neapolitan girls have a president who strongly believes in this project. Great players landed in the Campania capital such as Federica Di Criscio from Roma, Eleonora Goldoni from Inter, and Emmeline Mainguy from Olympique Lyon. The new arrivals, alongside the existing crop of players, will give the necessary impetus for Napoli to perhaps be the revelation team in the coming season.
Elsewhere, a team like Roma Women certainly cannot aim for a mild fourth place. The Giallorosse team boasts a squad with a different technical approach than others. That doesn’t come as a surprise considering they have a good tactician for a manager in Betty Bavagnoli.
Surely the competition is fierce, with the likes of Juventus, Inter, and Milan who look like the top contenders, but Roma cannot be overlooked as well. Thanks to the bargain signings made by the Capitoline management with the arrival of some promising young people – such as Serena Landa and Rachele Baldi – and some more highly experienced players, including Paloma Lazaro and Osinachi Ohale, the team led by Elisa Bartoli has the perfect opportunity to improve on their performances from last season.
Another fundamental step for Roma was managing to keep all their big players in the park, such as Lindsey Thomas, Manuela Giugliano, and Andrine Hegerberg. Roma Women have all the cards on the table to be able to cause an upset in the expected top three.
The last contender spot and not in any way the least goes to Fiorentina Women. They have been known as the second biggest side in Serie A, but are they going to finally steal the title from Juventus? Personally I strongly doubt that.
However, the fact remains clear. With Juventus being runaway champions last season, the race for the second Champions League spot offered an intriguing challenge between Fiorentina and Milan. The Viola outfit had to dig deep and eventually did grab it only via goal difference.
The Viola had had a very fluctuating start to their season, alternating good performances with bad ones and them stabilizing and grinding results up until the lockdown.
Despite their not so convincing start, Fiorentina qualified for the fourth consecutive time in the Women’s Champions League playing an overall good championship. Surely, the departure of a player like Alia Guagni is going to hurt but with a number of quality buys such as Claudia Neto, there is something positive to look forward to.
Also, the fact that they managed to keep hold of most of their big names gives them an incentive not to make the same mistakes as the last season. By retaining the same manager in Antonio Cincotta, they will get to polish their tactics even better than they have done in recent seasons.
Teams like Fiorentina and Milan, two of the biggest sides in Italy, have increased their force to be able to compete with Juventus. Elsewhere, the likes of Napoli and Inter cannot be overlooked.
At the end of the day, the Bianconere still remain the favorites to this campaign, but just maybe a transition in power could be close in the coming seasons.