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Juventus Women

Immagine dalla pubblicazione di Quotidiano Piemontese
From the publication of Quotidiano Piemontese, 2026-09-19

Juventus Women is the women's football team of Juventus, founded in the summer of 2017 by taking over the sporting title of Cuneo Calcio. After Fiorentina, it was the first major club in men's Serie A to set up its own women's team, using facilities and resources similar to those of the men's first team.[1] For Turin it meant something new: women's football matches with tens of thousands of spectators at the Allianz Stadium.

The founding

The project was announced in early August 2017. The club bought the sporting title of Cuneo, then in Serie A, and put together a squad with players from the national team, the Italian league and abroad, including English midfielder Katie Zelem, who arrived from Liverpool. Summer preparations took place in Valle d'Aosta, with training sessions in Vinovo. Rita Guarino, a former player who had coached the Under-17 national team, was named head coach.[1] At the presentation she said:

«I've been walking football pitches for thirty years and I always lived in the hope that this moment would come, that such an important club could allow women's football to look to the future more brightly».

Rita Guarino, presentation press conference, August 2017

At the time, the Italian movement was far behind the major European leagues; Fiorentina had added a women's team to its club two years earlier, while Juventus had already had a women's youth sector since 2015.[1]

The first title and Turin's record

The first championship ended with Juventus and Brescia tied on 60 points. The playoff was held in May 2018 on neutral ground in Novara: 0-0 after extra time and a 5-4 win for Juventus on penalties, decided by a miss from De Criscio. With that title Juventus became the first Italian club to win both the men's and women's championship in the same season.[2]

The following season brought the most remembered day in the team's history. On 24 March 2019 the top-of-the-table clash against Fiorentina, second a point behind, was played at the Allianz Stadium with free admission: tickets sold out and the crowd numbered 39,000, a record for women's football in Italy. The previous record, about 14,000 people, dated back to the 2008 UEFA Women's Cup semi-final between Verona and Frankfurt.[3] On 20 April Juventus won 3-0 against Verona on the final matchday and finished first with 56 points, one more than Fiorentina;[4] on 28 April, at the Tardini stadium in Parma, they beat Fiorentina again 2-1 in the Coppa Italia final, with goals from Petronella Ekroth and Valentina Cernoia, winning the trophy for the first time.[5]

That squad also included English forward Eniola Aluko, who in her only full season in Italy won every domestic trophy. In November 2019, announcing her departure, she wrote an article in the Guardian about everyday racism, from which Il Post translated the line: «Turin seemed to me decades behind in terms of integration». In the same piece she described drug-dog checks at Turin airport.[6]

Five titles in a row

The 2019-20 season was interrupted by the pandemic: on 8 June 2020 the FIGC federal council decided not to resume the championship, with six matchdays remaining and Juventus top of the table, initially deciding not to award the title.[7] The 2019-20 title was later included in the run of consecutive championships won from 2017-18 to 2021-22.[8] On 5 October 2020 the Bianconere played Milan at San Siro in the first official Serie A women's match in the history of the Milan stadium, winning 1-0 with a penalty from Cristiana Girelli; it was the second-largest Italian stadium to host a women's match, after Florence's Franchi and Juventus's own stadium.[9]

On 7 May 2022, beating Sassuolo with a matchday to spare, Juventus won their fifth consecutive championship: no team in Italian women's football had ever achieved that before.[10] Two seasons followed in which the title went to Roma.[8]

Biella, the Stadium and the crowds

For league matches the team played for several years away from the city, at the La Marmora-Pozzo stadium in Biella, with fewer than 6,000 seats, about 80 kilometres from Turin. The biggest matches, however, return to the Allianz Stadium: on 13 October 2024, against Roma, again with free admission, about 33,000 people attended, and Juventus won 2-1 with goals from Barbara Bonansea and Sofia Cantore. Exceptional numbers for a league that in 2022-23 averaged 465 spectators per match, compared with 208 in 2017-18.[11]

The return to the title and the captains

With Massimiliano Canzi, head coach since the 2024-25 season, Juventus won the championship again on 18 April 2025, beating Milan 2-0: they had won their first six matches with 20 goals, stayed top all season and finished 13 points ahead of Inter and 14 ahead of Roma. Girelli scored 19 goals, Cantore 11. It was the sixth title, second only to Torres's seven.[8]

In late April Sara Gama, a defender and captain since 2017, announced her retirement: in black and white she won six championships, four Coppa Italia titles and three Supercoppe. Off the pitch she served as a federal councillor since 2018 and vice-president of the Italian footballers' association since 2020, playing a decisive role in the approval of professionalism in women's football.[12] In June 2025 Sofia Cantore, who had come through Juventus's youth ranks since 2017 and had just won the Coppa Italia final against Roma, moved to Washington Spirit for 300,000 euros, the highest fee ever paid for an Italian female player.[13] On 11 January 2026 in Pescara, Juventus won their fifth Supercoppa, coming back to beat Roma 2-1, with a backheel goal from Girelli in the 85th minute; for the forward it was her twelfth Supercoppa, an absolute record.[14]

Today

The 2025-26 title went to Roma. For the 2026-27 season the coaching role has been given to Spaniard Isaac Guerrero, with Martina Rosucci as captain.[15] In September 2026 the team won the Serie A Women's Cup in Viareggio, coming back against Roma in the final and winning on penalties.[15][16] On 22 September they made their debut in the Champions League league phase at the Allianz Stadium, losing 2-1 to Benfica.[17] On the eve of the match Guerrero had said: «We play for the fans who are proud of Juventus Women».[18] The squad includes, among others, Cecilia Salvai, Martina Lenzini, Annamaria Serturini, Tatiana Pinto and Alba Redondo, who scored against Benfica.[17][19]

Pages linking here

Sources

  1. Il Post — 15 August 2017
  2. Il Post — 21 May 2018
  3. Il Post — 24 March 2019
  4. Il Post — 20 April 2019
  5. Il Post — 28 April 2019
  6. Il Post — 29 November 2019
  7. Il Post — 8 June 2020
  8. Il Post — 18 April 2025
  9. Il Post — 6 October 2020
  10. Il Post — 7 May 2022
  11. Il Post — 14 October 2024
  12. Il Post — 29 April 2025
  13. Il Post — 18 June 2025
  14. Il Post — 12 January 2026
  15. FIGC — 25 September 2026
  16. FIGC — 18 September 2026
  17. FIGC — 23 September 2026
  18. Juventus FC — 21 September 2026
  19. Juventus FC

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