Best Italian Female Football Players

You might agree that women's football is under frequent unfair comparisons between females and males. Though playing in this condition might have affected their self-confidence, the enhancement on their playing level and subsequently the received much more attention from football fans have made many changes in all situations. 

However, there have gotten much attention and support from many men. For example, through an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the famous striker of AC Milan, said, "With all respect for what the ladies have done, and they have done it fantastically well, you can't compare men's and women's football. Give it up. It is not even funny."

Despite all these difficulties they have confronted, they are the only significant growth opportunity in football today, which has caused them to become the first preference for FIFA. The growth has happened to all levels of women's football exponentially. However, the rising popularity and enthusiasm regarding female football show that it offers vast untapped potential.

Tailor-made development plans, human resources, and innovation, besides the investment in dedicated funding, are the programs FIFA has focused on to enhance women's football into the mainstream, where they deserve to be. Stay with us within the article and read about the women who, despite getting unfair judgment instead of enthusiastic supports, have continued their career successfully. 

Taking a Look at the List of Best Italian Female Football Players

Through today's article, we have presented a list of the best female footballers, who come from the country, whose men's football is one of the top national teams in the football world, Italy. To know more regarding the 

top Italian female football players of all time

, a small group of women's football society, keep reading till the end of the article. 

Manuela Giugliano 

• Age: 23

• Position: Midfielder

• Current Team: Roma

One of the best Italian female football players is Manuela Giugliano, the current midfielder of Roma in Italy's Serie A and Italy's women's national football side. The 23-year-old Italian footballer started her career in the 2013-14 season in ACFD Prodenone, when she was only 16.

Having appeared 16 times for and scoring one goal for them, she joined ASD Torres Calcio. However, her playing there did not last for a long time, and in 2015-16 she signed a contract for ASD Mozzanica. Through the three following seasons, Giugliano played for Verona, ACF Brescia, and Milan.

She has joined her current team, Roma, since 2019, and meanwhile, she has appeared in 33 competitions and scored six goals. The first season of her appearance for Roma coincided with her playing for her national team during the 2019 World Cup.

At the year, she achieved Italian Football's Female Player of the Year prize at the 2019 Gran Gala del Calcio. As her career history shows, Roma is the first side, which Giugliano has spent more than 12 months there. 

Besides playing in various clubs successfully, Giugliano has participated Ain her national team well. After playing for Italy U17 and U19, Giugliano started to play for Italy in 2014. During these seven years, through appearing in 20 matches, she has netted three times. 

Barbara Bonansea

• Age: 30

• Position: Forward, Midfielder

• Current Team: Juventus

Barbara Bonansea, the current forward or midfielder for Serie A club

and Italy national team, is one of the other names on the list of 

best Italian women footballers

. 

A.C.F. Torino is the first club that Bonansea began her career with them, and till now, she has played more than 100 games for them and recorded 27 scored goals during the time. Afterward, she joined ACF Brescia, and with the five years that she played for them, she participated in 177 matches and scored 61 times. 

As FIFA has described, "Bonansea is a football player who is pacey and snake-hipped, and able to balletically slalom past opponents on grass like Alberto Tomba did poles." Bonansea is also famous for her knuckleball free-kicks that Juninho Pernambucano had pioneered. 

is the winner of AIC Serie A Female Footballer of the Year in 2016, AIC Best Women's XI in 2019, and the FIFA FIFPro Women's World11 in 2020. 

Taking a look at her international career will reveal that Bonansea played for Italy at the youth level and left seven goals from herself within the 15 competitions she appeared. As of 2012, she joined the senior national team, which until now, by appearing in 61 matches, she has scored 21 goals. 

Milena Bertolini

• Age: 55

• Position: Defender

• Current Team: Retired (as a player)

Milena Bertolini, the 55-year-old Italian former footballer, is one of the other names of best Italian women footballers. Bertolini, who currently manages the Italy women's national team, left a brilliant senior career as a player filled with various clubs, such as Reggiana, Modena Euromobil, and Woman Sassari.

Having spent her youth career with U.S. Correggese, Bertolini moved to Reggiania in 1984. After three seasons, while they had gotten a promotion to Serie A, she left the club. However, Bertolini returned them after a while and helped them to achieve the Serie A title. Before joining Foroni Verona, as the last team for her playing, she had appeared for Fiammamonza, Modena Femminile, and Pisa S.C.F.

Italy's national team became qualified to participate in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup under Bertolini's management. However, there were about twenty years that the side was absent in it. The not only successful player but the manager has won Panchina d'Oro of Serie A Femminile six seasons. It is only one of many awards she has recorded in her career history. 

Carolina Morace

• Age: 57

• Position: Striker

• Current Team: Retired

One of the other names on the list of Italian women footballers belongs to Carolina Morace, a former Italian football player who currently works as the head coach of Lazio Women. During her playing time, she appeared as a striker in various clubs in women's Serie A and played for her country's national team.

There is no wonder the player who has gotten the title of top scorer in the Serie A in 1984-85 and 11 consecutive years from the 1987-88 season to 1997-98 one, is one of the outstanding and 

best Italian female football players

. 

Morace has left a rich history from herself via her appearances in international competitions. In 1978 when Morace joined Italy's national team, till 1997 that she announced her retirement as a player, appeared in 153 matches for her country's team, and netted 105 times.

Meanwhile, she participated in six European Championships and the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup China in 1991. In the latter left the record of a first-ever hat-trick to be netted at a World Cup.

One of her other memorable moments is Morace's four goals in the match against England ended in a 4-1 victory, which they had appeared as a curtain-raiser to the 1990 FA Charity Shield. Her goals caused her to be on the front page of the following day's La Gazzetta dello Sport because it was a record, though no one has beaten it yet, male or female. 

Melania Gabbiadini

• Age: 37

• Position: Forward

• Current Team: Retired

Melania Gabbiadini, the former Italian football forward, who announced her retirement from senior career and national team in 2017, has allocated one place amongst the 

best Italian female football players

 to herself. 

Bergamo is the first team she began her career with them in 2000. Gabbiadini kept playing there for four years, and during that time, she appeared in 146 matches and scored 150 goals for them. AGSM Verona was the second and last team which Gabbiadini spent the rest of her career there until her retirement in 2017.

Several honors that she recorded in her successful career history refer to the years between 2012 and 2016, including Serie A Female Footballer of the Year, UEFA Women's Euro 2013 Squad of the Tournament, and Pallone Azzurro in 2016. She also was the winner of Scudetti when she played for AGSM Verona. 

Owning some features, such as being a fast winger with an eye for goal, had made her a qualified and experienced player at the international level. Playing in 114 matches with 45 scored goals is the result of her playing for

women's national team from 2003 to 2017.  

Antonella Carta

• Age: 54

• Position: Midfielder

• Current Team: Retired

The following paragraph is related to a former Italian footballer whose role was a midfielder in Italy women's national football team. When she was a player, her team participated at the UEFA Women's Euro 1997, and during the period that she was the team's captain, they appeared in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Though her name is amongst the 

Italian women footballers

, there is not much info about her youth, senior, and international career. 

Patrizia Panico

• Age: 46

• Position: Striker

• Current Team: Retired (as a player)

Patrizia Panico is one of the other footballers whose name is one of the best Italian female football players. Having spent her youth career in Borussia and Valmontone, Panico started her senior career in 1993 with SS Lazio and kept playing there for three seasons.

To brief her performance with them as her first club, Panico made 71 appearances with 32 scored goals during her three years of playing there. Apart from the team, she played for several others, such as Torino CF, Modena Amadio, ACF Milan, ASD Bardolino, and Soccer (WPS). Panico, the Serie A's top scorer for ten seasons, gained her first Serie A title when she played at Modena in the 1997-98 season. 

Playing beside Carolina Moraco led Panico to achieve Morace's title as Italy's best female player. The title made her the heir apparent, a person who places first in succession, and until inheriting by the birth of another person, no one place it. Being considered a prolific goalscorer, Panico played for 18 years for the Italy women's national football team and became one of the longstanding players of the side.

In addition to serving as her country team's captain, Italy's 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, and 2013 UEFA Women's Championship campaigns recall Panico as the team's veteran.

Throughout her international playing, Panico appeared 196 times and netted 107 goals. Panico is the winner of ten Scudetti and five Coppa Italia and Serie A's top scorers on 14 events, that the latter is an Italian record for her category. Nowadays, Panico is the manager of Italy U16, which has started in 2017.

Sara Gama

• Age: 32

• Position: Defender

• Current Team: Juventus

One of the other top Italian female football players of all time is Sara Gama, the footballer who currently captains the Serie A club Juventus and Italy national team. Gama has recorded several prominent clubs' names in his career history by playing a forward role for them, including 

of Division 1 Feminine, UPS Tavagnacco, Calcio Chiasiellis of Serie A, and Pali Blues American W-League team. 

Gama's first international award was the 2008 U-19 European Championship that she got when she appeared as the team's captain as an Under-19 international.

appeared for the first time in the Italy women's national football team in 2006 in a match against Ukraine in qualifying for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, which ended in a 2-1 victory Gama.

Participating in the 2009 European Championship, Gama was one of the players that the national coach, Antonio Cabrini, selected for UEFA Women's Euro 20 in Sweden. 

Gama's brilliant performance has earned her various honors with Brescia and Juventus. She also has achieved several Individual ones, including AIC Best Women's XI IN 2019 and the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

Cristiana Girelli

• Age: 31

• Position: Striker 

• Current Team: Juventus

Cristina Girelli is a player whose brilliant performance and style of playing have put her name amongst the 

best Italian female football players

. The current striker of Juventus, Serie A club, and the Italy national team has also recorded Bardolino and ACF Brescia Femminile as two other teams she played for them in her senior career.

Within the 2014-15 season,

's 27 scored goals made her the second top scorer. However, five seasons later, in 2019-20, she enhanced to the top scorer of the season with 16 goals. Girelli, who had made her first appearance for the senior Italian national team in 2013, could attract much attention because not long time after that, she became one of the 2013 UEFA Euro's final tournaments.

One of the most memorable moments in Girelli's senior career was her late winning goal in the match against Olympic runner-up Sweden, which led the Italians to earn scoring in the qualifiers for the 2017 UEFA Euro. Girelli's career history is full of honors, including the Serie A Female Footballer of the Year in 2020 is its Individual. Playing for the three clubs has also added many achievements to her resume, which Serie A, Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa Italiana are the ones that refer to her playing for Juventus. 

Elisabetta Vignotto

• Age: 67

• Position: Striker

• Current Team: Retired

In the following paragraph, we will describe the career history of a player who is older than other names of the best Italian female football players. Elisabetta Vignotto, nicknamed "Betty," is an Italian former international footballer who appeared on the pitch as a striker.

Within her senior career, which lasted for two decades, Vignotto played for 12 clubs, including Gommagomma, Real Juventus, Giolli Gelati Roma, Friulvini Pordenone, and Reggiana Zambelli.

Through playing for the clubs, Vignotto made 461 Serie A appearances and scored 467 goals. In an interview with la Repubblica, an Italian daily general-interest newspaper, in 1986, Vignotto said, "So far, I have changed teams ten times. But it is not that I am capricious. The teams broke up." 

As reports show, Vignotto appeared in 109 competitions for the Italian national team and netted 107 times. However, it is not under the support of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) website, and they suggested the figures of 95 appearances in national team games with 97 goals.

Until May 1999, Vignotto was the record holder of women's international matches. Since then, Mia Hamm surpassed her record by scoring her 108th goal for the United States. 

As you read, within the article, we tried to prepare a list which contains the names of the best Italian female football players. By presenting though short, comprehensive explanation about their career history, award, and a little about their style of playing, we worked to introduce them to you.

However, one paragraph for each player, whose name is amongst the best football players of a country, has a richer career history which needs separate articles for complete explanations. All in all, if you have any idea regarding the presented female stars on the list, share them with us through the comment section.

READ MORE:

Follow 

 for the