Euros Preview: Italy

By Emmanuel Faith (23/06/2025)

Above: Italy line up against Denmark this year. Photo: @Azzurri on X.

From getting knocked out early in the 2023 World Cup to topping their Nations League group in 2025, a lot can change in a short time, and that’s the story of the Italian women’s team.

The appointment of Andrea Soncin in September 2023 has turned this perfect blend of experienced legends and vivacious youngsters into a team well-oiled, capable of holding their ground against most teams in Europe. While this year’s results have been topsy-turvy, Italy will hope they are able to rediscover last year’s formidable form as they approach another European Championship in a difficult group.

Squad

The final 23-player squad will be announced on the 25th June 2025. The 35-player training squad included:

Goalkeepers: Rachele Baldi (Inter), Francesca Durante (Fiorentina), Astrid Gilardi (Como), Laura Giuliani (AC Milan), Katja Schroffenegger (Como).

Defenders: Valentina Bergamaschi (Juventus), Lisa Boattin (Juventus), Maria Luisa Filangeri (Fiorentina), Martina Lenzini (Juventus), Beatrice Merlo (Inter), Elisabetta Oliviero (Lazio), Julie Piga (AC Milan), Martina Rosucci (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Angelica Soffia (AC Milan), Nadine Sorelli (AC Milan).

Midfielders: Giorgia Arrigoni (AC Milan), Aurora Galli (Everton), Eleonora Goldoni (Lazio), Nadine Nischler (Como), Matilde Pavan (Inter), Eva Schatzer (Juventus), Annamaria Serturini (Inter), Emma Severini (Fiorentina), Flaminia Simonetti (Lazio), Martina Tomaselli (Inter).

Forwards: Chiara Beccari (Juventus), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus), Agnese Bonfantini (Fiorentina), Michela Cambiaghi (Inter), Sofia Cantore (Juventus), Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), Margherita Monnecchi (Eibar), Elisa Polli (Inter), Martina Piemonte (Lazio).

Head Coach

Andrea Soncin is a former footballer, whose career spans across Atlanta, Ascoli, Padova. He started his coaching career in 2022 in a caretaker role for Venezia with only five games left of the 2021/2022 Seria A campaign.

He couldn’t stop the club from relegation and was not offered the permanent job as a consequence, thus moving back to his previous role as youth coach. On 1 November 2022, following the dismissal of Ivan Javorčić as head coach, Soncin was again appointed interim head coach, a role that lasted less than a week as he was replaced by new permanent head coach Paolo Vanoli on 7 November 2022.

On 8 September 2023, Soncin was unveiled as the new head coach of the Italian women’s national team, with Viviana Schiavi as his assistant.

Euros History

The Italy women’s national football team has a long and notable history in the Euros, being one of the pioneers in women’s international football in Europe. Italy won the unofficial Euros pre-UEFA takeover (1969, 1979).

Qualifying for most tournaments, they have failed to make it out of the group stage on the last two occasions. Their last appearance in the knockout stages was in 2013, where they were beaten in the quarterfinals by Germany.

How they qualified

The Italian women’s national football team secured their spot in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 tournament by winning their Women’s Nations League group, which included Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands.

Strengths

The Italians play very compactly, in a 3-4-3/3-5-2/3-4-2-1 formation with the wingbacks providing width in possession and press out of possession.

They are very comfortable with the opponents having the ball while they sit back, soak in the pressure and it on the counter with their running wingbacks and clinical attackers.

These traits were in full display in their 3-nil win against Denmark where they scored three goals out of their four shots on target (a 75% accuracy), with a possession of 48%.

Development Areas

One major weakness of any team that sets up like Italy is how to react when the opponent takes a lead.

The Italians need to get better with in-game management especially because they are drawn in a group of death that has Belgium, Spain and Portugal – some of whom are in good goalscoring form coming into the competition.

Key Players

Lisa Boattin:

Most times, people focus on attackers and midfielders when reviewing teams, but for Italy, a very crucial element of their team is Juventus’ defender Lisa Boattin.

Her ability to play across LCB, LB and LWB depending on the formation makes her versatile on the pitch, and she also brings years of leadership and control to the team when needed, having captained the team at the younger levels.

Cristain Girelli:

19 goals and 2 assists in 24 matches for Juventus shows how clinical an attacker Girelli is. If Italy is going to make it out of the Group B, then the playmaker is going to be crucial to making that task achievable.

**Above**: Cristian Girellli celebrates a goal for Italy. **Photo**: Azurri on X.

One to watch

Emma Severini:

Listed as one of the youngsters to watch out for at the 2023 World cup, the twenty-one-year-old midfielder is one of the best talents in Italy and even in Europe.

From her incisive through passes, to brilliant dribbles, and ball control, the Prato born Fiorentina midfielder will be crucial to Italian’s success if they would go far with in the competition.

Success would be

Progress out of the group stage.

Prediction

Italy should be strong enough to book the second spot in the knockouts behind Spain. However, this would mean avoiding defeat to Belgium and Portugal – both of whom have had impressive performances in recent months.