Serie A (women's football)

The Serie A (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈa]), also called Serie A Femminile eBay due to sponsorship by eBay, is the highest league of women's football in Italy. Established in 1968, it has been run by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) since the 2018–19 season, and currently features 10 teams.

Serie A

Founded	1968 (1968)
Country	Italy
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	10
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Serie B
Domestic cup(s)	Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League
Current champions	Roma (2nd title) (2023–24)
Most championships	Torres (7 titles)
Website	Official website
Current: 2024–25 Serie A

The most successful club in the league's history is Torres, who have won seven times. The current Serie A champions are Roma, who won their second consecutive title in 2023–24 after their 2022–23 triumph that ended a five-year series from Juventus who won each of the last five years before. As of the 2022–23 edition, the Serie A is ranked fifth in the UEFA women's coefficient, and the top two teams qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League.

The Serie A became fully-professional from the 2022–23 season, removing the salary cap and allowing teams to pay their players a higher wage. Women's footballers became the first female athletes in Italy to be fully professional. The number of teams also decreased from 12 to 10.

History

On 25 June 2020, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced that Serie A Femminile would achieve professional status by 2022. Previously, the team was recognized as "amateur athletes". Serie A Femminile traces its origins back to the 1960s. However, due to widespread disinterest, neglect, prejudice, and institutional barriers, the league struggled to gain a foothold, delaying the development of women's football in Italy for many years. A turning point came in the summer of 2019 when the Azzurre's impressive performance, reaching the quarterfinals at the 2019 Women's World Cup, captured the nation's heart. This sparked a movement towards the professionalization of women's football, championed by figures like Gravina|Gabriele Gravina, president of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC). Later that year, the Italian Senate passed an amendment to the 2020 Budget Law, paving the way for amateur athletes to turn professional.

After achieving professional status, salary increased for the players of Serie A Femminile. Previously, there was no standard salary. Previously, the maximum salary was capped at €30,658 gross per season (about $33,000 at the time). Players received additional stipends for travel, flat-rate reimbursements, and performance-related bonuses, though these could not exceed €61.97 per day for up to five days a week. Before the league's professionalization, there was no standardized salary structure. Now, players and staff are guaranteed a minimum annual salary of €26,000 (Sky Sport). Moreover, the 'maximum wage' cap has been removed, allowing teams the freedom to pay top players as they see fit. Beyond salary improvements, professionalization introduces additional benefits like pensions and healthcare. In the past, a serious injury could prematurely end a player's career, impacting their future prospects due to the lack of a safety net. Now, with access to medical treatment, pensions, and other support, players have greater security both during and after their football careers. Benefits also include maternity leave and eligibility for unemployment assistance. However, these new contracts pose potential risks for younger players. Their contracts are typically secure only if the team remains financially stable or does not decide to release them (Football Workshop). Therefore, young players must carefully consider their team choices to avoid being locked into unfavorable contracts.

Promoting equality in football

One of the major steps the Italian Olympic Committee is taking to promote equality is encouraging the promotion of women in management roles. One of the ways they plan to do so is by increasing the number of women and girls that participate in sports, and finding more areas for women to become more involved. Furthermore, the Serie A Femminile teams are required to hire people that will ensure the promotion of equality by managing the “women’s sectors” of the clubs.

League format

There are two phases per season. 10 teams face one another in a round-robin round-robin tournament during the first phase, with 18 total home and away matchdays. The top 5 teams qualify to the championship round (poule scudetto) and the bottom 5 teams compete in the relegation round, in phase two. Both groups of teams begin the second phase with points earned during the first phase. In the second phase, the teams within the group participate in another round-robin tournament, totaling 10 additional home and away matchdays, this time including two rest sessions per team. The season concludes with the end of the second phase, when the first ranked team in the championship round is considered the winner of Italy, as well as the first and second ranked teams qualify for the UEFA Women's Champion League. The last-ranked team in the relegation round is directly relegated to the Serie B, and the second-to-last ranked team in Serie A relegation round plays the second-ranked Serie B team to try to secure a place in the following Serie A season.

Clubs

2023–24 season

The following ten clubs are competing in the 2023–24 season.

Como

Fiorentina

Inter

Juventus

Milan

Parma

Pomigliano

Roma

Sampdoria

Sassuolo

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Locations of the 2023–24 Serie A teams

Team	Home city	Stadium	2022–23 season
Como	Como	Stadio Ferruccio (Seregno)	9th
Fiorentina	Florence	Stadio Gino Bozzi	5th
Inter Milan	Milan	Suning Training Center in memory of Giacinto Facchetti	3rd
Juventus	Turin	Stadio Pozzo (Biella)	2nd
AC Milan	Milan	Centro Sportivo Vismara	4th
Napoli	Naples	Stadio comunale Giuseppe Piccolo	Serie B, 1st
Pomigliano	Pomigliano	Stadio Ugo Gobbato	7th
Roma	Rome	Stadio Tre Fontane	1st
Sampdoria	Genoa	Campo sportivo Riccardo Garrone (Bogliasco)	10th
Sassuolo	Sassuolo	Stadio Enzo Ricci	6th

Champions

Wins by year

Below is a list of previous champions, including those belonging to several independent federations under which the Serie A title was contested before entering the FIGC. Since 1968 all championships were defined as "Serie A":

No. Season Champion 1 1968 (FICF) Genova 1968 (UISP) Bologna 2 1969 (FICF) ACF Roma 1969 (UISP) Bologna 3 1970 (FFIGC) Gommagomma 1970 (FICF) Real Torino 4 1971 (FFIGC) Piacenza 1971 (FICF) Real Juventus 5 1972 (FFIUAGC) Gamma 3 Padova 6 1973 (FFIUGC) Gamma 3 Padova 1973 (FICF) Milano 7 1974 (FFIUGC) Falchi Astro Montecatini 8 1975 (FIGCF) USF Milan 9 1976 (FIGCF) Valdobbiadene 10 1977 (FIGCF) Diadora Valdobbiadene 11 1978 (FIGCF) Jolly Catania 12 1979 (FIGCF) Lazio CF Lubiam 13 1980 (FIGCF) Lazio CF Lubiam 14 1981 (FIGCF) Alaska Lecce 15 1982 (FIGCF) Alaska Lecce 16 1983 (FIGCF) Alaska Lecce

No. Season Champion 17 1984 (FIGCF) Alaska Trani 80 18 1985 (FIGCF) Sanitas Trani 80 19 1985–86 (FIGCF) Despar Trani 80 20 1986–87 Lazio CF 21 1987–88 Lazio CF 22 1988–89 Giugliano 23 1989–90 Reggiana Refrattari Zambelli 24 1990–91 Reggiana Refrattari Zambelli 25 1991–92 Milan 82 Salvarani 26 1992–93 Reggiana Refrattari Zambelli 27 1993–94 Torres Fo.S. 28 1994–95 Agliana 29 1995–96 Verona Gunther 30 1996–97 Modena 31 1997–98 Modena 32 1998–99 ACF Milan 33 1999–2000 Torres Fo.S. 34 2000–01 Torres Fo.S. 35 2001–02 Ruco Line Lazio 36 2002–03 Foroni Verona 37 2003–04 Foroni Verona

No. Season Champion 38 2004–05 Bardolino Verona 39 2005–06 Fiammamonza 40 2006–07 Bardolino Verona 41 2007–08 Bardolino Verona 42 2008–09 Bardolino Verona 43 2009–10 Torres 44 2010–11 Torres 45 2011–12 Torres 46 2012–13 Torres 47 2013–14 Brescia 48 2014–15 AGSM Verona 49 2015–16 Brescia 50 2016–17 Fiorentina 51 2017–18 Juventus 52 2018–19 Juventus 53 2019–20 Juventus 54 2020–21 Juventus 55 2021–22 Juventus 56 2022–23 Roma 57 2023–24 Roma

Wins by club

Club	Wins	Winning years
Torres	7	1993–94, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
Lazio CF	5	1979, 1980, 1986–87, 1987–88, 2001–02
Verona Women		2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2014–15
Juventus		2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
ACF Milan	4	1970 (FFIGC), 1973 (FICF), 1975, 1998–99
Alaska Lecce	3	1981, 1982, 1983
Trani 80		1984, 1985, 1985–86
Reggiana		1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93
Bologna	2	1968 (UISP), 1969 (UISP)
Gamma 3 Padova		1972, 1973
Diadora Valdobbiadene		1976, 1977
Modena		1996–97, 1997–98
Foroni Verona		2002–03, 2003–04
Brescia		2013–14, 2015–16
Roma		2022–23, 2023–24
Genova	1	1968 (FICF)
Roma CF		1969 (FICF)
Real Torino		1970 (FICF)
Brevetti Gabbiani Piacenza		1971 (FFIGC)
Real Juventus		1971 (FICF)
Falchi Astro Montecatini		1974
Jolly Catania		1978
Campania G.B. Giugliano		1988–89
Milan 82 Salvarani		1991–92
Agliana		1994–95
Verona Gunther		1995–96
Fiammamonza		2005–06
Fiorentina		2016–17

Top scorers

Season	Player(s)	Nationality	Club(s)	Goals
1971	Elisabetta Vignotto	Italy	Real Juventus	51
1972	Elisabetta Vignotto	Italy	Gamma 3 Padova	56
1973	Elisabetta Vignotto	Italy	Gamma 3 Padova	25
1974	Elisabetta Vignotto	Italy	Gamma 3 Padova	24
1975	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Gamma 3 Padova	29
1976	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Valdobbiadene	28
1977	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Diadora Valdobbiadene	42
1978	Rose Reilly	Scotland	Jolly Catania	32
1979	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Conegliano	29
1980	Elisabetta Vignotto	Italy	Gorgonzola	29
1981	Rose Reilly	Scotland	Alaska Gelati Lecce	31
1982	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Flase Cagliari	32
1983	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Alaska Gelati Lecce	31
1984	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Lazio	25
1985	Carolina Morace	Italy	Lazio	27
1985–86	Lone Hansen	Denmark	Despar Trani 80	26
1986–87	Susanne Augustesen	Denmark	Despar Trani 80	34
1987–88	Carolina Morace	Italy	Lazio	40
1988–89	Carolina Morace	Italy	Lazio	26
1989–90	Carolina Morace	Italy	Reggiana Refrattari Zambelli	38
1990–91	Carolina Morace	Italy	Reggiana Refrattari Zambelli	29
1991–92	Carolina Morace	Italy	Milan Salvarani	31
1992–93	Carolina Morace	Italy	Milan Salvarani	33
1993–94	Carolina Morace	Italy	Torres Fo.S.	33
1994–95	Carolina Morace	Italy	Agliana	31
1995–96	Carolina Morace	Italy	Verona Gunther	39
1996–97	Carolina Morace	Italy	Modena	47
1997–98	Carolina Morace	Italy	Modena	41
1998–99	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Lazio	51
1999–2000	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Ruco Line Lazio	41
2000–01	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Ruco Line Lazio	41
2001–02	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Ruco Line Lazio	47
2002–03	Chiara Gazzoli	Italy	Foroni Verona	54
2003–04	Chiara Gazzoli	Italy	Foroni Verona	34
2004–05	Valentina Boni Patrizia Panico	Italy Italy	Bardolino Verona Torino	32
2005–06	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Torino	24
2006–07	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Bardolino Verona	21
2007–08	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Bardolino Verona	27
2008–09	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Bardolino Verona	23
2009–10	Paola Brumana	Italy	Graphistudio Tavagnacco	24
2010–11	Patrizia Panico Daniela Sabatino	Italy Italy	Torres Brescia	26
2011–12	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Torres	29
2012–13	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Torres	35
2013–14	Patrizia Panico	Italy	Torres	43
2014–15	Patrizia Panico	Italy	AGSM Verona	34
2015–16	Valentina Giacinti	Italy	Mozzanica	32
2016–17	Lana Clelland	Scotland	Tavagnacco	23
2017–18	Valentina Giacinti	Italy	Brescia	21
2018–19	Valentina Giacinti	Italy	AC Milan	21
2019–20	Cristiana Girelli	Italy	Juventus	16
2020–21	Cristiana Girelli	Italy	Juventus	22
2021–22	Daniela Sabatino	Italy	Fiorentina	15
2022–23	Tabitha Chawinga	Malawi	Inter Milan	23
2023–24	Evelyne Viens	Canada	Roma	13

External links

• Official website