From amateur dreams to Euro glory? Italy’s women one win from the final

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New Delhi: Italy is on the brink of creating history as they are just one win away from reaching the final of the Women’s European Championship. Three years back, the players couldn’t even get professional contracts in their countries and now almost at a point to end the long-standing drought of not winning the title once.

After their 2-1 triumph over Norway last week, veteran captain Cristiana Girelli scored the brace to help them advance to the semis. All the players were in tears as they are set to make their first semifinal appearance at the tournament in 28 years.

After the match, Girelli after wiping her tears, said, “It’s a great joy to be among the top four in Europe and it is a happiness that we want to share because we know how important it is to bring home the results in Italy and especially for the new generations.”

She added further that obviously they do it for their glory, but this one holds a much deeper meaning as they want to tell everyone that in Italy, women can also play soccer. Of course, they couldn’t hope to make a lot of money from it until 2022 after years of amateur-only status, but it was in April 2022 only that the execution board of the sport’s national federation approved new regulations to open the way for a women’s professional era starting July 1 in time ahead of Serie A season.

Difficult years to magical moments

1981 Italian law has limited female players to amateur status, meaning they couldn’t make more than 30,000 euros per year before taxes. The other benefits, like end-of-career fund, pension, and maternity leave, were a distant dream.

The 35-year-old Girelli and many of her teammates have witnessed the changes firsthand, with many of them having to do hospitality jobs to support their soccer career. The change happened when the national team made a surprise run to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Women’s World Cup. It was helped by big clubs as well, as they started investing more in their women’s teams.

Though the progress has been slow in many countries of their traditional soccer rivals such as England, France and Spain but Italy is now showing that they are catching up on the international stage.

Under coach Andrea Soncic, Azzurre are proving that they can go toe-to-toe with the top teams, culminating in their first semifinal match at the European tournament since a run to the 1997 final.

Girelli said, “It’s something magical. But to tell you the truth, I have felt something special in the air since I arrived in Switzerland. Since the coach took charge of this team, I felt something special.

She continued with a wry smile, “And you know, women are never wrong with their feelings.” She added further. “We’ve reached something amazing, something extraordinary, and however it goes, I really hope it continues to feed this passion, this love for us.”

What next?

Italy will next play defending champion England on Tuesday in Geneva with the aim of advancing to the final, a step closer to lifting the trophy.