From invisible to heroic: How Italy become a dark horse for the Women's Euros

'Calcio discovers women'.

When Italy women's national team last competed in a major tournament, that was Gazzetta dello Sport's headline, World Cup fever sweeping a football-obsessed nation that has yet to make the mark it is capable of on the women’s game.

As the Azzurre reached the quarter-finals in France, beating China in the last 16 after topping a group that also featured Brazil, something was happening back home.

The players wouldn’t realise that until after their exit in the last eight, to the European champions and eventual finalists, Netherlands. Upon flying home, they would be overwhelmed.

Midfielder Aurora Galli remembers returning to her hometown to see the whole community in the piazza, there to celebrate her and what she had helped the country achieve. It was monumental.

That summer proved a catalyst for Italy in its quest to unlock the potential of this great nation, a four-time World Cup winner on the men’s side which goes into this summer’s Women’s Euros as a serious dark horse.

The players have an even greater opportunity to capture the public’s attention this time around, such has been the change that 2019 has helped to bring along.

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After it became mandatory for clubs competing in the men’s Serie A to have girls’ academy in 2015, the landscape of the women’s game in Italy has been transformed.

Juventus introduced a senior team two years later and were followed by many more giants – Roma, Inter and Milan among them.

The teams have got stronger, as has the league, and, ahead of this summer, Italy took one of its biggest steps forward yet.

Juventus was the country’s only representative in the 2021-22 Women’s Champions League group stages, drawn in a ‘group of death’ with two-time champions Wolfsburg and last season’s finalists, Chelsea.

Yet, they would come through it and go toe-to-toe with eventual champions Lyon in the next round, only losing 4-3 on aggregate.

When Juve head coach Joe Montemurro speaks to GOAL about the challenge of taking on this job last summer, he remembers a “lack of belief on the European stage”.

“We probably have exceeded expectations in year one,” he adds. “Now, obviously, people aren't going to probably take us in the manner that some clubs did, but it's great to have that on your back because you want to be at the top level.

“You want to be competing in real high-level competitions and playing against the best.

"If we can get this more often, if we can get more top games at the Allianz, if we can always be in the Champions League group stage and be pitted against the best, it's going to be great for me because I get more games at top level and I learn, the players learn, and the club grows.

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“They can plan things. They can say, 'Okay, well, Champions League brings in X amount of dollars, we can invest here and do this here. We need to fix up this area, we need to fix up that area.'

"But the only way you can grow is through playing the best and being at the top level. It's the only way you can grow.”

That’s not just good for Juventus – it’s good for Italy, who have seven players in their Women’s Euros squad from Montemurro’s side.

Indeed, that Champions League run shows that these players are among, and can compete with, Europe’s best.

That’s huge for the present. It comes alongside the growth of the league in general, which is not limited to Juventus’ success or that of the big clubs, but also taking into account the impressive progress of a team like Sassuolo, competing with those top teams on a much smaller budget.

It also comes with the news that women’s football in Italy will turn professional for the coming season, which hopefully will only accelerate this already promising evolution.

But big moments like the 2019 World Cup and Juventus’ Champions League run are not only big for right now. They’re big for society. They’re big for the future.

Attitudes in Italy are already changing.

When GOAL is picked up by a taxi from the Juventus training centre after speaking to Montemurro, it quickly emerges that the driver is a Bianconero, but he is not just a fan of the men’s team – he loves the women’s team too.

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One of the reasons Italy has been lagging behind other nations is due to lower numbers of girls playing the sport.

That changing mindset in society can reduce of the barriers causing that. Young girls going to watch Juventus play big games, or watching Italy have a potentially great Euros, also helps.

“We have many, many other sports, like volleyball, basketball, and there are few teams,” Stefano Braghin, head of Juventus’ women’s team, tells GOAL, talking about recruiting for the academy.

“The girls usually start another sport and then as a second choice, they arrive at football. That doesn't help a lot in terms of the quality of your recruitment.”

If that can change, though, there is something special to tap into.

“Football in Italy is very much part of the DNA,” Montemurro explains. “It's really interesting because in all the players here I've got who are Italian, you just see a base understanding of tactical knowledge that a lot of the other countries probably don't have, because they grew up with it.”

Now, Italy is starting to show that understanding and talent at the top level in the women’s game. Their performances in 2019 announced them to the world – and to the wider public at home.

This year, they’ve only enhanced that reputation, not just in Juventus’ success but the results of the national team – beating the 2017 runners-up, Denmark and a fancied Norway earlier this year, while also drawing with Sweden, many people’s favourites, and Spain, another team talked about highly.

The present and the future are both incredibly promising. It’s amazing to think what a terrific run at the Euros – a run they’re perfectly capable of with the talent in this team – would do on top of all that.