Roma Will Compete in Women’s Serie A Next Season

Sprinkled in between the budding transfer rumor season and the run up to the World Cup over the past few weeks were several stories about a renewed focus on the Serie A Femminile. While the likes of Juventus and Fiorentina fielded teams in Italy’s top female league last season, the league as a whole was still a bit light on direct counterparts from the men’s league, a trend that is disappearing by the day it seems.

Earlier this week AC Milan announced they’d be participating in the Serie A Femminile, and now we can add AS Roma to that list:

James Pallotta spoke briefly about this new venture:

I’ve been talking with Mia Hamm, who is a member of our Board of Directors, about launching an official AS Roma women’s team for a couple of years and it’s very satisfying that we can confirm today that we’ll kick-off the new season with both a men’s and women’s Roma team.

We have lots of girls in our coaching system and today’s announcement means that they will be able to have more opportunities to continue their development and hopefully see a clear path through to playing football at this club.

Source: AS Roma

Many assumed that Hamm was originally brought on board to guide this venture, and while we don’t know what her exact role will be, to call her a trailblazer would be an insult to the word. Hamm recorded 158 goals for the United States National Team, and was one of only two women to be named to the FIFA 100 list in 2004 (the 100th anniversary of FIFA) and was the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame. Not only that, she’s also a minority owner of LAFC, so even if she’s just observing from afar, Roma seems to be in good hands.

On the pitch, which is located at the Stadio Tre Fontane on the southside of Roma, the Giallorossi will be led by Elisabetta Bavagnoli, who has coached at the club and international level, both with senior and youth squads.

This is certainly huge moment in the history of the club, and we’ll try our best to provide consistent coverage of the women’s team, but much like the men’s side, they’ll start off chasing Juventus, winners of the 2017-2018 Serie A Femminile.