It has been nearly a month since Juventus Women parted ways with now-former manager Max Canzi. The last coach to lead the Bianconere to a Serie A Women title during the 2024-25 season, his second campaign in Turin was far less successful than how they went when he was first settling into life at Juve.
Since that time, there’s been a handful of names linked to Juventus to be Canzi’s successor, most notably Lluís Cortés, the current manager of the Saudi Arabia women’s national team. All signs pointed
toward Cortés becoming Juve’s new manager … until it took much longer than most thought to actually get him released from the contract having to do with his current job.
So the alternative? Another fella from Spain who is with a national team, although in a different part of the world.
Juventus Women finally have a new manager, as the club announced Friday that they have hired Isaac Guerrero, a former deputy director in Barcelona’s youth academy who is currently part of the technical staff for the United States men’s national team. Guerrero, who also worked in the Venezia youth setup from 2021 to 2025, is the first big hire for new Juventus Women director Massimiliano Mazzetta, the former assistant to the mastermind of the Bianconere’s title-winning sides Stefano Braghin.
Coincidently, Juve also officially announced Mazzetta as their head of the Head of Women’s Football on Friday. Both Guerrero and Mazzetta have signed contracts with the club through 2028.
Here is some more background on Guerrero, courtesy of Juventus’ announcement of his hiring:
A UEFA Pro license holder, Isaac joins Juventus to begin his second experience in Italy, and his CV is packed with international experience. He arrives in Turin having built his more-than-30-year career on coaching, methodology, and talent development.
His career began in 1994 in Catalonia, where he took his first steps as a coach and Head of Methodology at UE Sant Fost. From 1999 to 2003, he worked at UDA Framenet, where he held the roles of Head Coach, Scout, Technical Director, and Head of Methodology. He returned to the club in 2009 for a year, having spent 2003-2009 with Espanyol, continuing his career in coaching, scouting, and methodology.
Moving across the city in 2010, Guerrero joined Barcelona, where he remained until 2001, holding several leadership roles, including Deputy Director and Head of Coaching in the Methodology Department, Technical Director of the Barca Football School, member of the Barca Innovation Hub & Knowledge Area, Director and Instructor of the club’s Master’s program for professional coaches, Coordinator of the Barca Coach Development Program, and Director of the Barca Coach Academy.
All of the above experience has led to him being one of the leading figures in methodological development and in the training of coaches.
Isaac was appointed as Academy Director & Head of Coaching at Venezia in 2021, remaining with the Arancioneroverdi until 2025, and he simultaneously worked with the United States Men’s National Team as part of the coaching staff, responsible for the attacking phase and talent development, before taking on the role of Player Scout & Opposition Analyst. Additionally, he has been a member of the Expert Commission on Soccer Methodology of the RFEF (the Spanish Football Federation).
Guerrero arrives in Turin during a time in which the Juventus women’s program is certainly in a bit of a transition. So many of the mainstays of the title-winning seasons have moved on. That title winning core is now down to essentially captain Martina Rosucci and vice captain Barbara Bonansea, both of whom are in their mid-30s and not starting nearly as much as they have in previous seasons. Regular starters have already departed this summer, with Mazzetta having already seen striker Amalie Vangsgaard depart for Aston Villa in England.
Plus, there’s also the simple fact that Juventus Women finished in third place and a whopping 16 points behind Serie A Women champion Roma last season. It was a title defense that didn’t amount to much, and as the 2025-26 season went on the likelihood of Canzi leaving only looked greater and greater. (Canzi has since been hired as the director of Cagliari’s youth sector, by the way.)
Juve are less than month away from the start of their Women’s Champions League qualification campaign, with the four-team mini-tournament of the Second Qualifying Round being played on Aug. 5 and Aug. 8, respectively. That is not a whole lot of time before Guerrero jumps right into important European fixtures — especially when you think about the fact that Juve were in the UWCL league phase last season and were quite competitive before being eliminated by Wolfsburg in the play-off round.
