The 2025-26 season for Juventus Women was not a particularly good one. They ended up in third place in Serie A Women, 16 points below Scudetto winners Roma. This was their worst finish since joining the league in 2017, having either won the title (2017-18 through 2021-22 and 2024-25) or finished in second place to Roma. To sum it up in two words, the team lacked consistency, going from winning trophies to tying lower-ranked teams such as Genoa and Ternana in Serie A. They ended the season losing
to Roma in the Coppa Italia final, which probably sealed the exit of head coach Max Canzi.
But! There were some highlights last season:
- Winning the inaugural Serie A Women’s Cup, beating Roma 3-2 in the final.
- Winning the Supercoppa, beating Roma 2-1.
- Going up 3-0 against OL Lyonnais in the first half of a Champions league game (never mind that OL came back in the second half for a 3-3 draw).
- Making the round of 16 in Champions League, narrowly missing the quarterfinals losing to Wolfsburg 4-3 on aggregate in the play-off round.
- Finally, albeit as a third-place team, Juve Women did qualify for Champions League for the 2026-27 season.
Canzi Out, Guerrero In
Canzi was dismissed back in early June and there were rumors of Juventus Women maybe getting former Spanish national team coach Montse Tomé (which would have been interesting), but in the end the new coach was recently announced to be Isaac Guerrero.
I was skeptical when Canzi was named the head coach back in 2024, and I have the same feeling about Guerrero given he has no proven track record as a head coach in the women’s game. But, I will reserve my judgement for now. Who does have experience coaching, albeit in Serie B, is their selection for assistant coach, Berta Prat Hernandez, who was the head coach of the Venezia Women. She brought that team up to Serie B, coaching the team to a first-place finish in Serie C (group B) in 2024-25, however, they did not have a stellar 2025-26 season finishing 13th.
The team trained with Guerrero at a camp (il ritiro estiva) in Valle D’Aosta last week. This is a beautiful mountainous region, and I wonder if they are trying to escape the heat wave hitting Italy. During the camp, they also played a friendly against Switzerland’s Servette. I would have loved to be there!
Players Out and In
In the last two years it has been hard to see so many talented players leave Juventus Women — Arianna Caruso, Sofia Cantore, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, to name a few — as well as being loaned out (Cristiana Girelli), and I think it was likely these changes that led to the inconsistent play last season (perhaps combined with Canzi’s coaching).
Below is a list of players that have left Juventus Women since the end of the 2025-26 season:
- Paulina Krumbiegel (to Eintracht Frankfurt)
- Amalie Vangsgaard (to Aston Villa)
- Lia Wälti (to Brighton)
- Lindsey Thomas (free transfer to TBD)
- Emma Kullberg (free transfer to TBD)
- Viola Calligaris (to Atlético Madrid)
- Mathilde Harviken (to Aston Villa)
- Estelle Cascarino (permanent transfer to West Ham, where she was on loan)
These players all played substantial minutes last season, although other than Wälti, they mostly were not starters. Wälti’s departure will take her leadership and experience from the midfield, so that role will need to be filled. I have also heard rumors that it is uncertain if midfielder Abi Brighton will stay at Juve, which I think would be a big loss. I like her physicality in the midfield. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen!
And here is a list of new players that have joined (so far) this summer:
- Annamaria Serturini (from Inter) — forward
- Danique Noordman (from Ajax) — defender
- Emilie Mece (from OL Lyonnais) — forward
- Julia Bartel (from Chelsea, on loan to Atlético Madrid) — midfield
- Lea Khelifi (from Nantes) — midfield
- Kysha Sylla (from OL Lyonnais, on loan to Paris FC) — defender
- Alba Redondo (from Real Madrid) — forward
- Remina Chiba (from Eintracht Frankfurt) — winger
The average age of these new players is 24 years old and, if we add in 18-year-old Rebecca Vijlamaa who signed in February, that goes down to 23.2. The team is definitely getting younger with most out-going players being in their late 20s or 30s. The slight exception to this are the more veteran players Serturini and Redondo, who are 28 and 29, respectively.
They also have several youngsters coming back from loan that participated in the camp and friendly, and we will see if they remain for the season:
- Matilde Pavan (previously on loan to Como)
- Federica D’Auria (previously on loan to Lazio)
- Cecilia Cavallin (previously on loan to Bologna)
- Cristina Libran (previously on loan to Servette)
I am also very curious to see what Girelli does. She extended her contract with Juventus until 2027 but is currently on loan to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side Bay FC until August 2026. It is possible that she will stay with Bay FC until the NWSL season ends in November. In a recent interview, she said although she misses Italy, she is living the important life experience she wanted to by coming to play in the United States. She goes on to say that given the different styles of play in the US, she is having to adjust parts of her game. Given she is already an amazing player, it is exciting to think she may add new aspects to skillset, and I really hope she will be playing with Italy in the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year.
Preseason
Here is the squad that Juventus published in early July as being available for the Valle D’Aosta training camp (and I added Bartel, Sylla, and Khelifi who were also there). Players bolded were in the starting lineup for the friendly against Servette and those italicized were subs:
GOALKEEPERS: Danielle De Jong, Anna Mallardi, Larissa Rusek.
DEFENDERS: Elisa Bertero, Estela Carbonell, Federica D’Auria, Martina Lenzini, Danique Noordman, Martina Rosucci, Cecilia Salvai, Kysha Sylla;
MIDFIELDERS: Julia Bartel, Abi Brighton, Maria Carvajal, Emma Stolen Godo, Lea Khelifi, Cristina Libran, Matilde Pavan, Eva Schatzer, Tatiana Pinto, Rebecca Vijlamaa;
FORWARDS: Chiara Beccari, Greta Bellagente, Giorgia Bianchi, Barbara Bonansea, Michela Cambiaghi, Ana Capeta, Cecilia Cavallin, Annamaria Serturini
I was pretty surprised to see Beccari on the list. It doesn’t seem possible that she is back to training after tearing her ACL this past April and undergoing surgery in May. Indeed, she was not on the squad list for the friendly — perhaps she just joined the team and observed while doing her own rehab?
The most notable new signing as of yet, in my opinion, is Serturini from Inter (and formally Roma). She is a skilled, fast winger and has national team experience. And she scored in their first friendly along with Michela Cambiaghi for their 2-0 win against Servette. I am interested in Bartel and what she could do for the midfield as she had a decent game against Servette. Mece is relatively young so not sure if she will stay with the team or go out on loan.
The new coach seemed pleased after the friendly, and said their objective was to create a strong offensive play and, at the same time, be ready to close off the spaces they leave behind them. He also said they want to have a possession based style of play. I am excited to see how they will play in their first meaningful matches coming up in August, especially with the very recent addition of Redondo. She is used to playing a very fast transitional attacking style of play coming from Real Madrid, so it will be interesting to see how she fits in.
The 2026-27 Season
Champions League Playoff
Juve Women will face Portugal’s SCU Torreense on Aug. 5 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League second qualifying round in a mini-tournament that will be hosted by Juventus at Vinovo. (If they win that game, they will play the winner of Sweden’s Hammarby IF or Albania’s Apolonia on Aug. 8.)
Serie A Women’s Cup (not to be confused with Coppa Italia)
Juventus Women will start its domestic games with the second edition of the Serie A Women’s Cup, which happens before the start of the regular season. Juve are in a group with the two Como teams (newly-promoted Como 1907 and Como Women) and AC Milan with the group stage happening Aug. 23-Sept. 6.
Serie A Season
The official Serie A season will start the weekend of Sept. 26-27. The fixture list was announced this week, with Juventus Women set to begin the new campaign at home against Napoli Women.
