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Sara Gama

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Sara Gama
Sara Gama, in an international match against Belgium in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1989-03-27) 27 March 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth Trieste, Italy
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Juventus
Number 3
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 Tavagnacco 52 (4)
2009–2012 Chiasiellis 50 (2)
2010 → Pali Blues (loan) 3 (0)
2012–2013 Brescia 25 (3)
2013–2015 Paris Saint-Germain 11 (0)
2015–2017 Brescia 39 (3)
2017– Juventus 76 (3)
International career‡
2006–2022 Italy 140 (7)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 October 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 13 November 2024 (UTC)[1]

Sara Gama (born 27 March 1989) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Serie A club Juventus FC, which she captains, and formerly the Italy national team, whom she also captained.

She is a six-time Serie A winner, five of them with Juventus, and reached the knockout stages of two European Championships and one FIFA Women's World Cup with Italy.

Club career

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Gama was passionate about football since a young age, joining Zaule (Muggia) and playing in mixed youth teams for them, later moving to Polisportiva San Marco in Villaggio del Pescatore in the municipality of Duino-Aurisina, where she remained for six years, playing for the first time in an all-female team. [2][3]

In a three-year period with UPC Tavagnacco[4], she made 52 appearances and scored 4 goals.[5] With the yellow and blues, she finished third in Serie A Femminile in 2008-2009 season and reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup in her first two seasons there.

Subsequently, she moved to another Serie A club Chiasiellis where she collected 50 appearances and scored twice,[5] but during her third season there, suffered a serious knee injury while on international duty with Italy, keeping her out for most of the 2011-12 season, limiting her to seven club appearances out of 26 games played by the club.[5] In her debut year at Chiasiellis, she played in the semi-finals of the 2010 Italian Cup, and finished seventh in Serie A in 2011-12, under the management of Fabio Franti.[6]

During the summer break in 2010 she took the opportunity to play in a foreign championship for the first time, temporarily moving on loan to Pali Blues to play in the W-League.[7]

Gama played for PSG of Division 1 Féminine in between two spells with Brescia, where she won a Serie A championship and Coppa Italia double in 2015-2016, plus two consecutive Italian Super Cups in 2015 and 2016.[8]

Juventus signed Gama on the establishment of their women's team and appointed her captain straight away. With Juve, Gama won five consecutive league titles from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022, plus three more Italian Cups in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Three consecutive Italian Super Cups from 2019 to 2021 were also claimed.[8]

International career

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Gama was a member of the Italian national team,[9] and was selected for four European Championships and one FIFA Women's World Cup. As an Under-19 international she won the 2008 U-19 European Championship serving as the team's captain, and was named Player of the Tournament.[10]

Gama made her senior debut for the Italy women's national football team as a 16-year-old in June 2006, in a 2–1 defeat by Ukraine in the qualifiers for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.[11]

Gama reached two European Championship quarter-finals for Italy, the first coming in her debut tournament in 2009,[12] and again in 2013 under national coach Antonio Cabrini.[13] Both tournaments ended in the last-eight at the hands of eventual winners Germany.

Cabrini named Gama as Italy captain in 2014.[14] She also played at Euros finals in 2017[15] and 2022,[16] but Italy did not qualify out of the group stages of either.

Under Milena Bertolini, Italy and Gama qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup,[17] their first time in the tournament for twenty years, losing to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, the Azzurri's joint best ever performance. Gama and Italy also finished runners-up at the Algarve Cup in Portugal in 2020 (withdrawing from the final due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2022.[18][19]

Despite being captain, Gama was not called up to the Italy squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with coach Bertolini wanting to include more younger players.[20]

Gama was recalled to the national squad after the World Cup by new coach Andrea Soncin, featuring in the 2023-24 UEFA Women's Nations League, her final competition before deciding to retire from international football at the age of 34. Her 140th and final appearance for the Azzurri was in a goalless draw against Ireland in Bagno a Ripoli on 23 February 2024.[1][21] At the time of retirement, she was the fourth-highest capped Italian women's player of all time.[1]

Personal life

[edit]

Gama's mother is Italian, while her father is Congolese.[22]

In 2017, she graduated in Languages at the Università degli Studi di Udine.[23] She speaks Italian, English, French and Spanish.[24]

In 2018, for the International Women's Day, Mattel presented the Sara Gama Barbie doll as part of the Barbie's Heroes doll line.[25]

During her football career she was the victim of racist insults, which became more pronounced when she became captain of the Italian national team.[26] She publicly urged the Italian football authorities to take punitive action to combat the phenomenon of racism.[27][28]

She supported professional women's football before its introducion in Italy, calling for social and welfare protection for female footballers.

Since October 2018, she has been a councilor of the FIGC for the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC),[29] and on 30 November 2020 was elected vice president of the AIC, the first woman in history to hold the position.[30] With this role, on 9 June 2021 she joined the CONI National Athletes' Commission.[31]

A documentary on her career Numero 3, Sara Gama was broadcast in Italy on RAI in Janaury 2023.

Honours

[edit]

Brescia

Juventus

Individual

Career Statistics

[edit]

International

[edit]
As of match played 26 September 2023[34]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Italy 2006 2 0
2007 12 1
2008 10 0
2009 10 2
2010 14 0
2011 11 0
2012 0 0
2013 5 1
2014 2 0
2015 9 0
2016 8 1
2017 9 0
2018 7 0
2019 15 0
2020 3 0
2021 9 2
2022 6 0
2023 1 0
Total 133 7
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gama goal.
List of international goals scored by Sara Gama
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 March 2007 Estádio Dr. Francisco Vieira, Silves, Portugal  Republic of Ireland 4–1 4–1 2007 Algarve Cup
2 19 September 2009 Domžale Sports Park, Domžale, Slovenia  Armenia 3–0 8–0 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
3 5–0
4 11 March 2013 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus  Scotland 1–2 1–2 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup
5 7 December 2016 Arena da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil  Russia 1–0 3–0 2016 Torneio Internacional de Manaus de Futebol
6 21 September 2021 Stadion Branko Čavlović-Čavlek, Karlovac, Croatia  Croatia 1–0 5–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
7 26 October 2021 LFF Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania  Lithuania 4–0 5–0

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Sara Gama lascia la Nazionale: venerdì contro l'Irlanda l'ultima partita con la maglia azzurra. "È stato un viaggio straordinario"" [Sara Gama leaves the National Team: Friday against Ireland her last match with the blue jersey. "It was an extraordinary journey"]. FIGC.it (in Italian). 19 February 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Sara Gama, da Trieste alla Champions" [Sara Gama, from Trieste to the Champions League]. il Piccolo (in Italian). 19 May 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  3. ^ "FEMMINILE - Nasce la Triestina San Marco" [The Triestina San Marco is born]. FriuliGol (in Italian). 22 March 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  4. ^ Statistics at Football.it
  5. ^ a b c "Sara Gama". football.it (in Italian). Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  6. ^ 2011-12 squad on Chiasiellis' website
  7. ^ 2010 squad Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine on Pali Blues' website
  8. ^ a b "Soccerway - Sara Gama". Soccerway (in Italian). Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  9. ^ "Sara Gama - Italy - UEFA Women's Nations League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  10. ^ 2008 U19WC MVP: Sara Gama. UEFA
  11. ^ "Italia Campionato Europeo Femminile Svezia 10 - 28 Luglio 2013" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. p. 12. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  12. ^ "Season 2009 - UEFA Women's EURO". uefa.com. UEFA. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  13. ^ "Cabrini finalises Italy's Women's EURO squad". uefa.com. UEFA. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  14. ^ "Sara Gama saluta la Nazionale Azzurra" [Sara Gama says goodbye to the Italian national team]. Juventus.com (in Italian). Juventus. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Italy 2017 UEFA Women's European Championship squad". ESPN. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  16. ^ "Italy 2022 UEFA Women's European Championship squad". ESPN. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Ecco le 23 convocate per il Mondiale: il 2 giugno la partenza per la Francia" [Here are the 23 players called up for the World Cup: departure for France on June 2nd]. FIGC.it (in Italian). 24 May 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  18. ^ "Emergenza Coronavirus: l'Italia rinuncia alla finale dell'Algarve Cup, domani il rientro a Roma" [Coronavirus emergency: Italy withdraws from the Algarve Cup final, returning to Rome tomorrow]. FIGC.it (in Italian). 10 March 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  19. ^ "Azzurre, che peccato. La Svezia fa sua ai rigori l'Algarve Cup. Bertolini: "Le ragazze sono state eccezionali"" [Azzurre, what a shame. Sweden wins the Algarve Cup on penalties. Bertolini: “The girls were exceptional”]. FIGC.it (in Italian). 23 February 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  20. ^ "Italy captain Gama omitted from Women's World Cup squad". Reuters. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Al 'Viola Park' Italia-Irlanda finisce 0-0. Le emozioni arrivano dal tributo a Gama: "È stato un grande onore". Gravina: "Sara un simbolo"" [At 'Viola Park' Italy-Ireland ends 0-0. Emotions come from the tribute to Gama: "It was a great honor". Gravina: "It will be a symbol"]. FIGC.it (in Italian). 23 February 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  22. ^ Marco Pasonesi (5 November 2013). "L'altra metà del calcio". gazzetta.it (in Italian). Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  23. ^ "Juventus, una laurea in difesa. Chiellini? No, Sara Gama". tuttosport.com (in Italian). Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  24. ^ Stefanini, Maurizio (9 June 2019). "Chi è Sara Gama, capitana della Nazionale". Lettera43 (in Italian). Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  25. ^ "Barbie rende omaggio a Sara Gama - Juventus.com". 10 March 2018. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  26. ^ "«Come fa a essere italiana?», l'idiozia degli insulti contro la capitana azzurra Gama" [A"How can she be Italian?", the idiocy of the insults against the Italian captain Gama]. Open Online (in Italian). 8 June 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  27. ^ "SARA GAMA "RAZZISMO DA COMBATTERE, BASTA PAROLE SERVE AGIRE"" [Sara Gama: "Racism must be fought, enough words, we need actions"]. Il Tempo (in Italian). 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  28. ^ "Sara Gama paladina dell'antirazzismo: «Servono gesti eclatanti»" [Sara Gama champion of anti-racism: "We need dramatic gestures"]. juvelive.it (in Italian). 22 January 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  29. ^ "Nei piani alti di Uefa e Figc i neri non ci sono: è un problema per la lotta contro il razzismo?" [There are no black people in the upper echelons of UEFA and FIGC: is this a problem for the fight against racism?]. EuroNews (in Italian). 27 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  30. ^ "Calcio, Sara Gama è la prima vicepresidente donna dell'Assocalciatori. Umberto Calcagno succede a Tommasi" [SoccerFootball, Sara Gama is the first female vice president of the Footballers' Association. Umberto Calcagno succeeds Tommasi]. OA Sport (in Italian). 30 November 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  31. ^ "Sara Gama nella Commissione Nazionale Atleti del CONI" [Sara Gama in the CONI National Athletes Commission]. assocalciatori.it (in Italian). l'Associazione dei calciatori in Italia. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  32. ^ "Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners". Football Italia. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  33. ^ "Pirlo, Mazzone, Boniek in Hall of Fame". Football Italia. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  34. ^ "Italy - S. Gama - Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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