Stefania Antonini (born 10 October 1970) is an Italian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for the

Italy women's national football team The Italy women's national football team () has represented Italy in international women's football since their inception in 1968. The team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy. Form ...

. She was the national team's first choice goalkeeper at the

1991 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the first FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international governing body sele ...

. At club level she collected five women's Serie A winner's medals and three

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

winner's medals.

Club career

Swiss-born Antonini began playing football at 12 years old when her family returned to Italy and settled in

Teramo Teramo (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo. The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines ( Gran Sasso d'Italia) and the Adriatic coast. Th ...

. She became Ascoli's starting goalkeeper aged 13 and helped the club to

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from Serie C to Serie A. In 1989 she made her first transfer to Zambelli Reggiana, where an experienced team containing

Carolina Morace Carolina Morace (; born 5 February 1964) is an Italian politician and former footballer, who played as a striker. She was most recently the head coach of Lazio Women. She played for the Italian national team and for various clubs in women's ...

Elisabetta Vignotto Elisabetta Vignotto (born 13 January 1954) is an Italian former footballer who played as a striker. Club career At club level Vignotto represented numerous different clubs in Serie A. In 1986 she told ''la Repubblica'': "So far I've changed ...

and Anne O'Brien captured Antonini's first league title. She won a further four league titles and three national cups but retired at 29 years old, dissatisfied that her teams kept going bust and unhappy with the general lack of career prospects on offer for elite female footballers in Italy.

International career

Antonini was drafted into the

in 1990, following good form for title-winning Reggiana and the suspension of Eva Russo. She made her debut in August 1990 in a 4–1 win over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

as a

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for the

1990 FA Charity Shield The 1990 FA Charity Shield (also known as the Tennent's FA Charity Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 68th Charity Shield, a football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Football League and FA Cup competitions. The match ...

. At the

, Antonini was ever-present as Italy reached the quarter-final and lost 3–2 to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. At

UEFA Women's Euro 1993 The 1993 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as Women's Euro 1993 was a football tournament that happened between 1991 and 1993 (with the qualifying round). The final games was held in Italy. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tou ...

hosts Italy reached the final and suffered another defeat by Norway, 1–0 this time. Antonini had been replaced in the team for the tournament by Giorgia Brenzan, with whom she enjoyed a friendly rivalry for the national team goalkeeper position. She returned to the number one role for

UEFA Women's Euro 1995 The 1995 UEFA Women's Championship was a women's association football tournament which was held between 11 December 1994 and 26 March 1995, involving UEFA-affiliated national teams who have qualified for the competition. Germany won the competitio ...

, but yet another defeat by Norway in the second-round cost the Italians a place at the

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

. In December 1996 Antonini won the last of her 32

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in a 0–0 draw with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Playing style

According to the ''Dizionario del Calcio Italiano'', Antonini was a goalkeeper of rare talent. She was described as more instinctive and spectacular than her longstanding rival Giorgia Brenzan, and capable of making extraordinary acrobatic saves. However, her extroverted style sometimes left her prone to lapses in concentration.

Honours

Club

;Reggiana *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

(3): 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93 *

(2): 1991–92, 1992–1993 ;GEAS *

(1): 1993–94 ;Modena *

(2): 1996–97, 1997–98 * Italian Women's Super Cup (1): 1997

International

;Italy *

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

Runner-up:

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonini, Stefania 1970 births Living people Italian women's footballers Italy women's international footballers 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Bellinzona Swiss people of Italian descent Serie A (women's football) players A.S.D. Reggiana Calcio Femminile players