Anna Maria Picarelli (born November 4, 1984) is an American-born 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

Seattle Sounders Women Sound Football Club is an American women's soccer team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. Sound FC play its home games at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Washington, six miles south of downtown Seattle. The team was founded in 2000 as ...

and the Italian national team. Picarelli is an

Italian American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

, born in

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program and Taco Bell. It is ...

; her father Angelo Picarelli and uncle Joe Picarelli both became restaurateurs in

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. Her paternal grandparents Mario and Maria Picarelli had migrated from

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

to Downey in 1966. As a senior in her successful four-year career playing varsity soccer at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

, Picarelli was called into a training camp for the

United States women's national under-23 soccer team The U-23 Women’s Youth National Team, operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer, plays a pivotal role in bridging the significant gap between college soccer and the development of players for the full Women’s National Team. It functions as ...

. However,

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Jill Ellis Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American football manager and executive who is the Chief Football Officer of FIFA and will serve as part of the world governing body's executive management team, driving the development an ...

quickly deemed Picarelli too small to be an effective goalkeeper at international level. After graduating Picarelli approached Italian club Bardolino Verona who signed her after a very short trial. She played for Bardolino in a 3–3

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

draw with

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as just Arsenal, is an English professional women's association football, women's football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, London, England. The club plays in the FA Women' ...

and caught the eye of

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 ...

manager Pietro Ghedin. In January 2008 Picarelli made her debut for Italy in a 1–0 friendly defeat in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. By the time of

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

Picarelli was Italy's first choice goalkeeper; playing in their shock 2–1 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 ...

, the 2–0 defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, the 2–1 over

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and the quarter-final defeat to eventual winners

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 ...

. After Italy's win over England, Picarelli's partner Cameron Thomas made her a

marriage proposal A marriage proposal is a custom or ritual, common in Western cultures, in which one member of a couple asks the other for their hand in marriage. If accepted, it marks the initiation of engagement, a mutual promise of later marriage. Norms a ...

inside the

Lahti Stadium Lahti Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Lahti, Finland. In Winter the stadium is used in cross-country skiing and biathlon. In summer it is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FC Lahti. The stadium holds 14,5 ...

, which she accepted. After leaving Bardolino and playing her club football in America, Picarelli continued to be selected by the Italian national team. She played against the country of her birth in the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA–CONCACAF play-off) In the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process, one spot was allocated to the winner of a two-legged play-off between the winner of the UEFA repechage play-offs and the winner of the third-place qualification match in the 2010 CONCACAF ...

, which Italy lost 2–0 on aggregate. She won a total of 42

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Italy. In July 2014 she was appointed to a role as an assistant

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

coach with the

Simon Fraser Red Leafs The SFU Red Leafs or Simon Fraser Red Leafs teams (formerly the Simon Fraser Clan) represent Simon Fraser University (SFU), which is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The Red Leafs are members of NCAA Division II and are the only Ca ...

, based in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

References

External links

Anna Maria Picarelli
–

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

profile 1984 births Living people Italian women's footballers Italy women's international footballers Pepperdine Waves women's soccer players Sportspeople from Downey, California Soccer players from Los Angeles County, California American people of Italian descent A.S.D. AGSM Verona F.C. players Serie A (women's football) players Women's association football goalkeepers American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Damallsvenskan players Kristianstads DFF players Italian expatriate women's footballers American expatriate women's soccer players Italian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Ajax America Women players Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada Association football goalkeeping coaches 21st-century Italian sportswomen {{Italy-women-footy-bio-stub