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 Serie A. She was the top scorer in Serie A in the 1984–85 season, and for 11 consecutive years from 1987–88 to 1997–98, and she holds the distinction of scoring the first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

. She is also a registered lawyer. After retiring as a player, she began a managing career with

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. She then managed the Italian national team from 2000 to 2005, and the Canadian national women's team from 2009 to 2011. In 2014, she was the first woman to be inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Morace was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in 2024.

Playing career

International

Born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Morace debuted for the Italian women's national team in 1978, against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, at the age of 14. During her career, she made 153 appearances for Italy, scoring 105 goals. While playing in the Italian national women's league, she scored more than 550 goals. She took part in six European Championships as well as the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup China 1991, where she scored four goals, including recording the first ever

to be scored at a World Cup in their 5–0 win against Chinese Taipei. As a curtain-raiser to the 1990 FA Charity Shield, Italy played the England women's national football team 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 ...

. Morace scored all four goals in England's 4–1 defeat and was featured on the front page of the following day's '' La Gazzetta dello Sport'', a record that has never been beaten by a male or female player since.

Coaching career

Morace holds a UEFA PRO License and is probably best known for having been the first woman to coach a professional men's football team, Viterbese of Italian Serie C1, a post she took in June 1999. She eventually resigned from her position after only two matches as the President interfered with management of the technical staff. For 5 years from 2000 to 2005, she was head coach for Italian women's national team, qualifying twice for the European Championships. In 2008–2009 Morace accepted a role as the head coach of a Men's Parliamentary Team preparing them for competition. In February 2009, she was announced as the new head coach of the Canadian national women's team. Under her guidance, Canada won the 2010 CONCACAF, 2010 and 2011 Cyprus Cups and 2010 Four Nations Tournament. At the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup the team's top goal scorer Christine Sinclair broke her nose in the opening match and subsequently the team did not progress to the next round as expected. In the first ever FIFA Physical Analysis at a Women's World Cup, Canada excelled in the distances covered at high speed in comparison to other teams reflecting in their quick tempo, short passing and high pressing game. Unexpectedly, she formally announced her resignation as the coach of the Canadian national women's team on Friday 22 July 2011 due to future budget disputes. Over her 2.5 years in charge Morace improved Canada's FIFA ranking from 11th to 6th position in the World. From 2011, Carolina Morace has been leading and conducting

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Coaching Courses around the world as a FIFA Ambassador and Instructor. Her experience as the CEO of Juventus Academy Roma prompted her to begin her own Football Academy, Pro Soccer Coaching. On 17 September 2015, it was announced that Morace had been appointed technical director of a Men's National Premier League Club Floreat Athena FC in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. In December 2016, she was appointed Head Coach of her third National Team Trinidad and Tobago Women's National Team. In 2017 she and her team terminated the contract because of payment issues and later won their case with Court of Arbitration for Sport and

. In 2018, Morace returned to Italy as she became the first coach of AC Milan Women in Serie A finishing third in their inaugural season and the only team to defeat Juventus 3–0. In February 2021, Morace returned to her former side

. On 9 May 2021, Lazio earned promotion back to

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 ...

for the 2021–22 season. In October 2021, she was sacked by the club, along with assistant coach Nicola Williams after five consecutive losses. In July 2023, Morace was appointed head coach of the Women's Championship (England) side London City Lionesses on a two-year deal starting from the 2023–24 Women's Championship season Morace was sacked by the Lionesses on 7 February 2024, with the club 10th in the Championship and in relegation trouble.

Political career

In April 2024, former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...

, president of the Five Star Movement, announced Morace's candidacy at the top of the list in the Central Italy constituency for the European Parliament election in June, and she was subsequently elected member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Personal life

Morace gained a law degree in 1996 and practises at a legal studio in Rome. After featuring for 13 years on Italian television, Morace became a celebrity in Italy. Her role as a football commentator and analyst for the Men's Serie A Professional League saw her work across channels La7, Telemontecarlo,

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

and Rai International and write weekly articles for La Gazzetta Dello Sport. In 2015, Morace featured in a comic book as a coach for a Professional Primavera football squad called "Elfio e i Satanelli!". On 11 October 2020, Morace came out as lesbian, recounting her life in her book ''Fuori dagli schemi''. She married the former Australian footballer Nicola Williams, with whom she celebrated the wedding twice—first in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, on the SS ''Great Britain'', and the second in Australia.

References

External links

Unofficial fans' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morace, Carolina 1964 births Living people Italian women's footballers Italy women's international footballers Italian football managers Italian association football commentators Footballers from Venice Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada FIFA Women's Century Club 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players Canada women's national soccer team managers 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Torres Calcio Femminile players Serie A (women's football) players SS Lazio Women 2015 players A.C.F. Trani 80 players Women's association football forwards Female association football managers Italy women's national football team managers A.S.D. Reggiana Calcio Femminile players Italian lesbian sportswomen Serie A (women's football) managers 21st-century Italian LGBTQ people ACF Milan 82 players Expatriate football managers in England Five Star Movement MEPs Italian lesbian politicians Italian sportsperson-politicians LGBTQ MEPs for Italy MEPs for Italy 2024–2029 21st-century women MEPs for Italy Italian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Trinidad and Tobago Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in Trinidad and Tobago 20th-century Italian sportswomen