Julia Angela Grosso (born August 29, 2000) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Italian Serie A club Juventus FC and the Canada women's national team. She attained international prominence after scoring the title-winning penalty kick at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, leading Canada to its first gold medal.

Early life

Grosso was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended Burnaby Central Secondary where she played with the Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Rex. Grosso's sister Carli was also a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps system and played for the Simon Fraser Clan. Grosso made her college debut for the Texas Longhorns on August 17, 2018, in a 3–0 win over the Rice Owls.

Club career

Early career

Grosso signed with

TSS FC Rovers TSS FC Rovers are a Canadian soccer team based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada that play in League1 British Columbia. Established for the 2017 PDL season by general manager Will Cromack and head coach Colin Elmes, the Rovers are the under-2 ...

of the Women's Premier Soccer League for the 2018 season.

Juventus

In December 2021, Grosso returned to her ancestral country Italy and joined Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

on an initial one-year contract. She debuted for Juventus on January 16, 2022 in a 5–0 win against Pomigliano.

International career

Youth

On August 7, 2014, Grosso made her first junior appearance for Canada with the national under-15 against Puerto Rico in a 5–0 victory at the CONCACAF Girls Under-15 Championship. She played twelve minutes in a substitute appearance. The Canadians would go on to win the inaugural edition of the tournament in a penalty shoot-out over Haiti. Grosso would make five appearances for the under-15 national team in the tournament, the only five U-15 caps of her career. Grosso's debut for the under-17 team came on March 3, 2016 at the CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championship in a 3–0 win against Guatemala. Canada would finish in third place at the tournament and Grosso was named to the Best XI, en route to qualification for the

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournam ...

. Grosso proceeded to play in the

in Jordan. There, she played 90 minutes in all three group games, recording an assist in the first game, a 3–2 win over Cameroon. Canada would draw and lose their next games against Germany and Venezuela, respectively, resulting in a third-place finish in the group and failure to proceed from the group stage. The game against Venezuela was Grosso's last for the under-17 team. On January 18, 2018, Grosso made her debut for the under-20 team in a 3–1 victory over

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in the opening match of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. Canada would lose the semi-finals on penalties to Mexico after a 1–1 draw after extra time. Canada needed to defeat

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

in the third place match in order to qualify for the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

, but lost the game 1–0 and did not qualify for the U-20 World Cup. Grosso played every minute of the five-game campaign.

Senior

Grosso received her first call-up to the senior team under coach

John Herdman John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional football manager who is the head coach of the Canada men's national team. Coaching career Early career Herdman began coaching football at a young age in England, while he was a st ...

for a home and home series against the United States on November 9 and 12, 2017. While Grosso did not feature in the first match, she came on as a ninetieth minute substitute for

Janine Beckie Janine Elizabeth Beckie (born August 20, 1994) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns FC and the Canada national team. She previously played for Sky Blue FC, the Houston Das ...

in a 3–1 loss at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. Grosso was also a part of Canada's squad for the

2018 Algarve Cup The 2018 Algarve Cup was the 25th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 28 February to 7 March 2018. The final was cancelled after torrential rain flooded the pitch: ...

where the team finished fifth. Grosso was slated to make her

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

debut after being named to the Canadian squad for the 2019 edition in France. The event ended in disappointment for the Canadians, who were eliminated in the Round of 16 by the Netherlands. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the

by a year, Grosso was named to the Canadian squad for the occasion. Canada advanced to the Olympic final for the first time in its history. On August 6, 2021, she scored the winning penalty kick in the shootout of the gold medal game against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, winning Canada their first gold medal in women's soccer. This was the first time Grosso had scored on the international circuit at any level in any situation, and immediately raised her profile at home. She was by this point regarded as a rising talent, but had been continuing to have trouble finding her way into the starting lineup due to the presence of veteran

Desiree Scott Desiree Rose Marie Scott (born 31 July 1987) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Kansas City Current and the Canadian national team. Nicknamed "the destroyer", she won gold at the 202 ...

. Joining the Canada national team again for the

2022 CONCACAF W Championship The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the regional ...

, Grosso scored her first international goal in the tournament opener against Trinidad and Tobago, and then managed a second goal for a brace, with Canada winning a 6–0 rout. Grosso scored the lone goal of the next game against Panama, in the process

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

Canada for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the women's national association football teams organised ...

. Grosso did not play in the third group stage game, but appeared as a substitute in both the semi-final and finals. She was one of four players to score three goals in the tournament, but won the Golden Boot as top scorer due to having played the fewest minutes. She was also named to the tournament's Best XI.

Style of play

Grosso is a

left-footed Footedness is the natural preference of one's left or right foot for various purposes. It is the foot equivalent of handedness. While purposes vary, such as applying the greatest force in a certain foot to complete the action of kick as opposed to ...

mezz'ala A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

'' who has creativity and technique as well as intensity and contrast and can also play as left-back.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Grosso goal.''

Honours

Juventus * Serie A: 2021–22 * Coppa Italia: *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

: 2021–22 Canada U15 * CONCACAF Girls' U-15 Championship:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Canada *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual * CONCACAF W Championship Best XI:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* CONCACAF W Championship Golden Boot: 2022 * CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship Best XI: 2016 * Vancouver Whitecaps FC Showcase All-Star: 2016 * Vancouver Whitecaps FC Most Promising Player: 2016 * Canada Games All-Star: 2017 * BC Soccer Youth Player of the Year Female: 2018

References

External links

*
Texas Longhorns player profile

Vancouver Whitecaps player profile

JuliaGrosso.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosso, Julia 2000 births Living people Soccer players from Vancouver Canada women's international soccer players Canadian women's soccer players Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of Portuguese descent Women's association football midfielders Texas Longhorns women's soccer players Juventus F.C. (women) players Serie A (women's football) players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate soccer players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Canada Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada 21st-century Canadian women