Sara Gama (born 27 March 1989) is an Italian professional

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 plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

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 ...

club

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

, 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 A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

and one

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 ...

with Italy.

Club career

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. In a three-year period with UPC Tavagnacco, she made 52 appearances and scored 4 goals. 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, 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. 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. 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. Gama played for PSG of

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

in between two spells with

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, where she won a Serie A championship and

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 ...

double in 2015-2016, plus two consecutive Italian Super Cups in 2015 and 2016. 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.

International career

Gama was a member of the Italian national team, and was selected for four

and one

. As an Under-19 international she won the 2008 U-19 European Championship serving as the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, and was named Player of the Tournament. 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 Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in the qualifiers for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Gama reached two European Championship quarter-finals for Italy, the first coming in her debut tournament in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and again in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

under national coach

Antonio Cabrini Antonio Cabrini (; born 8 October 1957) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player. He played as a left-back, mainly with Juventus. He won the 1982 FIFA World Cup with the Italy national team. Cabrini was nicknamed ''Bell'A ...

. Both tournaments ended in the last-eight at the hands of 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 ...

. Cabrini named Gama as Italy captain in 2014. Gama was called up to the Italy squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. Under Milena Bertolini, Italy and Gama qualified for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

, their first time in the tournament for twenty years, losing to

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

) and 2022. On 26 June 2022, Gama was announced in the Italy squad for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...

. Despite being captain, Gama was not called up to the Italy squad for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

, with coach Bertolini wanting to include more younger players. 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. At the time of retirement, she was the fourth-highest capped Italian women's player of all time.

Personal life

Gama's mother is Italian, while her father is Congolese. In 2017, she graduated in Languages at the Università degli Studi di Udine. She speaks

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, English, French and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. In 2018, for the

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

presented the Sara Gama

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

doll as part of the Barbie's Heroes doll line. During her football career she was the victim of racist insults, which became more pronounced when she became captain of the Italian national team. She publicly urged the Italian football authorities to take punitive action to combat the phenomenon of racism. She supported professional women's football before its introduction 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), and on 30 November 2020 was elected vice president of the AIC, the first woman in history to hold the position. With this role, on 9 June 2021 she joined the CONI National Athletes' Commission. A documentary on her career ''Numero 3, Sara Gama'' was broadcast in Italy on RAI in January 2023.

Honours

Brescia *

: 2015–16 *

: 2015–16 * Italian Women's Super Cup: 2015, 2016 Juventus *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 *

: 2018–19, 2021–22 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, 2020–21, 2021–22 Individual * AIC Best Women's XI: 2019 *

Italian Football Hall of Fame The Italian Football Hall of Fame () is the hall of fame for association football players that have had a significant impact on Italian football. It is housed at the '' Museo del Calcio'' in Coverciano, Italy. History and regulations The Hall o ...

: 2019

Career Statistics

International

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gama, Sara 1989 births Living people Italian women's footballers Italy women's international footballers Footballers from Trieste Pali Blues players Paris Saint-Germain FC (women) players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Expatriate women's footballers in France Italian expatriate sportspeople in France Italian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Women's association football defenders SSD Brescia Calcio Femminile players ASD UPC Tavagnacco players Italian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Serie A (women's football) players Juventus FC (women) players Première Ligue players ASD Calcio Chiasiellis players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's Century Club UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Italian sportswomen