“Out of all the unimportant things, soccer is the most important,” Pope John Paul II once said–though I could imagine Italians bristling at the sport being called “unimportant”. In Italy, soccer is a cultural pillar, a friendship maker or breakers, and, in places like Naples, almost a religion… When it comes to the men’s team, that is. 

While Italian men’s Serie A has been a professionalized powerhouse since the 1930s, drawing millions of viewers per match and generating billions in revenue, according to Statista, the women’s game has struggled to gain footing. Until 2022, Italy’s top-tier women’s league, Serie A Femminile, was not even considered professional.