Eight Juventus Women players make Italy’s World Cup squad

The Italian women’s national team is back at the Women’s World Cup for the first time 20 years. And unlike last time the Azzurre were competing on the world’s largest stage for women’s football, they will have quite the presence when it comes to players who wear Juventus colors eight or nine months out of the year.

Just as it was when the provisional roster was announced, Italy’s squad that heads to France will have a heavy, heavy Juventus Women influence to it. Of the 23 players that were officially named to Italy’s Women’s World Cup roster on Friday, over a third of them come from Serie A Femminile’s two-time defending champions. Come on, come all — Juventus is going to have quite the representation at the Women’s World Cup and play a large part in how Italy does at its first World Cup in two decades.

The players:

• Laura Giuliani (goalkeeper)
• Sara Gama (defender)
• Lisa Boattin (defender)
• Valentina Cernoia (midfielder)
• Aurora Galli (midfielder)
• Martina Rosucci (midfielder)
• Barbara Bonansea (midfielder/winger)
• Cristiana Girelli (striker)

(Just think about this: It could well have be nine Juventus players on Italy’s Women’s World Cup roster if not for defender Cecilia Salvai suffering a major knee injury in Juventus Women’s 1-0 win over Fiorentina at Allianz Stadium last month.)

These are the eight, with a good portion of them virtual locks to be starters when Italy opens up Group C play against Australia on June 9 in Valenciennes, France.

Italy find themselves in a tough group, with Brazil and Australia being tipped as the two squads to come out of Group C. (Both are ranked in the Top 10 in the most recent FIFA world rankings.) But seeing the kind of talent that Italy has on its roster come this summer, the Azzurre pulling off an upset isn’t necessarily out of the equation. It’s also safe to assume that after such a long amount of time between Women’s World Cup appearances, this Italy squad is going to try its damnedest to try and make up for lost time.

With all of that said, here is a pretty cool little ad that RAI Italia has put together as part of their campaign to hype up Italy being back at the Women’s World Cup (and their coverage of it).