Roma clinches title, ending Juventus Women’s record Scudetto streak

The new-look end to the Serie A Femminile certainly provided some fireworks the first time through the schedule, but it ultimately didn’t impact that title race all that much at all.

On Saturday, said title race officially came to an end.

With Roma’s 2-1 win over Fiorentina, there is now a team other than Juventus Women that can call themselves league champions for the first time in half a decade. After last weekend’s drama that saw Juve come back from a 3-0 deficit only to see Roma claim a 4-3 win over the Bianconere, it was only inevitable. And with the inevitable taking place Saturday, it meant that Juve’s five-year run atop of Serie A Femminile officially came to an end, snapping the longest streak of consecutive titles that the league has ever seen.

The team that was the most consistent and success over the course of their first 22 games was rewarded for that on their 23rd matchday of the season.

Juventus Women, the only team to beat Roma this season (which happened twice during Phase 1 of the fixture list), will enter Sunday’s matchup against AC Milan a whopping 14 points behind Roma.

With an 11-point lead over Milan entering Sunday, Juve’s main target now shifts to wrapping up Serie A Femminile’s second and final Women’s Champions League spot in quick order. A win over Milan would do just that, stretching the advantage to 14 points with four games to go.

Juventus’ streak up until this point had stretched the entire length of their existence. Juve won the title in their first-ever season in 2017-18, then won three more under manager Rita Guarino. After Juve parted ways with Guarino — who is now at Inter Milan — and hired Joe Montemurro in the summer of 2021, that Scudetto streak was extended to five, with the former Arsenal boss adding success in the Women’s Champions League like the club hadn’t seen under Guarino.

But this season, Roma set the standard early and never relented. Juve, on the other hand, saw draws against mid-table opposition as well as a pair of Phase 1 losses prove costly in the attempt to keep pace with Roma. By the time Phase 2 of the season arrived, Juve’s hopes of trying to turn the tide on Roma hinged on both winning the head-to-head matchups as well as getting help from others. Neither of those happened, and that allowed Roma to clinch their first-ever Scudetto with four games to spare.

Juventus Women and Roma will face off in the Coppa Italia Femminile final on Sunday, June 4, at the Stadio Arechi in Salerno. Juve beat Roma in last season’s Coppa final to clinch the domestic double.