Manuela Giugliano

Manuela Giugliano
Personal information
Date of birth 18 August 1997
Place of birth Castelfranco Veneto, Italy
Height 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Roma
Number 10
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2014 ACFD Pordenone 16 (1)
2014–2015 ASD Torres Calcio 22 (3)
2015–2016 ASD Mozzanica 15 (10)
2016–2017 Verona 21 (15)
2017–2018 ACF Brescia 22 (3)
2018–2019 Milan 20 (3)
2019– Roma 76 (16)
International career‡
2012–2014 Italy U17 22 (14)
2014–2015 Italy U19 6 (5)
2014– Italy 71 (8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:53, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:53, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

Manuela Giugliano (born 18 August 1997) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Roma in Italy's Serie A and the Italy women's national football team.

Club career

Giugliano played for ACFD Pordenone before joining ASD Torres Calcio in 2014. The following year she signed for ASD Mozzanica. In the summer of 2016, Giugliano agreed to move abroad and play for Primera Iberdrola side Atletico Madrid but then reversed her decision to move to Spain for personal reasons. On 22 September 2016, she returned to her native Italy to sign for AGSM Verona. She then joined ACF Brescia in 2017 before moving to Milan the next season as part of Milan's acquisition of Brescia's Serie A license.

After a single season spent with AC Milan, Giugliano then moved to Roma on 16 July 2019. The move was seen as a coup for Roma, given the Serie A club were signing Giugliano from rivals AC Milan and following Giugliano's performances with Italy at the 2019 World Cup.

During her first season with Roma, and largely owed to her performances with Italy during the 2019 World Cup, Giugliano won Italian football's Female Player of the Year award at the 2019 Gran Galà del Calcio.

Currently, Roma is Giugliano's first and only club in her senior career where she has chosen to stay longer than 12 months, going as far as to sign a three-year contract extension in August 2020. Giugliano then went on to become part of Roma's victorious Coppa Italia 2021 campaign, helping the club to win its first major trophy since A.S. Roma's inception in 2018.

International career

Giugliano was called up to be part of the Italy U17 for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, where she played six games and scored three goals. She was called up to be part of the U17 national team for the 2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship. She made her senior debut in a 2–1 win against Ukraine on 25 October 2014. She scored her first international goal in a 6–1 win against Georgia on 18 September 2015, scoring in the 23rd minute.

She was included by manager Antonio Cabrini in Italy's squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. Giugliano was also called up to Milena Bertolini's Italy squad for the 2019 World Cup, after a 20-year absence from the tournament for the Azzurre, where Giugliano's performances in the Italy midfield took plaudits around the world and helped Italy reach the quarter-finals. In an April 2020 interview with Marco Migaleddu, Giugliano claimed her World Cup performance against Brazil in the group stage won her many loyal Brazilian fans who still follow her career today. In 2021, Giugliano was part of Bertolini's Italy team that qualified for the UEFA Euro 2022 tournament.

Style of play

Manuela Giugliano is a versatile talent who is able to carry out defensive, attacking and transition play to a very high degree of execution. She initially relied on her ball-striking technique and dead-ball technique to mould herself as an attacking midfielder at youth and senior level. However, it was her move to Brescia that sparked a re-think of her career, as Giugliano chose to move back deeper into midfield and rely on her ability to intercept passes in order to influence games. She cites Andrea Pirlo as a role model for this phase of her career.

Giugliano's defensive qualities earned her a key role with Milena Bertolini's Italy, as well as inheriting the number 10 jersey with Roma. She retains the vision to make accurate and early long-range passes to the frontline, from deep midfield, as well as the ability to find key passes into the box when Giugliano moves further up the pitch. Her set-piece ability also makes her a frequent source of assists from corners, for both club and country.

Personal life

Giugliano is lesbian. She grew up in Istrana, in the Treviso area, but all her family are from Naples.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 17 September 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Coppa Italia Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Pordenone 2013–14 Serie A 16 1 ? ? – – 16 1
Torres 2014–15 Serie A 23 3 2 1 3 0 – 28 4
Mozzanica 2015–16 Serie A 15 10 3 1 – – 18 11
Verona 2016–17 Serie A 21 15 3 2 1 0 1 0 26 17
Brescia 2017–18 Serie A 22 3 6 0 4 0 1 0 33 3
A.C. Milan 2018–19 Serie A 20 3 4 3 – – 24 6
A.S. Roma 2019–20 Serie A 12 2 1 0 – – 13 2
2020–21 Serie A 21 4 1 0 – – 22 4
2021–22 Serie A 19 4 6 2 – 1 0 26 6
2022–23 Serie A 23 6 4 1 12 3 1 0 40 10
2023–24 Serie A 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Total 76 16 12 3 12 3 2 0 102 22
Career total 193 51 30 10 20 3 4 0 247 64
  1. includes UEFA Women's Champions League
  2. includes Supercoppa Italiana

International

As of match played 23 September 2023
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Italy 2014 1 0
2015 5 1
2016 0 0
2017 6 1
2018 10 1
2019 19 2
2020 2 0
2021 7 1
2022 12 1
2023 9 1
Total 71 8
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Giuliano goal.
List of international goals scored by Manuela Giuliano
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 18 September 2015 Stadio Alberto Picco, La Spezia, Italy Georgia 2–1 6–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying
2. 8 March 2017 GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus Czech Republic 6–2 6–2 2017 Cyprus Women's Cup
3. 5 March 2018 AEK Arena, Larnaca, Cyprus Finland 2–2 2–2 2018 Cyprus Women's Cup
4. 8 October 2019 Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, Italy Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–0 2–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
5. 12 November 2019 Stadio Teofilo Patini, Castel di Sangro, Italy Malta 4–0 5–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
6. 24 February 2021 Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy Israel 12–0 12–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
7. 2 September 2022 Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău, Moldova Moldova 1–0 8–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
8. 16 February 2023 Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom Belgium 1–1 1–2 2023 Arnold Clark Cup
9. 5 December 2023 Stadio Ennio Tardini, Parma, Italy Switzerland 1–0 3–0 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League

Honours

Brescia

Roma

Italy U17

Individual

  • AIC Best Women's Player: 2019
  • AIC Best Women's XI: 2019, 2020
  • Pallone Azzurro: 2015