"Being the captain to me means taking responsibilities... My role requires me to be an example for my teammates, and this means the world to me." 

PLAYER PROFILE- SARA GAMA

Born: March 27th, 1989

Nationality: Italian

Player Position: Defender

Shirt Number: #3

Years Active at Juve: 2017 - present

JAS Team Dedicated: Juventus Girls Gama

Fun Fact: Sara Gama is the captain for both Juventus Women as well as the Italian Women’s National Team. She has also been inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame, and is the only active female player on the list.

WHAT MAKES THEM A LEGEND?

Sara Gama has been with the Juventus Women's Team since the very beginning, captaining the side since their formation in 2017. With a total of 60 appearances for the club, Gama's leadership and defensive skills have proved vital in the Juventus Women's four consecutive Scudetto wins. She is also the captain of the Italian Women's National Team and has played for the side since she was just 17 years old. With a whopping 126 caps for her National Team, Gama has been inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

Sara Gama is not only an incredibly influential female football player to Juventus & Italy but to Women's Football in general. As outlined in Horncastle's article on The Athletic, Gama took an important role in pushing Italian Women's football into the public's radar. Until recently, Women's Football has always been in the background as Men's Football dominated the audience's attention. Despite the Italian Women's U19 team becoming Champions in the 2008 UEFA U19 Euros, people barely paid attention. Disheartened by the situation in her home country, Gama left to play for PSG. There she began to understand what exactly she wanted for herself and her peers as a female footballer. 

In 2015, things started to change. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) passed a few important amendments that would promote Women's football both on the youth and professional level. Then, larger clubs in Italy such as Fiorentina and Sassuolo began to take action, purchasing Women's football clubs and rebranding them to make them their own. So when Gama's previous club Brescia called her back, she once again returned to Italy. 

Things weren't all smooth from there, however, as Gama and her teammates faced some obstacles. After encountering a few situations such as having to play finals on pitches with no lines, the players felt disrespected and decided to take action. When a drafted proposal was entirely ignored, Sara Gama and her teammates staged an on-pitch protest with the slogan: "some points are worth more than the ones in the table." The team then threatened to go on strike, and despite the league initially claiming games would go on without Brescia, they caved. 

Women's football in Italy has continued to grow since then, with Juventus coming into the picture in 2017. The club attracted strong players both domestically & internationally and won the Scudetto in their very first season of participation. Then the Bianconere went on to win the next three seasons as well. The club is building a wonderful project surrounding the team, becoming a leader in promoting Women's Football. With growing recognition and top-tier facilities & resources, Sara Gama is now where she wants to be- at home with Juve. And we can certainly thank her for where the Juventus Women are at now... which is more than enough to name our Girls' team after this Bianconera legend.