Giulia Dragoni Set To Play At Women’s World Cup Aged 16

A day after becoming the youngest woman this century to play for the Italian Women’s National Team, Giulia Dragoni of FC Barcelona is set to appear at the Women’s World Cup this month after making her country’s 23-player squad for the tournament.

Dragoni came on at half-time on Saturday to make her debut for the women’s national team in Ferrara aged 16 years, 236 days. She played 45 minutes as Italy were held to a 0-0 draw by fellow World Cup finalists Morocco.

She was eleven days younger than Simone Parfundi who played for the men’s national team last November aged 16 years, 247 days. At the time he became the youngest player to represent the men’s Italian national team for over a hundred years. The women’s team all-time top appearance-maker Carolina Morace first represented her nation aged just 14 in 1978.

Dragoni came to prominence at the Pro Sesto academy aged 10 where she earned the nickname “little Messi” for her outstanding skills and dribbling ability. It was not long before she was snapped up the Inter academy, the Primavera, in Milan.

On November 20, less than a fortnight after her 16th birthday, Dragoni was given her senior debut against Fiorentina making her the youngest-ever player to appear in Serie A Femminile since it turned professional this season. Coach Rita Guarino said of her “she is a talented girl who deserves the utmost attention.” She made another three appearances for Inter before the end of the year.

In January, Dragoni made history as the first-ever foreign woman to reside and live at La Masia, the legendary training headquarters of FC Barcelona. “I am happy to have joined this new family,” she told the in-house club channel Barça TV.

“For me, it is an honor to be in this club, I am very happy with the trust that has been given to me. I have been very well received, like a sister. La Masia is a small city for us young people, boys and girls also from other sports, where it’s easy to make friends and this is very important.”

A couple of months later, she was added to the eventual European champions first-team squad for the UEFA Women’s Champions League knockout stages, although she is yet to make her senior debut for the club.

Dragoni has been playing for the Barcelona reserve side, Barcelona B, where she has led them to the national second division championship. She scored her first goal against Athletic Bilbao, another later that month against AEM at the end of a stunning counter-attack, and both goals away to Juan Grande in April.

On March 29, Dragoni was first called up to the senior international squad by Italian national coach, Milena Bertolini. She trained with the seniors before leaving to play with the under-19 squad, where she scored twice in three qualifying games for the under-19 European Championship.

Last month she was included in the provisional 32-player squad for the Women’s World Cup and after impressing against Morocco on Saturday, the 16-year-old has made the final cut who will fly to New Zealand this week.

Speaking last week about Dragoni, Bertolini admitted to closely observing her during training adding that “she is a talent, she has very important potential and she has grown a lot in these years in which, in addition to her experience abroad, she has made her way into the national youth teams.”

Should she take the field at this summer’s tournament, Dragoni will join an elite list of 16-year-olds to play at the Women’s World Cup led by Nigerian Ifeanyi Chiejine, who appeared at the 1999 finals against North Korea aged just 16 years and 34 days. Chiejine, who would appear at another two World Cups, tragically died in 2019 at the age of 36.

Four years later, Elena Danilova of Russia became the youngest-ever goalscorer in the history of the World Cup when she scored after appearing as a half-time substitute during their 7-1 quarter-final defeat to eventual champions Germany aged 16 years, 107 days. Dragoni will be aged 16 years, 259 days when Italy kick-off their campaign against Argentina in Auckland.

No 16-year-old man has ever appeared at the men’s World Cup with Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside still holding the record as the youngest player when he started in their 1982 World Cup match against Yugoslavia aged 17 years, 41 days. The youngest man to score at the men’s World Cup is the legendary Pelé, aged 17 years, 239 days when he netted the winner in the 1958 World Cup against Wales.