Anna Maria Picarelli (born November 4, 1984) is an American-born Italian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Seattle Sounders Women and the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

. Picarelli is an

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

, born in

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...

; her father Angelo Picarelli and uncle Joe Picarelli both became restaurateurs in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. Her paternal grandparents Mario and Maria Picarelli had migrated from

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

to Downey in 1966. As a senior in her successful four-year career playing varsity soccer at Pepperdine University, Picarelli was called into a training camp for the

United States women's national under-23 soccer team The United States U-23 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the full Women's National Team. The team competes in a va ...

. However,

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Jill Ellis Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two ...

quickly deemed Picarelli too small to be an effective goalkeeper at international level. After graduating Picarelli approached Italian club Bardolino Verona who signed her after a very short trial. She played for Bardolino in a 3–3

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

draw with

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

and caught the eye of Italy women's national football team manager Pietro Ghedin. In January 2008 Picarelli made her debut for Italy in a 1–0

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

defeat in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. By the time of UEFA Women's Euro 2009 Picarelli was Italy's first choice goalkeeper; playing in their shock 2–1 win over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the 2–0 defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, the 2–1 over

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and the quarter-final defeat to eventual winners

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. After Italy's win over England, Picarelli's partner Cameron Thomas made her a marriage proposal inside the

Lahti Stadium Lahti Stadium ( fi, Lahden stadion) is a multi-use stadium in Lahti, Finland. In Winter the stadium is used in cross-country skiing and biathlon. In summer it is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FC Lahti. The s ...

, which she accepted. After leaving Bardolino and playing her club football in America, Picarelli continued to be selected by the Italian national team. She played against the country of her birth in the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA–CONCACAF play-off) In the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process, one spot was allocated to the winner of a two-legged play-off between the winner of the UEFA repechage play-offs and the winner of the third-place qualification match in the 2010 CONCACAF ...

, which Italy lost 2–0 on aggregate. She won a total of 42 caps for Italy. In July 2014 she was appointed to a role as an assistant

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

coach with the

Simon Fraser Red Leafs The SFU Red Leafs or Simon Fraser Red Leafs teams (formerly the Simon Fraser Clan) represent Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of NCAA Division II and are the only Canadian university affiliated ...

, based in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

References

External links

Anna Maria Picarelli
–

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

profile 1984 births Living people Italian women's footballers Italy women's international footballers Pepperdine Waves women's soccer players Sportspeople from Downey, California Soccer players from Los Angeles County, California American people of Italian descent A.S.D. AGSM Verona F.C. players Serie A (women's football) players Women's association football goalkeepers American women's soccer players Damallsvenskan players Kristianstads DFF players Italian expatriate women's footballers American expatriate women's soccer players Italian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Ajax America Women players Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada Association football goalkeeping coaches {{Italy-women-footy-bio-stub