Caroline Pizzala (born 23 November 1987, in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

) is a French football player who plays for French club Olympique de Marseille of the

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...

. She plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and is a member of the

France women's national football team The France women's national football team (french: Équipe de France féminine de football, sometimes shortened as Féminin A) represents France in international women's football. The team is directed by the French Football Federation (FFF). F ...

Club career

Early career

Pizzala began her career playing for local club in her hometown before settling in at Celtic Marseille in 2001. While playing with Celtic, she was teammates with fellow international

Louisa Necib Louisa Nécib Cadamuro (; born 23 January 1987) is a French former professional footballer who played for the France national team. She spent the majority of her career at Lyon, amassing eighteen titles with the French club over a nine-year spa ...

. Both players were instrumental in helping the club win the Division 3 Féminine, the third level of French women's football in 2004. In the league's final match, Pizzala scored a goal in a 4–0 win over Le Mans. In 2004, Pizzala and Necib were both selected to attend

CNFE Clairefontaine The Pole France feminin de Football (English: French Women's Football Pole), formally the Centre national de formation et d'entraînement de Clairefontaine (English: National Education and Training Center Clairefontaine) is a French training cent ...

, the women's section of the Clairefontaine academy. She spent three years at the academy and made 22 appearances scoring no goals in her final season. After departing the academy, Pizzala returned to Celtic Marseille and played with the club's senior team, who were now playing in D2 Féminine, the second division of football for women in France. With Celtic, she made 13 league appearances scoring two goals.

Paris Saint-Germain

Following the 2006–07 season, Pizzala signed with

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. Her inaugural season at the club saw Pizzala earn her international debut with France, though her domestic club struggled finishing mid-table. For the 2009–10 season, fellow internationals Camille Abily,

Sonia Bompastor Sonia Bompastor (born 8 June 1980) is a French football manager and former player who currently manages Lyon of the French Division 1 Féminine. She is the first person to win the UEFA Women's Champions League as both a player and a manager. B ...

, and

Élise Bussaglia Élise Bussaglia (born 24 September 1985) is a French footballer who plays as a midfielder for French club Dijon of the Division 1 Feminine. She was a member of the France national team. Bussaglia is a former winner of the National Union of P ...

joined ''Les Parisiens''. The arrival of veterans have paid off for Paris Saint-Germain as the club reached first place in the league after the first ten matches. Pizzala appeared in all ten of those matches scoring two goals against

Soyaux Soyaux ( or ) is a commune in the Charente department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. Population Notable people * Bruno Périer (born 1966), former professional footballer Sights * Sentier botanique de Soyaux S ...

and

La Roche-sur-Yon La Roche-sur-Yon () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is ''Yonnais''. History The town expanded significantly after Na ...

. In the 2009–10 edition of the

Challenge de France Challenge may refer to: * Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters * Euphemism for disability * Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty Places Geography *Challenge, C ...

, Pizzala scored two goals as Paris Saint-Germain reached the final. In the final, she scored a double as ''PSG'' cruised to a 5–0 victory over Montpellier. Pizzala finished the season with 25 total appearances and eight goals. Pizzala remained a starter for the 2010–11 season. She appeared in all 22 league matches scoring three goals as Paris Saint-Germain finished runner-up to the champions

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. The second-place finish resulted in Paris Saint-Germain qualifying for the

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 ...

for the first time in the club's history.

Olympique de Marseille

After seven seasons in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, during the summer of 2014, she decided to not renew her contract with Paris Saint-Germain and return to her home town of

to join Division 2 Féminine side Olympique de Marseille. She helped the club win the Division 2 title in 2015–16, and gain promotion to

's following season.

International career

Pizzala had previously starred with the women's under-17 team helping France win the bronze medal at the 2003 European Youth Festival, an early incarnation of what is now the

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is a European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first played out ...

. In 2009, Pizzala appeared for her nation at the 2009 University Games, held in Belgrade, Serbia. Pizzala captained the team that finished in 4th-place position after losing 4–1 to Great Britain in the bronze medal match. On 1 November 2007, she earned her first cap with the senior women's national team in a match against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Since making her debut, Pizzala has featured in only one competitive match for France; a 2–0 away win over

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

in qualifying for

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

. The rest of her appearances have been in friendly matches.

Career statistics

Club

''Statistics accurate as of match played 14 October 2022''

International

:''(Correct as of 25 August 2011)''PIZZALA Caroline
, French Football Federation, accessed 12 June 2011

Honours

Club

;Celtic Marseille *Division 3 Féminine (1): 2003–04 ;Paris Saint-Germain *

(1): 2009–10 ;Olympique de Marseille *Division 2 Féminine (1): 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzala, Coraline 1987 births Living people French women's footballers France women's international footballers Footballers from Marseille CNFE Clairefontaine players Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football midfielders Olympique de Marseille (women) players Division 1 Féminine players