Giulia Dragoni (born 7 November 2006) is an Italian professional

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 plays as a

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 ...

for

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, formerly known as Primera División RFEF, is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. It is below the top tw ...

club

Barcelona B Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and the Italy women's national team.

Club career

Early life and Inter Milan

Born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy, Dragoni started playing football at the age of four, joining grassroots club Franco Scarioni, before moving to Cimiano, and then entering the junior academy of

Pro Sesto Pro Sesto 1913 S.r.l. (formerly ''Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Nuova Pro Sesto'' and initially ''Associazione Calcio Pro Sesto'') is an association football club, based in Sesto San Giovanni, Lombardy, Italy. Pro Sesto currently plays ...

in 2015. Here, she first came to prominence for her performances in

mixed-sex Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

junior championships, where she played until 2019, earning the nickname "Little Messi". Having first joined

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

on trial for a youth tournament in 2018, Dragoni officially entered the club's youth sector in the summer of 2020. During the 2020–21 campaign, following the halt of several youth leagues due to the consequences of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, she was promoted to Inter's under-19 squad, aged just 14, and contributed to a third-place finish in the national championship. Having been promoted to Inter's first team at the start of the 2022–23 season, under head coach

Rita Guarino Maria Rita Guarino (; born 31 January 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Italian club Inter Women. As a player, she represented the Italy national team as a striker. Playing career Throug ...

, Dragoni made her professional debut on 20 November 2022, coming in as a substitute for Ghoutia Karchouni in the 74th minute of a goalless

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

draw against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. Having just turned 16 years old, she became the youngest player to ever feature in a

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

match since the league had achieved full-time professional status. She went on to make three more appearances for Inter's senior team before the end of 2022.

Barcelona

On 31 January 2023, Dragoni officially joined Spanish side

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on a permanent deal, signing a contract until June 2025. In the process, she became the first non-Spanish member of the women's team setup to reside at

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

. Having been registered for the club's reserve team,

, she scored her first goal for the side on 5 March, in a 3–0

win over Athletic B. In her first season at the club, she helped Barcelona B win the second-tier title, having scored four goals in ten matches; she was also included in the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

's title-winning

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 ...

squad, despite not featuring in any of their matches. At the start of the 2023–24 season, Dragoni was officially promoted to Barcelona's first team, while still being a part of Barcelona B's roster.

International career

Dragoni has represented Italy at various youth international levels, having played for the under-16, under-17 and under-19 national teams. In March 2023 she received her first call-up to the Italian senior national team for the friendly match against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. In June of the same year, she was included in the preliminary squad for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the women's national association football teams organised ...

by head coach

Milena Bertolini Milena Bertolini (born 24 June 1966) is an Italian former footballer and current manager of the Italy women's national team. As the national team coach, she led Italy to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup following a twenty-year absence ...

. She subsequently made her debut for the ''Azzurre'' on 1 July, coming on as a substitute in the second half of a friendly match against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, which ended in a goalless draw: at 16 years and 236 days, she became the youngest person to represent an Italian senior national football team in the 21st century, but did not beat the all-time record, originally established by

Carolina Morace Carolina Morace (; born 5 February 1964) is an Italian former footballer who played as a striker and is the current head coach of Lazio Women. She played for the Italian national team and for various clubs in women's Serie A. She was the top ...

in 1978. The following day, she was officially included in the final 23-women squad for the

in Australia and New Zealand, aged just 16; in the process, she became the second youngest player to get called up for the tournament, behind only Casey Phair. On 24 July 2023, Dragoni started in a 1–0

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

win over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

: at 16 years and 259 days, she became the youngest player to ever represent the ''Azzurre'' in the competition's history, a record that previously belonged to

, while also overtaking

Giuseppe Bergomi Giuseppe Bergomi (; born 22 December 1963) is an Italian former professional footballer who spent his entire career at Inter Milan. He is regarded as one of the greatest Italian defenders of all time, and as one of the best of his generation, be ...

as Italy's youngest player to take part in any World Cup match, including both men's and women's football. She also became the second-youngest European player to feature in a FIFA Women's World Cup game.

Style of play

Dragoni mainly operates as a

in the ''

mezzala 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 ...

'' role; she is best known for her dribbling skills, as well as her ball control, her passing and her tactical intelligence.

References

External links

* * 2006 births Living people Women's association football midfielders Footballers from Milan Inter Milan (women) players FC Barcelona Femení B players Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Italian women's footballers Italy women's youth international footballers Italy women's international footballers {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragoni, Giulia