Julia Angela Grosso (born August 29, 2000) is a Canadian professional

soccer player 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 ...

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 Italian

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club

Juventus FC )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

and the Canada women's national team. She attained international prominence after scoring the title-winning penalty kick at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, leading Canada to its first gold medal.

Early life

Grosso was born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

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, ...

. She attended Burnaby Central Secondary where she played with the Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Rex. Grosso's sister Carli was also a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps system and played for the

Simon Fraser Clan 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 affiliate ...

. Grosso made her college debut for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

on August 17, 2018, in a 3–0 win over the

Rice Owls Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of Conference USA, Rice sponsors teams in seven men's and seven women's NCAA sanct ...

Club career

Early career

Grosso signed with

TSS FC Rovers TSS FC Rovers are a Canadian association football, soccer team based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada that play in League1 British Columbia. Established for the 2017 PDL season by general manager Will Cromack and head coach Colin Elmes, the ...

of the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). ...

for the 2018 season.

Juventus

In December 2021, Grosso returned to her ancestral country Italy and joined Italian club Juventus on an initial one-year contract. She debuted for Juventus on January 16, 2022 in a 5–0 win against

Pomigliano Pomigliano d'Arco is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, located north of Mount Vesuvius. It is known for its industrial pole among the largest and most influential in southern Italy. In the industrial area there is, amon ...

International career

Youth

On August 7, 2014, Grosso made her first junior appearance for Canada with the national under-15 against Puerto Rico in a 5–0 victory at the CONCACAF Girls Under-15 Championship. She played twelve minutes in a substitute appearance. The Canadians would go on to win the inaugural edition of the tournament in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

over Haiti. Grosso would make five appearances for the under-15 national team in the tournament, the only five U-15

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

of her career. Grosso's debut for the under-17 team came on March 3, 2016 at the CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championship in a 3–0 win against Guatemala. Canada would finish in third place at the tournament and Grosso was named to the Best XI, en route to qualification for the

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tourna ...

. Grosso proceeded to play in the

in Jordan. There, she played 90 minutes in all three group games, recording an assist in the first game, a 3–2 win over

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. Canada would draw and lose their next games against

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and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, respectively, resulting in a third-place finish in the group and failure to proceed from the group stage. The game against Venezuela was Grosso's last for the under-17 team. On January 18, 2018, Grosso made her debut for the under-20 team in a 3–1 victory over Costa Rica in the opening match of the

2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 9th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams of the North, Central ...

. Canada would lose the semi-finals on penalties to

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after a 1–1 draw after extra time. Canada needed to defeat Haiti in the third place match in order to qualify for the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

, but lost the game 1–0 and did not qualify for the U-20 World Cup. Grosso played every minute of the five-game campaign.

Senior

Grosso received her first call-up to the senior team under coach

John Herdman John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager who is the head coach of the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada men's national team. Coaching career Early career Herdman beg ...

for a home and home series against the

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on November 9 and 12, 2017. While Grosso did not feature in the first match, she came on as a ninetieth minute substitute for

Janine Beckie Janine Elizabeth Beckie (born August 20, 1994) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns FC and the Canada national team. She previously played for Sky Blue FC, the Houston Das ...

in a 3–1 loss at

Avaya Stadium PayPal Park (formerly Earthquakes Stadium and Avaya Stadium) is a soccer-specific stadium in San Jose, California, San Jose, California, United States, and is the home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes. The stadium is located on the ...

in San Jose, California. Grosso was also a part of Canada's squad for the 2018 Algarve Cup where the team finished fifth. Grosso was slated to make her FIFA Women's World Cup debut after being named to the Canadian squad for the 2019 edition in France. The event ended in disappointment for the Canadians, who were eliminated in the Round of 16 by

the 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 ...

. After the onset of the

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delayed the

by a year, Grosso was named to the Canadian squad for the occasion. Canada advanced to the Olympic final for the first time in its history. On August 6, 2021, she scored the winning penalty kick in the shootout of the

gold medal game Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

against Sweden, winning Canada their first gold medal in women's soccer. This was the first time Grosso had scored on the international circuit at any level in any situation, and immediately raised her profile at home. She was by this point regarded as a rising talent, but had been continuing to have trouble finding her way into the starting lineup due to the presence of veteran

Desiree Scott Desiree Rose Marie Scott (born 31 July 1987) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Kansas City Current and the Canadian national team. Nicknamed "the destroyer", she won gold at the 20 ...

. Joining the Canada national team again for the

2022 CONCACAF W Championship The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the regiona ...

, Grosso scored her first international goal in the tournament opener against

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, and then managed a second goal for a brace, with Canada winning a 6–0 rout. Grosso scored the lone goal of the next game against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

, in the process qualifying Canada 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 ...

. Grosso did not play in the third group stage game, but appeared as a substitute in both the semi-final and finals. She was one of four players to score three goals in the tournament, but won the Golden Boot as top scorer due to having played the fewest minutes. She was also named to the tournament's Best XI.

Style of play

Grosso is a left-footed '' mezz'ala'' who has creativity and technique as well as intensity and contrast and can also play as

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Grosso goal.''

Honours

Juventus *

: 2021–22 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: * Supercoppa Italiana: 2021–22 Canada U15 * CONCACAF Girls' U-15 Championship:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Canada * Summer Olympics:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Individual *

CONCACAF W Championship The CONCACAF W Championship (previously known as the CONCACAF Women's Championship, CONCACAF Women's Invitational Tournament, CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup and CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying) is a football competition organized by the Confede ...

Best XI:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Golden Boot: 2022 *

CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The CONCACAF Women's Under-17 tournament is a football (soccer) competition for women's national teams under 17 years of age in North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 Women's ...

Best XI: 2016 * Vancouver Whitecaps FC Showcase All-Star: 2016 * Vancouver Whitecaps FC Most Promising Player: 2016 * Canada Games All-Star: 2017 * BC Soccer Youth Player of the Year Female: 2018

References

External links

*
Texas Longhorns player profile

Vancouver Whitecaps player profile

JuliaGrosso.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosso, Julia 2000 births Living people Soccer players from Vancouver Canada women's international soccer players Canadian women's soccer players Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of Portuguese descent Women's association football midfielders Texas Longhorns women's soccer players Juventus F.C. (women) players Serie A (women's football) players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate soccer players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Canada Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada 21st-century Canadian women