Paola Bonato (born 31 January 1961) is an Italian footballer who played as a defender for the

Italy women's national football team The Italy women's national football team () has represented Italy in international women's football since their inception in 1968. The team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy. Form ...

. She accrued 71

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 Java ...

between 1983 and 1991, and was part of the team at four editions of the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

and at the inaugural

1991 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international gove ...

. In a 19-year career at club level she won seven

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 ...

winner's medals and three

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 ...

winner's medals, while playing for

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, in southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the fir ...

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and Reggiana.

Club career

Bonato began playing for Verona when she was 14 years old. She continued to live and work in

Mozzecane Mozzecane is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southwest of Verona. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,611 and an area of .All demographics an ...

after transferring to

in 1982, where she won Serie A three times and the Coppa Italia once. She also won Serie A in her first season after moving to

, then won three more Serie A titles and two more Coppa Italias with Reggiana. She finished her career after spending one season with newly- promoted Serie A club Lugo.

International career

Bonato made her first appearance for the national team on 24 April 1983, a 3–0 1984 European Competition for Women's Football qualifying win over

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 ...

at Stadio Romeo Menti in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

. Her 71st and final appearance was the 3–2 (

after extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a Draw (tie), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is ...

)

quarter final defeat by

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Jiangmen Stadium Jiangmen Stadium (Simplified Chinese: 江门体育场) is a multi-use stadium in Jiangmen, China. It is currently used mostly for football matches and was one of the six stadiums used for the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1991 FIFA Women's Wo ...

. In between she had played in the semi-finals of the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

editions of the

. Bonato may have collected more than 71 national team appearances, but her employer – the Municipality of

– had refused to grant her any additional time off.

Style of play

The ''Dizionario del Calcio Italiano'' described Bonato as a gritty and determined marker, who was not elegant but was hard to get past. She was versatile enough to play in any of the defensive positions. In May 2020

Antonella Carta Antonella Carta (born 1 March 1967 in Nuoro) is an Italian footballer who played as a midfielder for the Italy women's national football team. She was part of the team at the UEFA Women's Euro 1997 and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 ...

described Bonato as the most difficult opponent she had faced.

Career statistics

Honours

Trani *

: 1984, 1985, 1985–86 *

: 1983 Lazio *

: 1987–88 Reggiana *

: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93 *

: 1991–92, 1992–93 Italy * Mundialito: 1984, 1986

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonato, Paola 1961 births Living people Italian women's footballers Italy women's international footballers 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football defenders A.S.D. Reggiana Calcio Femminile players Serie A (women's football) players SS Lazio Women 2015 players A.C.F. Trani 80 players Footballers from Veneto