Patrizia Panico
Patrizia Panico (; born 8 February 1975) is an Italian former footballer who is the current manager of Italy U16. A prolific goalscorer, Panico is a longstanding member of the Italy women's national team; she has won over 185 caps for Italy, and has also served as her national side's captain. She is a veteran of Italy's 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013 UEFA Women's Championship campaigns and played at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. In a club career that spanned more than two decades, Panico has won ten "Scudetti" and collected five  Coppa Italia winner's medals with her various clubs. She has been Serie A's top scorer on 14 occasions (an Italian record for her category) and spent part of 2010 in America, representing Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) club Sky Blue FC. Panico is nicknamed "The Scorpion" due to her deadly goalscoring instincts. Club career. In addition to Torres, Panico has played for SS Lazio, Torino CF, Modena Amadio, ACF Milan and ASD Bardolino, as well as Sky Blue FC of the United States' Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She has been the Serie A's top scorer for  ten seasons. At Modena in 1997–98 Panico won her first Serie A title. She played alongside Carolina Morace and came to be seen as the heir apparent to Morace's title as Italy's best female player. In the months before the professional Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) began play in 2001, Panico was pursued by Philadelphia Charge. She had agreed terms but the move was eventually derailed by red tape. International career. Panico made her senior international debut on 8 April 1996, in Italy's 4–1 1997 UEFA Women's Championship qualification win over Portugal in Mestre. She  started the match and scored Italy's first goal after five minutes of play. Panico was selected for the final tournament in Norway. She scored in a 2–2 group stage draw with Denmark, as Italy reached the final which they lost 2–0 to Germany. At the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States, Panico gave Italy the lead in their first game against Germany. The match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California finished 1–1. The Italians were eliminated after a 2–0 defeat by Brazil in their next game, but recovered to beat Mexico 2–0. Panico scored  the first goal and was hailed as "one of the world's most explosive players" by CNN Sports Illustrated. On 11 November 1999 Panico scored a notable hat-trick against Germany in a 4–4 2001 UEFA Women's Championship qualification draw. At the final tournament, player of the match Panico scored twice in Italy's opening 2–1 win over Denmark at the Waldstadion in Aalen. The Italians narrowly failed to qualify from the group after a 1–1 draw with Norway and a 2–0 defeat by France. Four years later, Panico was included in the squad for UEFA Women's Euro  2005 in North West England. She played in the Italians' 4–0 defeat to perennial champions Germany, which intersected defeats to France and Norway and preceded another first round exit. At UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Finland, Panico played in all four games and added two goals as the Italians went out to Germany in the quarter-finals. Four years later, national coach Antonio Cabrini named Panico in his selection for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden. At 38, Panico entered her fifth European finals and admitted it was likely to be her last. She was left disappointed by  another defeat by the Germans in the quarter-final at Myresjöhus Arena, Växjö.