.jpg) Sara Gama, in an international match against Belgium in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1989-03-27)27 March 1989 (age 36) | ||
| Place of birth | Trieste, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2009 | Tavagnacco | 52 | (4) |
| 2009–2012 | Chiasiellis | 50 | (2) |
| 2010 | →Pali Blues (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Brescia | 25 | (3) |
| 2013–2015 | Paris Saint-Germain | 11 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Brescia | 39 | (3) |
| 2017–2025 | Juventus | 110 | (3) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2006–2024 | Italy | 135 | (7) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 14 July 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 14 July 2025 (UTC)[1] | |||
Sara Gama (born 27 March 1989) is an Italian former professionalfootballer who played as acentre-back.
She most notably played forSerie A clubJuventus, of which shecaptained, and formerly theItaly national team, which she also captained.
She is a seven-time Serie A winner, six of them with Juventus, and reached the knockout stages of twoEuropean Championships and oneFIFA Women's World Cup with Italy.
Gama was passionate about football since a young age, joining Zaule (Muggia) and playing in mixed youth teams for them, later moving to Polisportiva San Marco in Villaggio del Pescatore in the municipality of Duino-Aurisina, where she remained for six years, playing for the first time in an all-female team.[2][3]
In a three-year period withUPC Tavagnacco,[4] she made 52 appearances and scored 4 goals.[5] With the yellow and blues, she finished third inSerie A Femminile in 2008-2009 season and reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup in her first two seasons there.
Subsequently, she moved to another Serie A clubChiasiellis where she collected 50 appearances and scored twice,[5] but during her third season there, suffered a serious knee injury while on international duty with Italy, keeping her out for most of the 2011-12 season, limiting her to seven club appearances out of 26 games played by the club.[5] In her debut year at Chiasiellis, she played in the semi-finals of the 2010 Italian Cup, and finished seventh in Serie A in 2011-12, under the management of Fabio Franti.[6]
During the summer break in 2010 she took the opportunity to play in a foreign championship for the first time, temporarily moving on loan toPali Blues to play in theW-League.[7]
Gama played forPSG ofDivision 1 Féminine in between two spells withBrescia, where she won a Serie A championship andCoppa Italia double in 2015-2016, plus two consecutive Italian Super Cups in 2015 and 2016.[8]
Juventus signed Gama on the establishment of their women's team and appointed her captain straight away. With Juve, Gama won five consecutive league titles from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022, plus three more Italian Cups in 2019, 2022 and 2023.Three consecutive Italian Super Cups from 2019 to 2021 were also claimed.[8]
Gama was a member of theItalian national team,[9] and was selected for fourEuropean Championships and oneFIFA Women's World Cup. As an Under-19 international she won the2008 U-19 European Championship serving as the team'scaptain, and was named Player of the Tournament.[10]
Gama made her senior debut for theItaly women's national football team as a 16-year-old in June 2006, in a 2–1 defeat byUkraine in the qualifiers for the2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.[11]
Gama reached two European Championship quarter-finals for Italy, the first coming in her debut tournament in2009,[12] and again in2013 under nationalcoachAntonio Cabrini.[13] Both tournaments ended in the last-eight at the hands of eventual winnersGermany.
Cabrini named Gama as Italy captain in 2014.[14]
Gama was called up to the Italy squad for theUEFA Women's Euro 2017.[15]
UnderMilena Bertolini, Italy and Gama qualified for the2019 FIFA Women's World Cup,[16] their first time in the tournament for twenty years, losing tothe Netherlands in the quarter-finals, the Azzurri's joint best ever performance. Gama and Italy also finished runners-up at the Algarve Cup in Portugal in 2020 (withdrawing from the final due to the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic) and 2022.[17][18]
On 26 June 2022, Gama was announced in the Italy squad for theUEFA Women's Euro 2022.[19]
Despite being captain, Gama was not called up to the Italy squad for the2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with coach Bertolini wanting to include more younger players.[20]
Gama was recalled to the national squad after the World Cup by new coachAndrea Soncin, featuring in the2023-24 UEFA Women's Nations League, her final competition before deciding to retire from international football at the age of 34. Her 140th and final appearance for the Azzurri was in a goalless draw against Ireland in Bagno a Ripoli on 23 February 2024.[1][21] At the time of retirement, she was the fourth-highest capped Italian women's player of all time.[1]
Gama's mother is Italian, while her father isCongolese.[22]
In 2017, she graduated in Languages at theUniversità degli Studi di Udine.[23] She speaksItalian,English,French andSpanish.[24]
In 2018, for theInternational Women's Day,Mattel presented the Sara GamaBarbie doll as part of the Barbie's Heroes doll line.[25]
During her football career she was the victim of racist insults, which became more pronounced when she became captain of the Italian national team.[26] She publicly urged the Italian football authorities to take punitive action to combat the phenomenon of racism.[27][28]
She supported professional women's football before its introduction in Italy, calling for social and welfare protection for female footballers.
Since October 2018, she has been a councilor of the FIGC for the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC),[29] and on 30 November 2020 was elected vice president of the AIC, the first woman in history to hold the position.[30] With this role, on 9 June 2021 she joined the CONI National Athletes' Commission.[31]
A documentary on her careerNumero 3, Sara Gama was broadcast in Italy onRAI in January 2023.
Brescia
Juventus
Individual
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 2006 | 2 | 0 |
| 2007 | 12 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 14 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 8 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 9 | 2 | |
| 2022 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 135 | 7 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 March 2007 | Estádio Dr. Francisco Vieira,Silves,Portugal |  Republic of Ireland | 4–1 | 4–1 | 2007 Algarve Cup |
| 2 | 19 September 2009 | Domžale Sports Park,Domžale,Slovenia |  Armenia | 3–0 | 8–0 | 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification |
| 3 | 5–0 | |||||
| 4 | 11 March 2013 | GSP Stadium,Nicosia,Cyprus |  Scotland | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup |
| 5 | 7 December 2016 | Arena da Amazônia,Manaus,Brazil |  Russia | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2016 Torneio Internacional de Manaus de Futebol |
| 6 | 21 September 2021 | Stadion Branko Čavlović-Čavlek,Karlovac,Croatia |  Croatia | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification |
| 7 | 26 October 2021 | LFF Stadium,Vilnius,Lithuania |  Lithuania | 4–0 | 5–0 |
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