Patrizia Panico

Patrizia Panico (; born 8 February 1975) is an Italian former footballer who is formerly the manager of Fiorentina in the Italian women's Serie A. A prolific goalscorer, Panico is a longstanding member of the Italy women's national team; she won over 185 caps for Italy, and 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 won ten Scudetti and collected five Coppa Italia winner's medals with her various clubs. She was Serie A's top scorer on 14 occasions (an Italian record for her category) and spent part of 2010 in the United States, representing Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) club Sky Blue. Panico is nicknamed "The Scorpion" due to her deadly goalscoring instincts.

Club career In addition to Torres, Panico played for Lazio, Torino, Modena Amadio, Milan and Bardolino, as well as Sky Blue of the United States' Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She was 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 UEFA Women's Euro 1997 qualifying 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 UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualifying 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. 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.

On 2 October 2010, she scored against Ukraine for the FIFA Women's World Cup qualification at the Stadion Yuri Gagarin in Chernihiv.

Career statistics Club

International goals No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 7 April 1996 Mestre, Portugal 1–0 4–1 UEFA Women's Euro 1997 qualifying 2. 31 May 1997 Salem, United States 1–0 3–0 1997 Women's U.S. Cup 3. 3 July 1997 Lillestrøm, Norway 2–2 2–2 UEFA Women's Euro 1997 4. 1 November 1997 Nyon, Switzerland ?–? 1–3 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 5. 11 April 1998 Blois, France 3–2 3–2 6. 27 May 1998 Espoo, Finland ?–1 2–1 7. 6 January 1999 Sydney, Australia 1–0 1–0 1999 Australia Cup 8. 9 January 1999 1–0 1–1 9. 20 June 1999 Pasadena, United States 1–0 1–1 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup 10. 27 June 1999 Foxborough, United States 1–0 2–0 11. 13 October 1999 Castelfranco di Sotto, Italy 1–0 1–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualifying 12. 11 November 1999 Isernia, Italy 1–2 4–4 13. 2–3 14. 3–3 15. 25 June 2001 Aalen, Germany 1–0 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2001 16. 2–0 17. 30 March 2003 Trento, Italy 6–0 8–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2005 qualifying 18. 7–0 19. 19 July 2003 Vaasa, Finland 1–0 1–1 20. 27 September 2003 Frauenfeld, Switzerland 1–0 1–0 21. 18 March 2004 Lagos, Portugal ?–? 2–1 2004 Algarve Cup 22. 20 March 2004 Faro, Portugal 1–1 3–3 (3–4 p) 23. 2–1 24. 24 April 2004 Andria, Italy 1–0 1–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2005 qualifying 25. 26 June 2004 Benevento, Italy 2–1 2–1 26. 27 November 2004 Čáslav, Czech Republic 2–0 3–0 27. 24 September 2005 Monza, Italy 2–1 3–1 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 28. 2 November 2005 Sesto al Reghena, Italy 2–0 6–0 29. 6–0 30. 22 April 2006 Athens, Greece 1–0 5–0 31. 3–0 32. 4–0 33. 5–0 34. 23 September 2006 Rimini, Italy 1–2 1–2 35. 28 October 2006 Seoul, South Korea 2–3 2–3 2006 Peace Queen Cup 36. 1 November 2006 Changwon, South Korea 2–1 2–1 37. 7 March 2007 Lagos, Portugal 2–1 2–1 2007 Algarve Cup 38. 12 March 2007 Silves, Portugal 1–0 4–1 39. 30 May 2007 Dublin, Ireland 2–0 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying 40. 27 October 2007 Bük, Hungary 2–1 3–1 41. 31 October 2007 Parma, Italy 2–0 5–0 42. 16 February 2008 Villacidro, Italy 3–1 4–1 43. 5 March 2008 Alvor, Portugal 1–1 2–4 2008 Algarve Cup 44. 10 March 2008 Loulé, Portugal 2–0 2–0 45. 24 May 2008 Buftea, Romania 2–0 6–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying 46. 25 October 2008 Prague, Czech Republic 1–0 1–0 47. 29 October 2008 Gubbio, Italy 2–0 2–1 48. 7 February 2009 Canberra, Australia 2–0 5–1 Friendly 49. 4–0 50. 5–1 51. 25 August 2009 Lahti, Finland 1–1 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2009 52. 4 September 2009 1–2 1–2 53. 19 September 2009 Domžale, Slovenia 8–0 8–0 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 54. 24 October 2009 Yerevan, Armenia 8–0 8–0 55. 25 November 2009 Francavilla al Mare, Italy 4–0 7–0 56. 7–0 57. 27 March 2010 Tocha, Portugal 2–1 3–1 58. 19 June 2010 Montereale Valcellina, Italy 6–0 6–0 59. 15 September 2010 Gubbio, Italy 1–0 2–3 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA play-offs 60. 2 October 2010 Chernihiv, Ukraine 2–0 3–0 61. 27 October 2010 Aarau, Switzerland 1–0 4–2 62. 9 March 2011 Nicosia, Cyprus 1–0 2–0 2011 Cyprus Women's Cup 63. 19 November 2011 Pruszków, Poland 4–0 5–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying 64. 28 February 2012 Larnaca, Cyprus 1–0 1–2 2012 Cyprus Women's Cup 65. 6 March 2012 Paralimni, Cyprus 1–1 3–1 66. 31 March 2012 Ferrara, Italy 1–0 4–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying 67. 4–0 68. 4 April 2012 Podolsk, Russia 1–0 2–0 69. 2–0 70. 16 June 2012 Turin, Italy 2–0 9–0 71. 4–0 72. 6–0 73. 16 September 2012 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy 1–0 1–0 99. 13 February 2014 Novara, Italy 6–1 6–1 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 100. 10 March 2014 Larnaca, Cyprus 1–1 1–1 2014 Cyprus Women's Cup 101. 12 March 2014 Paralimni, Cyprus 2–5 2–5 102. 10 April 2014 Cluj-Napoca, Romania 1–0 2–1 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 103. 8 May 2014 Skopje, Macedonia 1–0 11–0 104. 17 May 2014 Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy 2–0 6–0 Friendly 105. 3–0 106. 14 June 2014 Prague, Czech Republic 1–0 4–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 107. 2–0 108. 17 September 2014 Vercelli, Italy 3–0 15–0 109. 4–0 110. 29 October 2014 Lviv, Ukraine 2–2 2–2 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA play-offs

Honours Modena Serie A: 1998 Italian Women's Super Cup: 1998

Lazio Serie A: 2002 Coppa Italia (women): 1999, 2003

Bardolino Italian Women's Cup: 2007, 2009 Italian Women's Super Cup: 2007, 2008

AGSM Verona Serie A: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015

Torres Serie A: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Italian Women's Cup: 2011 Italian Women's Super Cup: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Individual Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2015 UEFA Women's Champions League top scorer: 2007–08 (9 goals) Serie A top scorer: 2010–11 (29 goals), 2011–12 (26 goals), 2012–13 (35 goals), 2013–14 (43 goals), 2014–15 (34 goals)