The Beginner’s Guide to the AC Milan Women

Ever since the AC Milan Women made Verónica Boquete’s signing official this Monday, the eyes of the women’s football world have been upon them.

Interest in the team has certainly piqued during this time period.

Fortunately for you, I’ve put together this handy dandy guide for you to get to know them. This guide is being written by someone who has been a fan of the women’s team since their inception and has been a fan of the men’s team since 2007.

Here’s an overview of what you need to know about the Rossonere.

Background

(Copy/Pasta from Wikipedia):

A.C. Milan Women, colloquially known as Milan Women, is an Italian women’s association football club affiliated with A.C. Milan, the men’s professional football club in Milan. It was established in 2018 by acquiring the Serie A license of a Capriolo, Brescia-based team Brescia Calcio Femminile. The team competes in Serie A and are based out of the Centro Sportivo Vismara.

The team started playing in the 2018–19 season after taking over Brescia’s Serie A license.

Carolina Morace was the team’s first coach. She left after the first season though due to disagreements with Elliott Management on how to run the team. The current coach is Maurizio Ganz, and he was appointed in the wake of Morace’s departure.

How have the team done so far in Serie A Femminile?

So far, the team has done well and registered two winning seasons. However, the team has been stuck in third place thus far. The team narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification during their first season (by one point). Last season, they finished in third again on goal difference.

The goal for the team this season would be to finally break out of a perpetual third-place spot and finally qualify for Europe.

As things stand, the Rossonere are currently second in the league. If they continue their good run of form, then they just might break their curse.

What is the team’s style of play?

The team alternates between a variety of formations. In the past, they’ve used a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-1-2 formation. This season, the team has deployed a 3-5-2 for the last three games.

So far this season, they’ve won all but one of their matches and have only conceded four goals along the way. The team plays possession-based football but their possession is sometimes hampered by their inability to be clinical in front of goal.

The hope is that the team can overcome this setback soon as they work on being more clinical and scoring more goals.

Aside from Veró, are there any other Milan players we should be aware of?

First and foremost, there’s Valentina Giacinti. The Milan captain is the Rossonere’s Golden Girl, and she has also won Serie A Femminile’s capocannoniere (leading scorer) award twice.

Then there’s also Natasha Dowie, the experienced English forward who won the AIC’s Player of the Month award for October. Other notable mentions are Refiloe Jane (the midfield general) and Valentina Bergamaschi (la Jolly).

Then there’s the team’s trio of defenders, Laura Agard, Laura Fusetti (vice-captain) and, Linda Tucceri Cimini. The three of them make up the bedrock of a rock-solid defense that has been instrumental to the Rossonere’s success.

Milan has a really solid, good group of players, and Veró’s addition to the squad will only make them stronger.

Do the Milan Women have any youth squads?

The Milan Women do have squads for their youth players. They have an Under-12, Under-15, and Under-17 squads for the girls. However, at the moment, the Rossonere do not have any teams competing in the Primavera (youth) leagues. The reasons for this are currently unknown.

(And believe me when I say that I’ve asked ― but I’ve never really gotten quite a clear cut answer to this question.)

This might soon change though, as the FIGC has recently implemented new guidelines that will require the teams of Serie A Femminile to field a team in the Primavera leagues.

So we may see a Primavara team for the Rossonere fairly soon.

Why doesn’t Milan have separate social media accounts for their women’s team?

There are a few reasons for this. The main logic behind this is that Milan believes that the women and men’s team are the ‘same team’. Therefore, they have not created separate social media accounts for the teams because they don’t want to keep the women’s team off the main accounts.

They believe the women’s team should have the same exposure as the men’s team does and should be promoted on the main social media accounts. Therefore, this explains why there no separate accounts for the women.

While the intentions behind this are noble, having only one account for both the men and the women has unintentional consequences. The foremost of which is the fact that the women’s content is overshadowed by the content for the men. At times, the social media team tends to drop the ball in terms of promoting the women’s games as well.

An example of this was during the lead-up to the game against Napoli CFF last week. Milan’s Twitter and Instagram accounts didn’t mention a single thing about the women’s game until it was played.

Instead, promotion of the match came from other sources, e.g. Napoli CFF’s accounts, the official FIGC account for Serie A Femminile, and from the fans. There was also very little lead-up to the women’s Derby della Madonnina, though it was being played the same weekend as the men’s game. While Milan’s social media team should be commended for how much they’ve improved in terms of creating content for the women, there is always room for improvement.

However, I have been told by a source that the team are ‘looking into’ creating separate social media accounts for the women’s team.

There is no ETA for when those accounts will appear though. Hopefully, we’ll see them soon. Having separate accounts for the women will be a great way to promote the team and to give them the attention that they deserve. This will be instrumental to the team in the long run as they try to grow in popularity and become a force in the women’s game.

Other things of note

AC Milan are currently the only team in Serie A Femminile that pays pensions for their women’s team. This makes them pioneers as they are the first, and it also demonstrates their commitment to the women’s team as they are currently the only team in Italy that is doing this for their women’s players.

How can you watch the matches of the AC Milan Women?

If you live in Italy, you can watch the matches on Sky, TimVision, and Milan TV. AC Milan also broadcasts the women’s matches live on their app, and sometimes on their Dailymotion page too. This makes the matches accessible for those who live outside the country.

The games are free to watch too.

Speaking of which, AC Milan will play AS Roma this Sunday at 14:30 CET (5:30 a.m. PST / 8:30 a.m. EST).

Tune in to watch and who knows? You might see Veró make her debut and more importantly, you might become a fan of this team.