Andrea Soncin is the new Head Coach of the National Women's First Team. The coach, coming off the back of his experience with the Venezia Primavera side, in which he also was interim for the First Team in Serie A and B, succeeds Milena Bertolini and will have former Azzurre Viviana Schiavi alongside him, who has been with Club Italia since 2017 and who led the Women's Under-16 team last season.

Soncin will officially be presented to the press, together with his new backroom staff, on Monday 18 September at Coverciano, alongside FIGC President Gabriele Gravina. His first game in charge will be against Switzerland in San Gallo in the Azzurre's opening Nations League fixture on 22 September. 

“We welcome Andrea Soncin as Head Coach of the Women's First Team," said Gabriele Gravina. "His love for the Italy shirt, his technical knowledge and great enthusiasm were determining factors in this new cycle for the Azzurre. We're expecting an extremely tough Nations League group, but our objective is to lay the foundations for the future, with European and World Cup qualification up ahead. With Soncin will be Viviana Schiavi, who knows both the players and FIGC organisation well. As well as making these decisions, we'll soon be launching an important development project for strengthening the foundations of the movement, that will support the relaunching of Women's football in Italy in which the Federation has provided a hugh financial contribution." 

THE NEW HEAD COACH – Born in Vigevano on 5 September 1978, Andrea Soncin, after a long career as player for Atalanta, Padova, Grosseto and Ascoli - his 48 goals put him third in the all-time goalscoring list for the Bianconeri - became part of the Youth Sector technical staff at Venezia in 2017. He took charge of the Under 17s for two years and in the summer of 2020 joined the First Team as a technical collaborator, where they earned promotion to the top flight. In 2021, his journey as a Head Coach continued with Venezia's Primavera team,as well as two short interim positions for the first team in 2022, first in Serie A (five game where he earned one win and two draws) and then in Serie B. In 2018, he took part in courses at Coverciano to obtain the UEFA A licence and in 2021 achieved his UEFA Pro licence.

Andrea Soncin will have alongside him Viviana Schiavi, who has a long history behind her as a player in Serie A, playing for Fiammamonza, Bardolino Verona, Brescia and Mozzanica, as well as eleven years in the National setup between 2001 and 2012, where she collected 44 appearances and took part in three European championships (2001, 2005 under Morace and 2009 with Ghedin). In her career, she won two Scudetto titles, two Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italiana.

With her playing career over, she entered Club Italia (2017/18) as an observer, working as well for the Youth and and Education sectors as a technical manager for the Federal Territorial Centre of Verano Brianza. She also followed Women's football development activities, first as a selector and then national technical manager for the ‘Calcio+15’. project. She then became Under 23 assistant Head Coach, was part of Enrico Sbardella's Under 19 side (who in 2022 won the Euros), before then moving into the hotseat of the Under 16s. In 2021, she achieved the UEFA A coaching licence.

The new Azzurre technical staff will be presented on Monday 18 September at Coverciano on the first day of training camp in preparation for the first two UEFA Women’s Nations League fixtures. Soncin will make his debut in the dugout on Friday 22 September (19:30) away to Switzerland, while on Tuesday 26 September (17:45 CEST, live on Rai 2) at the stadio Teofilo Patini in Castel di Sangro, the Azzurre will take on Sweden. Up next after that will be World champions Spain on Friday 27 October.