How to follow Juventus Women players at the Women’s World Cup

The games are about to begin in Australia and New Zealand, and there’s 13 players who call Juventus their club ready to make a big impression on the international level.

Twelve months after the Women’s Euros saw a heavy Juventus Women contingent that nearly hit 20 players total represent their respective countries for continental bragging rights, much of those same names back again on the international stage to right some wrongs and take things a step or two forward from 12 months ago.

A baker’s dozen worth of Juve players — the overwhelming majority of them playing on the same team that has the Italian crest on the front of their kit — will all be looking to, at minimum, get out of the group stage and make it to the knockout rounds. Many of those teams have expectations and aspirations to get to the quarterfinals and beyond, with the end goal for a select few to try and end the United States women’s national team’s reign atop the sport for the better part of the last decade.

Whether it’s an Italy side that is trying to rebound from a rough showing at the Euros and instead recapture the magic from 2019 or a France and Canada side that has seen plenty of off-field issues pile up in the months leading up to the Women’s World Cup, there are storylines aplenty going into this year’s tournament.

With an expanded field this summer, Juve won’t even come close to having a player on even half of the countries participating. Heck, they don’t even have somebody representing them in every group.

So which Juventus Women players are at this summer’s Women’s World Cup? Here’s who we got.

(Please note: Players and countries will be listed by who plays their opening group stage game first, thus making it easier to figure out how the group stage will go.)

Group A: New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Philippines

The group that will to the field first won’t see any familiar faces on it, with Group A very much devoid of any current Juventus players. With host New Zealand opening the tournament up on July 20, it won’t be until 24 hours later that we get Juve player on the field in the Women’s World Cup.

She’s a pretty good player, too ...

Group B: Canada, Nigeria, Australia, Ireland

There we go. There’s a Juve player.

And I’ll say it again: she’s one of the best from the Bianconere contingent.

Julia Grosso may still be just 22 years old, but the Vancouver-born midfielder is no stranger to big moments at big tournaments on the national team stage. She was named to Canada’s 2019 Women’s World Cup roster as a teenager. She famously scored the game-winning penalty at the Summer Olympics in 2021 to give the Canadians the gold medal over Sweden. She’s got 50 international caps to her name already.

Again ... she’s just 22.

Coming off a club season with Juventus in which she was named the Serie A Femminile midfielder of the season, Grosso’s stock has never been higher than it is right now. With rumors scattered over the last few months that a big-money transfer could be in the cards this summer, a strong showing at the Women’s World Cup will only continue to see Grosso’s stock rise and the potential of bigger clubs come calling go up as well.

The good thing is that, as of now, there isn’t much chatter about Grosso leaving Turin as the World Cup gets underway. That can all change if she plays just as well as she did this past season as she emerged as one of Juve’s best and most consistent players.

For now, though, Grosso’s focus is on the World Cup and adding another accomplishment to her already impressive résumé before she turns 23 years old.

Relevant Fixtures

Nigeria vs. Canada: Friday, July 21, 4:30 a.m. CET/10:30 p.m. ET (Thursday)

Canada vs. Ireland: Wednesday, July 26, 2 p.m. CET/8 a.m. ET

Canada vs. Australia: Monday, July 31, 12 p.m. CET/6 a.m. ET

Group C: Japan, Costa Rica, Spain, Zambia

No Juve players in this group, but there is a Spain side that is both a relative underwhelming performer in recent years but still absolutely loaded with talent and looking to bounce back after being eliminated in the quarterfinals at last summer’s Euros. And when you’ve got the two-time reigning Ballon d’Or winner on your team like Spain does, you’re going to be tipped to do some pretty big things at a major international tournament.

Group D: England, China, Haiti, Denmark

Up until a few weeks ago, there would be a Juve representative in this group. Unfortunately, one of Juve’s longest-tenured players is no longer employed by the club after he contract expired at the end of June.

Since then, midfielder Sofie Pedersen has both signed with Inter (and former Juve manager Rita Guarino) and suffered an injury that will prevent her from playing in the Women’s World Cup.

But hey, Group D has the reigning European champions in England, who while missing a some of their best player due to injury are still pretty loaded to try and make it two trophies within about 13 months.

Group E: United States, Netherlands, Portugal, Vietnam

One half of Juve’s two high-profile signings last summer, Dutch winger Lineth Beerensteyn did little to disprove the notion that she could be a game-changing player for Joe Montemurro’s side. With her blazing speed at the ready, Beerensteyn had arguably the best season of her career in Turin this past year.

Beerensteyn finished with 11 goals this past season, second only to Cristiana Girelli amongst Juventus players. A good number of those goals came against some of the best teams in Serie A Femminile, as Beerensteyn made an immediate impact in some of Juve’s biggest games of the 2022-23 season.

Now, she looks to carry those good vibes into the Women’s World Cup where her extremely talented Netherlands side is aiming to take things one step further than they did four years ago when they lost in the final to the United States.

Relevant Fixtures

Netherlands vs. Portugal: Sunday, July 23, 9:30 a.m. CET, 3:30 a.m. ET

United States vs. Netherlands: Thursday, July 27, 3 p.m. CET, 9 p.m. ET (Wednesday)

Vietnam vs. Netherlands: Tuesday, Aug. 1, 1 p.m. CET, 7 a.m. ET

Group F: France, Brazil, Jamaica, Panama

Just as was the case last summer at the Euros, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin will be France’s No. 1 in goal even though she won’t be wearing the actual No. 1 jersey.

That’s just how PPM rolls.

She’s a badass with an equally cool haircut. She’s a keeper who wears No. 16. This is nothing new to Juventus Women followers who have seen her playing in goal the last two years.

But unlike at the Euros when Peyraud-Magnin found herself seeing a Juventus teammate on the opposite team during just about every group stage game, this one is a little different. Instead, PPM will be in goal for what is likely to be one of the biggest games of the group stage when France faces Brazil.

Peyraud-Magnin is one of the veterans on a France team that has seen a managerial change finalized in late-March after former coach Corinne Diacre was ousted due to a massive divide amongst the squad’s players.

In her second season with Juve, PPM finished tied for the league lead with seven clean sheets, while her 72.8% save percentage was just outside of the top four marks in the league.

Relevant Fixtures

France vs. Jamaica: Sunday, July 23, 9:30 a.m. CET, 3:30 a.m. ET

France vs. Brazil: Saturday, July 29, 12 p.m. CET, 6 a.m. ET

Panama vs. France: Wednesday, Aug. 2, 12 p.m. CET, 6 a.m. ET

Group G: Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Argentina

And here you have the bulk of the Juve contingent — which, if you’ve been following this space for any amount of time, the fact that the Bianconere have a strong Italian backbone is no surprise whatsoever.

Absolutely none. Not one bit.

More than two-thirds of the Juventus Women representation at the Women’s World Cup is in this group. That’s thanks to Italy having eight of those players, many of them who will see time in the starting lineup for manager Milena Bertolini. (It was originally nine, but Valentina Cernoia has since left Juve [expectedly] and signed with AC Milan prior to departure to New Zealand.) Those eight players — Cristiana Girelli, Barbara Bonansea, Cecilia Salvai, Martina Lenzini, Lisa Boattin, Arianna Caruso, Soifa Cantore and Ciara Beccari (who is now on loan at Sassuolo) — will be tasked with trying to get the Azzurre back to the tournament’s knockout rounds for the second time in as many WWC appearances following the exploits of 2019.

A few of those names were crucial parts of Italy’s run four years ago. But even Juve’s large Italian core that have made the trip to Australia and New Zealand will be playing in their first World Cup.

That’s a pretty constant theme up and down the Azzurre squad.

This summer’s Italy roster looks a whole lot different than the one that saw them surpass just about everybody’s expectations four years ago. Bertolini has chosen not to select captain Sara Gama and her 100-plus caps. The average age of the roster is down compared to last summer’s Euros. There will be a host of players who will be appearing in their first major tournament at the senior level when they step onto the field in a matter of days.

Whether it’s somebody like Caruso who is in her early 20s and coming a couple of very strong seasons with Juve or Salvai who missed out on the 2019 tournament due to injury, there are plenty of those who don the Bianconere that are about to play in the biggest international tournament of their careers.

Plus, since Italy is not the only team in the group with a Juve player on it, you’ve got the interesting twist of Linda Sembrant facing a healthy number of her club teammates — most notably the attackers on the Azzurre roster — on the international stage.

Another quite wonderful twist in this group: Sembrant, who just recently signed a contract extension through 2024 with Juve, will be facing her partner in Boattin. The two announced their relationship back in February.

As much as Sweden is the favorite to win the group, things are set up for Italy to have a very good chance of finishing second and make the knockout rounds for the second consecutive World Cup — which would be quite a big deal considering they went two decades between WWC appearances and have undergone a good amount of roster turnover in the last few months.

Relevant Fixtures

Sweden vs. South Africa: Sunday, July 23, 7 a.m. CET, 1 a.m. ET

Italy vs. Argentina: Monday, July 24, 8 a.m. CET, 2 a.m. ET

Sweden vs. Italy: Saturday, July 29, 9:30 a.m. CET, 3:30 a.m. ET

South Africa vs. Italy: Wednesday, Aug. 2, 9 a.m. CET, 3 a.m. ET

Argentina vs. Sweden: Wednesday, Aug. 2, 9 a.m. CET, 3 a.m. ET

Group H: Germany, Colombia, Korea Republic, Morocco

There are no Juventus Women players amongst these four nations, but there is very much one of the tournament favorites in Germany part of the group.