Carolina Morace
Forward · Lazio / Trani · Italy
About Carolina Morace
The greatest Italian woman footballer of all time, Carolina Morace scored over 300 Serie A Femminile goals and 105 international goals — a clinical, technically gifted forward who dominated Italian women's football for two decades and became a pioneering coach after retirement.
Carolina Morace's story
Venice's Prodigy
Carolina Morace was born on 5 February 1964 in Venice. She began playing football in the 1970s when women's football in Italy was practically non-existent and had to fight for every opportunity. She debuted professionally at 14 and went on to become the most prolific scorer in Italian women's football history by a massive margin.
Goal Machine
Morace's scoring record is extraordinary — over 300 goals in Serie A Femminile across a 20-year career, and 105 goals in 153 international appearances for Italy. She won Serie A Femminile nine times and was Italy's most important player through the 1980s and 1990s. In an era before professionalism, she was entirely self-motivated.
The Canpari Incident
Morace was briefly appointed coach of Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands in 1999 — one of the first women to coach a men's professional team in Europe. The appointment lasted only a few matches before she resigned amid controversy, but it made global headlines and positioned her as a pioneer in coaching.
Coaching Career
After retiring Morace became one of the most respected coaches in women's football, managing the Italian national team and later Canada's national team among others. She has been a prominent voice for the development of women's football globally and remains active in football circles.
Did you know?
- Morace scored over 300 goals in Serie A Femminile — a record so far ahead of all other Italian women's players that it may never be approached, let alone broken.
- In 1999 she became one of the first women ever to be appointed head coach of a men's professional football club — Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands — making global headlines.
- Morace grew up in Venice, one of Italy's most culturally unique cities, and has described her upbringing there — a city where sport had to compete with art and tourism for attention — as formative in her drive to prove herself.
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