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. Four years later, national coach Antonio Cabrini named Panico in his selection for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden. 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.

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)