As Juventus Women get set to flip their calendar from 2024 to 2025, one thing regarding the Bianconere’s 2024-25 season to date has been a welcome return to previous campaigns: they are very much right in the thick of a Scudetto race again.
The 2023-24 season was very much not that, with a failed European campaign that was ended basically right as the qualification process got started and a domestic season that saw a coaching change and plenty of struggles that allowed Roma to run away with the title.
But Sunday’s dominant 3-0 win over Fiorentina didn’t just mark the fact that they’ve played their final domestic fixture of the 2024 calendar year. It was also a victory that extended an impressive 13-game unbeaten run under first-year manager Massimiliano Canzi and pushed Juve’s lead over the chasing pack to seven points, with two-time defending Serie A Femminile champions Roma tied on points with second-place Inter. It’s quite the turn of events compared to where things were just about a year ago when Juventus Women’s season was starting to truly unravel under then-manager Joe Montemurro, who departed the club in early March and has since gone on to take over at French giants Lyon.
Juve forward Sofia Cantore, arguably the breakout star of Juve’s season to date, added yet another goal to her tally for the year in the win over Fiorentina. Tied for second in the league in goals behind teammate Cristiana Girelli, Cantore has eight goals in 17 appearances in all competitions.
Her first goal, off a brilliant run on the counterattack by Chiara Beccari that went nearly three-quarters of the field, was proof of just how in-form Cantore continues to be. (Her second goal, just a couple of highlights later in the video below, was just as good, with a swerving shot to the far post after making a cutting run in from the left wing.)
The only remaining fixture before the holiday break is Wednesday night’s Women’s Champions League group stage finale against Vålerenga Damer, the only team Juve have beaten in the group stage this season. With Juventus Women having been eliminated from advancing thanks to their loss to Arsenal last month, it will serve only as a dead rubber.
But it also serves as the point where Juve can officially shift all of their focus to domestic competition once the final whistle is fired off at Biella is heard.
And with the way that the Serie A Femminile is set up now with the two different phases, the more of a lead you can continuously build during the first 18 games of the season can only benefit you once things break off into the two five-team groups and you’re set to face the four best teams in the league two more times before a champion is crowned. It is something that Roma certainly benefited from during the “poule scudetto” last season, with Juventus being their closest competition but very much in close enough striking distance to put the champions in serious danger.
Having such a nice lead heading into the holiday break is crucial for this reason as well: Juve will face Roma and Inter in back-to-back games within a six-day span in late January. If Canzi’s squad were to win either one or both, they could very well be looking at a lead atop the table that is either close to or approaching double digits. Knowing that there will be two more head-to-head matchups during the poule scudetto, the more breathing room the better for the Juve women.
And that what makes their success all the more impressive to begin the 2024-25 season. The UWCL group stage didn’t turn out to be the same kind of surprise following the two-legged upset of Paris Saint-Germain — one of last season’s semifinalists — in the final qualification round. with Arsenal and Bayern Munich quickly establishing themselves as the top two teams in the group. But even with important injuries at the back — including center back Estelle Cascarino undergoing season-ending knee surgery last week — Juve’s claimed 11 wins in their first 13 league games to set the pace atop the table.
In a season that had some thinking this team could be in for an interesting go of things with a new manager, some very talented players leaving and plenty of changes in terms of additions to the roster, the only thing Juventus Women has done domestically is win, win and win some more. It’s helped them get back to where they spent so much time during their first five years of existence — and that’s something that anybody in bianconere is happy to see.