A championship within a championship. Just over a month of competitions (from the quarterfinals on May 5th to the novelty of the dry final on June 9th) to establish who will be the queen of the 23/24 season of the Women’s Serie A. For the moment the crown is on the head of a Bitonto who only knows how to win. He did it again in the Italian Cup and now he is aiming for an encore in the too playoffsbut what could be a historic record passes through the pitfalls of fierce competition and a good dose of unpredictability.
BITONTO-KICK OFF – It was the final of the Super Cup and before that the Italian Cup. Now it’s practically a fourth spin. On the one hand the Bitonto catch-all (even the last Final Eight in Genoa 2024) and one on the other Kick Off which sealed the post-season until the last day. If we then look at the 22 point difference in the standings and the numbers of Lucilèia and Renatinha (a pair with 64 goals, out of 138 scored), the first step towards confirmation of the tricolor might appear obvious for the lionesses, but watch out for the resilience of the all blacks . Stilcasa Costruzioni Falconara knows something about it.
GTM MONTESILVANO-MOLFETTA – Fourth against fifth. And therefore, precisely for this reason, perhaps the most balanced quarter. It is only in a single match in Campo Ligure, after a draw and a success for the Molfettathat the GTM Montesilvano of Morgado got the better of the Apulians for the first time. But now everything is reset. Always on fire in the last stretch of the championship (and the 5 goals in the last two matches against Bitonto prove it), Manieri is a guarantee, especially when you have to play with your head, but Molfetta knows how to respond: for info, ask Vanessa and Belam.
TIKITAKA FRANCAVILLA-LAZIO – That the TikiTaka who came to compete for the Cup with Bitonto won only 16″ from the siren on a Lazio reworked (Pascual disqualified, Siclari on half duty and Ruffini on the bench only for the honor of signing), says a lot about what could happen in the next 80’/120′ of the playoffs. The Giallorossi are chasing their second consecutive Scudetto final after the one that saw them surrender only after game 3 at PalaPansini and Lazio are the usual loose cannon, even more so the goals from Serie A’s top scorer: the Croatian Tomislava Matijevic. Another triple fourth.
STILCASA COSTRUZIONI FALCONARA-VIP – Two consecutive years in the final (one lost and the other won), plus a semi-final reached last year. If so Stilcasa Costruzioni Falconara he knows well what the air is like in the playoffs, there VIP faces for the first time the most important appendix of the season. Solidity is the key word in the Marche region, for which it is difficult to find a real leader: the scepter changes hands week after week, from Ferrara to Pereira, passing through Sestari and Boutimah. But the VIP is preparing to sell her life dearly, ensuring that her role is not just that of an extra.
THE RECORDS – Since Serie A has existed, only two clubs have won the scudetto twice, but never in a row: the now extinct Ternana (2014/15 and 17/18) and Montesilvano (victorious in 2015/16 and then in 2020/ 21). The record of Italian titles won sees four players united by a prestigious poker: “the Queen” Lucilèia Renner Minuzzo (victorious with Lazio, Olimpus, Montesilvano and Bitonto), Ludovica Coppari (current captain of the national team, on the top of Italy with Ternana, Salinis and Montesilvano), Susie Nicoletti (who was the first to wear the blue armband and made a hat trick with Statte – 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2008/09 – before updating the statistics with the title won with Bitonto last year) and Valentina Siclari (tricolor with Pro Reggina, Lazio, Olimpus Roma and Salinis).
THE RULES
THE AVERAGE COVERAGE
THE ROLL OF HONOR
WOMEN’S SERIES A – PLAYOFF
QUARTER-FINALS (match-1 05/05, match-2 10/05, possibly match-3 12/05)
1) BITONTO-KICK OFF
2) GTM MONTESILVANO-FEMALE MOLFETTA
3) TIKITAKA FRANCAVILLA-LAZIO
4) STILCASA COSTRUZIONI FALCONARA-VIP
SEMIFINALS (match-1 25/05, match-2 30/05, possibly match-3 01/06)
X) WINNING 1-WINNING 2
Y) WINNING 3-WINNING 4
FINAL – SINGLE RACE – 09/06
WINNER X-WINNER Y
