Women’s football: Under-16s take on Italy’s Calcio+15 Selection in Tirrenia

On the eve of two intense weeks packed with fixtures like never before for San Marino’s women’s national teams, the Under-16 Biancazzurrine are about to depart for the Olympic Preparation Centre in Tirrenia, in the province of Pisa. For the third consecutive year – and without interruption since the first-ever appearance of San Marino women’s national teams in 2024 – the girls now coached by Luca Righi will face Italy’s Calcio+15 Selection in what – at least in substance, if not officially – can be regarded as a friendly between national teams. Kick-off is scheduled for Thursday 19 February at 14:30.

This is an opportunity for the Biancazzurrine to test themselves against a top-level side featuring the best talents from Italian youth academies. A quick look at the squad list, published as recently as yesterday on the FIGC website, is enough to show that the presence of players from clubs such as Inter, Juventus, Roma, Sassuolo, Milan and other leading sides on the Peninsula underlines the outstanding quality of Righi’s team’s next opponents. It will be a demanding and meaningful test ahead of San Marino Women’s Under-16 national team’s international commitment in the Development Tournament, to be played in May in North Macedonia – as the Head Coach has already pointed out. Ten days later it will then be the turn of the Women’s Under-19 national team, who will contest Round 2 of the UEFA European Women’s Under-19 Championship qualifiers. The mini-tournament will be hosted in the Republic from 27 February to 5 March, also involving the national teams of Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus.

Below is the list of the eighteen players called up by Head Coach Luca Righi, who has scheduled a final training session for this afternoon: