Milena Bertolini

Born in Correggio (Reggio Emilia) on 24 June 1966, Milena Bertolini led the women's national team in August 2017 at the end of a brilliant career first as a footballer and then as a club coach, during which she won numerous trophies. With the Azzurre she writes the most important page of Italian women's football: she leads the national team to qualification for the World Cup after 20 years and in the 2019 FIFA World Cup France drags Italy in the squad up to the quarter-finals, enthralling millions of fans for what becomes the sporting phenomenon of the year. In February 2021 he reached another milestone with the team: qualifying for Euro 2022, an event that took place last summer in England. In May 2021 Milena renews her relationship with the FIGC until the 2023 FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, for which the Azzurre reached qualification last September in Ferrara, finishing top of the group. The carreer. After starting out at Correggese, he made his first-team debut with Reggiana in 1984, contributing to promotion to Serie A two years later. Collect 15 seasons in the top Italian category with the shirts of Reggiana, Modena, Prato, Sassari, Bologna, Agliana, Fiammamonza, Pisa and Verona, achieving 3 championships, 1 Italian Cup and 1 Italian Super Cup. After ending her career as a footballer in 2001, she began her career as a coach by joining the technical staff of her last club, Verona, which since 2002 has assigned her the leadership of the team: at her debut, she immediately hit the Scudetto and Supercoppa Italiana pairing. He has been on the Reggiana bench since 2004, where he remained for 7 seasons, winning the Italian Cup in 2010. He moved to Brescia in 2012 and his greatest successes as a coach are linked to the white and blue club: in 5 years, in fact, he won two championships and two Italian super cups, leading the "lionesses" to the quarter-finals of the 2016 UEFA Champions League. The total budget as a coach counts 3 Scudetti, 3 Italian Cups and 4 Italian Super Cups, as well as 3 "Panchina d'Oro" awards, awarded by the FIGC Technical Sector based on the votes of fellow coaches. Graduated in Sports Science in 2001 in Bologna, after obtaining a surveyor diploma, Milena Bertolini has been a professional athletic trainer and UEFA Pro Coach since 2011. She was Federal Councilor of the FIGC in the four-year period 2000-2004 and was a member of the FIGC Commission for the Development of Women's Football which was operational between 2013 and 2016. Her commitment to sport off the field is also significant: she was Councilor for Sport and Social Services of the Municipality of Correggio (1994-1998) and provincial councilor in Reggio Emilia (1998-2002) as well as president of the Foundation for Sport of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. Having joined the Hall of Fame of Italian football, she was awarded in the 'footballer' category in the splendid setting of the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.