6th December 2008

From Reports by CSA, CP & others

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today the hiring of Carolina Morace as head coach of the Women’s National program. Mrs. Morace assumes control immediately, before the team’s two-week camp in California which begins this Sunday.

“We have embarked on a new era in women’s soccer in Canada,” says Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli. “Coach Carolina Morace’s hiring underlies our determination to put forth one of the best programs in the world. Mrs. Morace has but one direction: to lead Canada to victory.”

"We aren't probably as aware of Carolina as the rest of the world is, but as far as a women's footballer, she's up there with the best of the last century and the most incredible players to have played the game," said former Canadian international Andrea Neil, who played against Morace and will now be part of her coaching staff. "Now she has crossed over to the other side of the sideline and her coaching resume is sterling. For us to have her as part of our program, to take it to the next level, is an incredible signing."

Mrs. Morace inherits a Canadian team that came within an extra-time goal of knocking off the number-one ranked USA at the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. The team has participated in each of the last four FIFA Women’s World Cups, finishing ninth in 2007 and fourth in 2003. She will also head the program’s U-20 team, a team that recently won gold at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship over USA.

“My objective is to lead Canada to an Olympic or FIFA Women’s World Cup medal and to ensure that Canada plays at the highest level of international football,” says coach Morace. “We must all work together to achieve this one common goal. Everyone must do their part in this so that our goal will become a reality.”

Mrs. Morace is the former head coach of Italy’s national and youth teams, a post she held from 2000 to 2005. During her tenure, she led Italy’s top team to two second-place finishes at the European Championships (2001 and 2005). Mrs. Morace was also a successful player, scoring 105 times for the national team in 153 international games. She took part in six European Championships as well as the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup China 1991.

More recently, Ms. Morace was named a world ambassador for women’s football by FIFA president Joseph Blatter. She puts on countless clinics around the world and has been teaching football at the University of Motor Science in Rome since 2007.

Canada has an all-time record of 89 wins, 30 draws and 103 losses since 1986. It has a record of 33 wins, eight draws and 20 losses in FIFA and CONCACAF competitions, including top-10 finishes at each of the last three FIFA senior women’s events.

Born in Venice on February 5th, 1964; Carolina Morace has a law degree, and began playing in the 3rd division championship at the age of 13. Two years later she made the jump to the 1st division and played for nearly 20 years at the highest levels of the game. She won 12 championship titles in the women's Serie A (1st division) with 8 different teams and with 550 goals scored.

Ms Morace played in the 1st FIFA World Cup (1991 in China) and was captain of the Italian National Team for a decade, had 153 caps with the national team and 105 goals scored, including 4 memorable goals against England in 1990 in the "temple" of international soccer: Wembley. She was named "best player in the world in 1995" 2nd best European player of the (last) century, after Germany's Heidi Mohr; and 6 months ago, she was chosen as one of the "Top 4 best players" of the last 100 years by the International Federation of Soccer History and Statistics. She played in two European championship titles (including the historic 1997 victory against Norway in the semi-finals of that edition), 5 European championship events, and is the only woman in Italy to have a 2nd level coaching license (the highest is 1st level).

She was head coach of Lazio's regional all-star team, head coach of Lazio's 1st division female team, and became the first woman to coach a men's professional team, Viterbese, which even made the pages of America's "Time Magazine."

She was a play-by-play commentator at the France'98 World Cup and European 2000 championship. Her analysis of the games was often considered superior to that of former professional players such as Paolo Rossi (1982 World Cup champion) and Giorgio Chinaglia (former New York Cosmos player).

WNT coaching staff consists of the following:

Carolina Morace (Head Coach)
Betty Bavagnoli (Lead Assistant)
Rafael Carbajal (GK Coach)
Andrea Neil (Assistant Coach)
Paolo Paccione (Strength and Conditioning Coach)