Patrizia Panico

In addition to Torres, Panico has played for SS Lazio, Torino CF, Modena Amadio, ACF Milan and ASD Bardolino, as well as Sky Blue FC of the United States' Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She has been the Serie A's top scorer for ten seasons.[3]

At Modena in 1997–98 Panico won her first Serie A title. She played alongside Carolina Morace and came to be seen as the heir apparent to Morace's title as Italy's best female player.[4]

In the months before the professional Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) began play in 2001, Panico was pursued by Philadelphia Charge. She had agreed terms but the move was eventually derailed by red tape.[5]

Panico made her senior international debut on 8 April 1996, in Italy's 4–1 1997 UEFA Women's Championship qualification win over Portugal in Mestre. She started the match and scored Italy's first goal after five minutes of play.[note 1] Panico was selected for the final tournament in Norway. She scored in a 2–2 group stage draw with Denmark, as Italy reached the final which they lost 2–0 to Germany.

At the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States, Panico gave Italy the lead in their first game against Germany. The match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California finished 1–1.[6] The Italians were eliminated after a 2–0 defeat by Brazil in their next game, but recovered to beat Mexico 2–0. Panico scored the first goal and was hailed as "one of the world's most explosive players" by CNN Sports Illustrated.[7]

On 11 November 1999 Panico scored a notable hat-trick against Germany in a 4–4 2001 UEFA Women's Championship qualification draw.[8] At the final tournament, player of the match Panico scored twice in Italy's opening 2–1 win over Denmark at the Waldstadion in Aalen.[9] The Italians narrowly failed to qualify from the group after a 1–1 draw with Norway and a 2–0 defeat by France.

Four years later, Panico was included in the squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2005 in North West England.[10] She played in the Italians' 4–0 defeat to perennial champions Germany, which intersected defeats to France and Norway and preceded another first round exit.[11]

At UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Finland, Panico played in all four games and added two goals as the Italians went out to Germany in the quarter-finals.[8] Four years later, national coach Antonio Cabrini named Panico in his selection for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden.[12] At 38, Panico entered her fifth European finals and admitted it was likely to be her last.[13] She was left disappointed by another defeat by the Germans in the quarter-final at Myresjöhus Arena, Växjö.[14]

Goals scored in official competitions

Competition	Stage	Date	Location	Opponent	Goals	Result	Overall
1997 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	1996–04–07	Mestre	Portugal	1	4–1	2
	First Stage	1997–07–03	Lillestrøm	Denmark	1	2–2
1999 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	1997–11–01	Nyon	Switzerland	1	3–1	5
		1998–04–11	Blois	France	1	3–2
		1998–05–27	Espoo	Finland	1	2–1
	First Stage	1999–06–20	Pasadena	Germany	1	1–1
		1999–06–27	Foxborough	Mexico	1	2–0
2001 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	1999–10–13	Castelfranco	Ukraine	1	1–0	6
		1999–11–11	Isernia	Germany	3	4–4
	First Stage	2001–06–25	Aalen	Denmark	2	2–1
2005 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2003–03–30	Trento	Serbia and Montenegro	2	8–0	7
		2003–07–19	Vaasa	Finland	1	1–1
		2003–09–27	Frauenfeld	Switzerland	1	1–0
		2004–04–24	Andria	Finland	1	1–1
		2004–06–26	Benevento	Sweden	1	2–1
		2004–11–27	Čáslav	Czech Republic	1	3–0
2007 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2005–09–24	Monza	Ukraine	1	3–1	8
		2005–11–02	Sesto	Serbia and Montenegro	2	6–0
		2006–04–22	Athens	Greece	4	5–0
		2006–09–23	Rimini	Norway	1	1–2
2009 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2007–05–30	Dublin	Republic of Ireland	1	2–1	9
		2007–10–27	Bük	Hungary	1	3–1
		2007–10–31	Parma	Romania	1	5–0
		2008–02–16	Villacidro	Republic of Ireland	1	4–1
		2008–05–24	Buftea	Romania	1	6–1
		2008–10–25	Prague	Czech Republic	1	1–0
		2008–10–29	Gubbio	Czech Republic	1	2–1
	First Stage	2009–08–25	Lahti	England	1	2–1
	Quarterfinals	2009–09–04	Lahti	Germany	1	1–2
2011 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2009–09–19	Domžale	Slovenia	1	8–0	11
		2009–09–23	Rieti	Portugal	2	2–0
		2009–10–24	Yerevan	Armenia	1	8–0
		2009–11–25	Francavilla	Armenia	2	7–0
		2010–03–27	Tocha	Portugal	1	3–1
		2010–06–19	Montereale	Slovenia	1	6–0
		2010–09–15	Gubbio	France	1	2–3
		2010–10–02	Chernihiv	Ukraine	1	3–0
		2010–10–27	Aarau	Switzerland	1	4–2
2013 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2011–11–19	Pruszków	Poland	1	5–0	9
		2012–03–31	Ferrara	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2	4–0
		2012–04–04	Podolsk	Russia	2	2–0
		2012–06–16	Turin	North Macedonia	3	9–0
		2012–09–16	San Benedetto	Poland	1	1–0
2015 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2014–02–13	Novara	Czech Republic	1	6–1	8
		2014–04–10	Cluj	Romania	1	2–1
		2014–05–08	Skopje	North Macedonia	1	11–0
		2014–06–14	Prague	Czech Republic	2	4–0
		2014–06–17	Vercelli	North Macedonia	2	15–0
		2014–10–29	Lviv	Ukraine	1	2–2

• Patrizia Panico – FIFA competition record