It was only a few short days before Cristiana Girelli was back in training at Vinovo with her Juventus Women teammates after leading the Italian women’s national team to a stunning run at the Women’s Euros in Switzerland. For a player who deserved all the rest that she wanted, the recovery time between the participation in a major continental tournament and the preparation for a new domestic season was just another step along this journey that Girelli has seen during her incredibly accomplished career.
She can also add another thing to her list of accomplishments: shortlisted for the Women’s Ballon d’Or.
The 35-year-old Girelli, Juventus Women’s No. 10 and leading goal scorer, was included in the 35-player shortlist for the prestigious award, it was announced on Thursday. Same goes for former Juventus Women teammate Sofia Cantore, who earlier this summer moved to the Washington Spirit in the NWSL and combined with Girelli to form one of the most potent striker pairings in all of Europe. Girelli, who was the hero on multiple occasions for Italy at the Euros, has certainly earned this distinction just as much as Cantore, putting forth one of the best seasons of her career at a time in which many are not able to recreate that kind of form at that age.
Yet, there was Girelli, once again leading Serie A Femminile in goals, once again scoring in a good number of the most important games of the season and also getting things done on the national team stage with the Azzurre.
Girelli becomes the first-ever Juventus Women player to be nominated for the award, which is given to the best player in men’s and women’s football from the previous season.
The winners for both the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or will be announced on Sept. 22.
Girelli’s performance at the Euros in which she scored one of the best goals at the tournament and then the game-winning header in the final minute to both cap her brace and, more importantly, beat Norway in the quarterfinals capped an incredible 2024-25 campaign in which she was at her best time and time again.
Domestically, Girelli scored 19 goals, the most she has recorded in a single league season since the 2020-21 campaign. She finished with 21 goal contributions, the second-highest total she’s recorded since she moved to Juventus. She scored a brace in the Coppa Italia Femminile finale victory over Roma that was part of the first-half blitz of goals.
And all of this as one of the players that was coming off a somewhat disappointing 2023-24 season when Juventus’ campaign fell apart come the turn of the new year.
But Girelli has just proven once again to be one of those players that you can’t count out. She may be turning 36 before the end of the 2025-26 season, but there’s no reason to count her out once again. And with Cantore heading to the U.S. and joining one of the best teams in the NWSL, the scoring responsibilities will once again fall solely on Girelli’s shoulders. That’s not necessarily a bad problem to have because Girelli is, well, sometimes just inevitable.
