Italian FA hire Lúcia Feitosa to women’s futsal national team post

 

Exclusive: Brazilian legend scoops Italian futsal coaching gig

 

News reaching Women’s Football Archive towers suggests Lúcia Feitosa will coach the Italian women’s ‘futsal’ team in 2018.

 

“So what?!” you cry in unison.

 

Well, Maria Lúcia Alves Feitosa is a bona fide person of interest to women’s football historians of every stripe.
 

In 1987 she became the first Brazilian woman to transfer abroad when she left one mythic outfit in Club Radar, of Rio, for another in ACF Trani of the Italian Serie A.

 

At Trani her path crossed with two of our own, in the shape of Kerry Davis and Debbie Bampton.

 

With prolific Susy Augustesen and Antonella Carta up front and the English duo in central midfield, Lúcia was forced out wide to her unfavoured ‘meia-esquerda’ role.

 

It was a tough introduction to Italian football. She failed to score in 21 appearances and was left clubless when League and Cup runners-up Trani went bust at the end of her first season.

 

Having been signed as Trani’s replacement for Napoli-bound Rose Reilly, she had big boots to fill. And with little experience of roughhouse Italian defenders she was always up against it.

 

Born in Recife, Pernambuco, she started her soccer career in São Paulo with CA Juventus then linked up with dominant Rio outfit Radar in 1982.

 

In June 1988 she played for Brazil at the prototype World Cup in China, under coach João Varella whose passing in October 2017 went largely unheralded.

 

She had come to the Italian’s notice after starring for the Seleção at the the 1986 Mundialito. Other Brazilian players received offers but only Lúcia took the plunge.

 

After her Trani experience she remained in Italy and turned her hand to futsal: a form of indoor, five-a-side football.

 

Apparently the Brazilians wanted to call her up for the proper World Cup in 1991 too, but her Italian club at the time blocked it.

 

These days she prefers to go by her Brazilian-style ‘artist name’: plain ol’ Lucy.

 

She’s been beavering away as a coach in Sardinia, working at a soccer school in San Sperate and with various teams in the lower reaches of Italy’s futsal structure.

 

So parabens and best of luck in your new role, Lucy. Your work ethic and outstanding football pedigree stand you in good stead for the challenges ahead.

 

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Women’s Football Archive wishes all our readers a happy and prosperous 2018.