Shukurat Oladipo and Rinsola Babajide wrote their names into Nigerian football history on Sunday evening at the Stadio Romeo Menti in Vicenza, becoming the first Nigerian players ever to win the Coppa Italia Femminile as AS Roma beat Juventus 1-0 to complete a domestic double.
Manuela Giugliano’s close-range finish in the 80th minute separated two sides who had met in three previous finals across all competitions this season, with Roma getting the one result that had eluded them in all of those encounters, as reported by FootballInNigeria.com.ng. The victory gave Roma their third Coppa Italia Femminile title in the club’s history and completed a remarkable domestic double following their Serie A Femminile title win earlier this month.
For Oladipo and Babajide, the win delivers something no Nigerian player had ever achieved in Italian women’s football. Both Super Falcons internationals were part of a squad that had to withstand intense Juventus pressure across 90 minutes and find a way to win against a side that had beaten them 4-0 in last year’s cup final. They found it, and the moment belongs to them as much as anyone.
How Roma Won the Final
Juventus were the more dangerous side in the first half. The Turin outfit had ten attempts in the opening 45 minutes, two of them on target, while Roma barely threatened and went into the break without a shot on goal. The tie appeared to be heading in Juventus’s direction until a pivotal moment in the 65th minute when Thogersen made a crucial line clearance to deny Juventus what would have been a lead taking goal.
That save changed the psychology of the match. Roma grew into the second half and increasingly threatened on the counter. Their breakthrough came in the 80th minute through a move of swift, precise interplay. Hannah Pilgrim drove forward on the right, Evelyne Viens redirected the ball towards the back post, and captain Giugliano arrived to finish from close range past goalkeeper De Jong. The Stadio Romeo Menti erupted for the Roma fans in the crowd, and Juventus had no answer in the final ten minutes.
Juventus finished with 15 shots to Roma’s 13, a statistical summary that shows how close the match was and why Roma’s clinical execution of their one major chance proved decisive. Fans wanting to follow Oladipo and Babajide into next season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign can check out the Bet9ja YOHAIG code ahead of the qualifying rounds.
Oladipo’s Historic Season Capped With a Trophy
For Shukurat Oladipo, the cup winner’s medal arrives as the punctuation mark on what has been a genuinely outstanding debut season in Italian women’s football. The 21 year old was named the Serie A Femminile Best Defender of the Season earlier this week and earned a place in the league’s official Team of the Season. Her statistics across the campaign justify every piece of recognition she has received.
Oladipo featured in 30 matches across all competitions for Roma. In her 18 league appearances, the club kept 11 clean sheets, a number that tells its own story about the defensive security she brought to the back line. She recorded 70 clearances and 104 recoveries in the Serie A campaign alone, numbers that placed her among the most active and dominant defenders in the division. The former Robo Queens centre-back has made a transition to Italian women’s football look far easier than it typically is, and her award recognition is a fitting acknowledgement of a first season that went better than almost anyone could have predicted.
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Babajide Adds Pace and History to Roma’s Season
Rinsola Babajide’s contribution across the season has been different in character from Oladipo’s, though no less significant in what it represents. The 27 year old winger joined Roma from Tenerife on a two-year contract and has brought directness, pace and unpredictability to Luca Rossettini’s attacking options. She made 14 appearances across all competitions, contributing one goal and three assists in what was a season shaped more by impact than volume of starts.
Her role in the cup run illustrated how a squad player’s contribution extends well beyond match ratings and minutes. The threat she posed whenever introduced from the bench forced Juventus to account for her runs in the final, and her combination of pace and direct running gave Roma a different dimension to the more structured approaches of other wide players in the squad. Together with Oladipo, she has now claimed the most prestigious title available in Italian women’s domestic football, a milestone that the Nigerian football community will rightly celebrate.
A Result That Reverses Last Year’s Pain
The significance of this win against Juventus is inseparable from what happened twelve months earlier. In the 2024-25 Coppa Italia Femminile final, Juventus defeated Roma 4-0 in Como, a scoreline that was as ruthless as it sounds and left the Roma camp with a painful reminder of the gap between the two sides at the time. Oladipo was not at Roma for that defeat, but Babajide was, and getting her hands on the trophy that was ripped away so brutally last year carries a personal weight that statistics alone cannot measure.
Roma and Juventus had also met in the Women’s Cup and the Italian Super Cup this season, with Juventus winning both. Sunday’s result means Juventus won three of those four finals, but Roma saved their best performance for the one that completed the domestic double. Giugliano’s goal, which also earned the Roma captain the Serie A Women’s MVP award for the season, was the kind of moment a great team produces when it matters most. Fans following both Oladipo and Babajide through the summer and into next season can find all Bet9ja offers at Bet9ja’s promo code today page before the new season begins.
📌 Did You Know?
- This Coppa Italia Femminile victory is Roma’s third in the club’s history. Their previous two titles came in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, making them two-time defending champions before Juventus won the trophy in 2024-25 and ended their run.
- Shukurat Oladipo previously played for Robo Queens FC in the Nigeria Women Football League before making the move to Italy. Robo Queens are one of the most successful clubs in Nigerian women’s football and have produced several players who have gone on to compete in Europe.
- Rinsola Babajide’s full name is Omorinsola Babajide. She was born on March 28, 1998 in Lagos and has represented Nigeria at senior level with the Super Falcons. Before joining Roma, she spent time at clubs including Arsenal Women, Bordeaux, Levante, and Tenerife.
- Manuela Giugliano, who scored Roma’s winning goal, is the Roma captain and was voted the Serie A Femminile MVP for the 2025-26 season. The Italian international midfielder is widely regarded as one of the best players in Italian women’s football history.
- The Stadio Romeo Menti in Vicenza, where Sunday’s final was played, has a capacity of approximately 12,000 spectators. Vicenza is located in the Veneto region of northeast Italy and has hosted Italian football fixtures at various levels for decades.
- Evelyne Viens, the Canadian forward who provided the assist for Giugliano’s winner, was the top scorer in the 2025-26 Coppa Italia Femminile with five goals across the competition. She joined Roma from Utah Royals in the NWSL in 2024.
- The 2025-26 Coppa Italia Femminile was the 54th edition of the competition, which began in 1973. Roma’s victory means they have now won the cup three times in four seasons, a period of sustained dominance in the Italian women’s domestic game that parallels their Serie A Femminile success under back to back coaches.
