Noceto, 15 September 2023 - Head Coach of the Parma Women’s First Team, Salvatore Colantuono, was interviewed live on Friday 15 September by ‘Palla in tribuna’, the radio sports show broadcast in the week on Radio Parma. Hosted by journalist Alberto Dallatana, he spoke on the start of the Women’s Serie B campaign for the Crociate on Sunday 17 September 2023 (to be played on Pitch 1 of the “Il Noce” Sports Centre, kick-off at 15:00 CEST, free to attend). “We have a completely renewed squad compared to last season and putting together 22 players is never very easy, but we have had 7 weeks to prepare, since the start of August, to mesh together. It is a relatively young group, with good qualities and the preparations have gone fairly well. There was some talk of our potential promotion to Serie A, that at a certain point seemed truly possible, but swinging from the top division to Serie B didn’t do us any favours, having to choose players who were suitable to the division we are in. As staff, nevertheless, we have always tried to stay focused on our jobs, without getting too distracted, continuing our intense, thought-out plans to build the best squad in the shortest time possible”.

“The favourites for promotion? I am a coach who believes in consistency and cycles: before coaching here at Parma, I spent 8 years in two different Men’s teams, and over the last two years, I was at Citadella, in Padua, Veneto. So I know what it means to be consistent in your work, I am methodological, as well as a match analyst. I believe strongly in consistency, and for this reason, I’d say that Ternana, Lazio, and Hellas Verona are the favourites in Serie B, precisely because they have kept 16-17 players each, all three have very good coaches, and they’ve all added 6-7 players of great quality. So, for me, these three teams start off as the clear favourites. Of course, Parma is an ambitious club, we aren’t here to hide, so apart from having to form a new squad and having a small group of players still recovering from injuries from last season, Parma will certainly try to give these three teams I’ve mentioned a hard time. But then it's not just us, because as well as Parma, there are a whole series of clubs that have prepared themselves well - I'm talking about Chievo Verona, Genoa, Bologna, Brescia, Arezzo, San Marino - all clubs that are already well established in Serie B, who know the league well... It's a very good division: among other things, even the newly promoted teams have had impressive transfer windows. Every misstep could cost us the Serie B championship. It is a long campaign, and very tight: for me it is the best league right now with 16 teams, compared to only 10 in Serie A, making it a sort of private club for the best teams plus a few others. From a tactical point of view, I have tried to make sure Parma is a squad that can dominate every game, manage the ball from the first until the last minute, and know how to win and how to lose. I am a coach who tries to inject a lot of personality and trust into the squad: I don’t like to be passive, especially in a game. We have a squad that wants to do well, play good football, and give 200% every Sunday, entertaining the fans that come to watch us. Then we’ll look at the table on the last day, focusing on one match at a time and keeping trying to play well, and at the end we will see how well we have done”.