Martina Brustia

Martina grew up watching her father play football and joined a boys’ team at eight, where her teammates made her feel protected and immediately stood up for her whenever an opponent challenged her.

Martina is highly superstitious: she keeps the same seat at team meals and tactical meetings, ties her right boot first, steps onto the pitch with her right foot and touches a chest tattoo dedicated to her late grandmother.

During Javier Zanetti’s first training session with Inter Women, Martina failed to see him during a small-sided game, crashed into the club legend and fell “as if she had been hit by a truck” — before Zanetti helped her up and apologised.

Martina graduated in Economics and Business Management with the highest possible mark of 110/110 cum laude, completing a thesis on digital marketing and the role of social media at Inter.

Martina wore number eight when she made her first-team debut and has never wanted to give it up, believing that it also reflects her identity as a hard-running, physical midfielder.

Martina is not a fan of video games because struggling with them makes her frustrated; during lockdown, she preferred experimenting in the kitchen, watching films and waiting for the return of Money Heist.