The fact that Carina Wenninger likes it in Rome has been well observed in the past few months. The 32-year-old Austrian repeatedly shared photos of tourist and culinary tours of discovery through the Eternal City on social media: Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, pizza, pasta, gelato, everything included. And because she is a footballer and not a travel blogger, between these impressions you also saw pictures with the ball.
How Well Wenninger likes it in her Italian adopted homeland, it has now been announced: She will not return to FC Bayern, but will stay with AS Roma. The planned one-year loan, which began at her request in the summer of 2022, will be changed. After 303 appearances in 15 years with three championship titles (2015, 2016, 2021) and a cup win (2012), the player who played for Munich for as long as only Thomas Müller usually says goodbye.
“It’s hard for me to put into words what special role FC Bayern plays for me,” Wenninger began her long farewell message and spoke of having “built a very special relationship with each other”. Like FC Bayern, AS Roma combine the claim to success with family values, and the new environment has broadened their horizons: “In the past few weeks, I’ve realized that I want to remember FC Bayern the way I did when I left him.”
In Rome she is set, in Munich she would first have to get used to it again
Your words show the appreciation for FC Bayern as well as a certain question mark about your chances of a return. In Rome she is set as a central defender, in Munich she would have to familiarize herself with a structure that the Norwegian coach Alexander Straus has sorted out, despite her great reputation and well-known colleagues. He took over the team when Wenninger left. The defense of Carolin Simon, Maximiliane Rall, the currently injured Giulia Gwinn, Glodis Viggosdottir and the additions Tainara, Emilie Bragstad and Tuva Hansen is the most stable in the Bundesliga with only four goals conceded, just ahead of VfL Wolfsburg (5), on which the second in the table is five points behind. Regular player Hanna Glas left the club for the USA in the winter.
Wenninger came to Munich from LUV Graz in 2007 when she was just 16 years old. She spent almost half her life in this city. After starting in the regional league, she made her Bundesliga debut against SC Freiburg in 2008 and soon grew into a central role on the defensive. Austria’s captain saw few alternatives to Munich over the years – and so Wenninger’s loyalty made her a rare player. She was set for Thomas Wörle, but under his successor Jens Scheuer the competition changed. “But such changes also help you to grow yourself,” Wenninger said at the time.
But obviously the desire for experience in a different environment and changes in the sporting career grew during this time. Your decision to stay in Italy, in addition to the desire for new experiences, also shows that this location has developed into an attractive alternative alongside France, Spain and England. And she also has ambitions there: in November she won the with Rome Super cup. The main round of Women’s Serie A the club finished top of the table on Sunday ahead of defending champions Juventus Turin, so the next trophy awaits in the championship round. And in the Champions League, the team meets FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals (March 21/29). The first leg will be played at the Stadio Olimpico, which can seat more than 70,000 spectators. Another good motif for Carina Wenninger’s photo album.
