Rita Guarino: West Ham Women's new head coach and Italy legend aiming to reinvigorate their WSL campaign
New West Ham Women head coach Rita Guarino gives her first external media interview to Sky Sports; watch West Ham Women vs Tottenham Women live on Sky Sports+ on Sunday; kick-off 11.55am
Thursday 29 January 2026 12:01, UK
New West Ham boss Rita Guarino is used to firsts. She played for Italy in the inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991, and was the first manager to take charge of Juventus when they set up a women's team in 2017.
While there, she led the Italian side to four successive Serie A titles as well as domestic cup trophies, building the team from the ground up.
It followed on from an extensive playing career - including 99 caps for Italy - as well as time coaching the country's U17s.
She also spent three years at Inter Milan, where the project mirrored more of what Guarino has taken on at West Ham. The former striker was tasked with improving competitiveness and developing a young team, eventually leaving by mutual consent.
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After 18 months away from management, Guarino replaced Rehanne Skinner in December after the Hammers struggled in the first part of the season - her first time managing outside of Italy.
Her immediate aim is to keep the club in the WSL, which was boosted with a 2-1 victory at Leicester on Sunday. More broadly over her year-and-a-half contract, she will want to help West Ham get back to regularly competing against their WSL opponents - something they showed they were capable of last season.
Giving her first external media interview to Sky Sports since joining West Ham, Guarino said: "It was very exciting to come here to one of the leagues that I think is the best in the world. It's exciting also to join this important club in England with a big history.
"West Ham is a club with a hard-working side, the winning mentality, the fact that we stay humble every time and don't give up. It's the value that fits my values.
"Before I came here, I knew that the players had the potential and the quality, but what surprised me was the total availability of the players.
"When they come on the field every day, it doesn't matter what happened before, they want to be very focused on what they can do, which is very important and surprised me."
While joining a new club does not mean starting from the beginning as she did at Juventus, there are similarities as she looks to turn things in a positive direction.
When asked how her experiences in Italy can be applied at West Ham, Guarino added: "In part, it's similar because we need to restart, but in this case, I find also the job that others made before me, so it's easier for me to continue that.
"It's not from scratch, but it's the right moment to build a little bit in the highest level possible.
"Also at Inter Milan, we started a project of development of players and as a team, so I was not just in a comfortable situation, I was also in a tough situation.
"For that reason, I can tell you the time and the work is the best chance to be better."
Guarino is also having to adapt to a new country, as well as a new league and club. The Italian says the food is certainly better at home, but coming from the north of the country, the famous British weather is not too dissimilar.
She has also noticed some differences between the two leagues, reflecting: "The intensity of the games are the most different.
"Here, there are also many teams that compete for the high level of Champions League. This is another gap. About football and style of play, I can't see any difference, but it's about intensity."
Guarino will have already experienced that in her first two WSL games against Chelsea and Leicester, with another tough test coming up this weekend against Tottenham, live on Sky Sports.
West Ham will be hoping to deal Spurs another blow after Martin Ho's side were beaten by Liverpool on Sunday, and hand Guarino her first home win in the WSL.
Watch West Ham Women vs Tottenham Women live on Sky Sports+ on Sunday; kick-off 11.55am.
