Patrizia Panico selected for Italian football Hall of Fame

The Italian football Hall of Fame will induct its newest class, including Patrizia "the Scorpion" Panico, in January. Besides having a name that even Lemmy Kilmeister would acknowledge as being stratospherically metal, the striker is Italy's best-ever female player and has been terrorizing opposing penalty areas both domestically and internationally for more than two decades.

The other inductees, who are doubtless grateful to share the stage with such a legend, will be Sampdoria, Juventus, Chelsea, and Azzuri striker Gianluca Vialli; Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Seleção striker Ronaldo; former Fiorentina and Lazio and current Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini; manager Corrado Ferlaino; referee Roberto Rosetti; Pisa, Como, Juventus, Inter, and Azzuri midfielder Marco Tardelli; Inter and Azzuri left back Giacinto Facchetti; Inter, AS Roma, and Rimini manager Helenio Herrera; and Juventus chairman Umberto Agnelli.

Of these, Panico is the only one still active besides Mancini. Now 40 years of age and in her 22nd profs, she remains Italy's most important player at the international level (107 goals in 196 appearances, which is FREAKING CRAZY). She's also the best player on the domestic scene, as evidenced by her almost comically stacked resume. She's been the Capocannoniere 13 times in Serie A and once in the Champions League. She's got 9 Scudetti, 5 Coppa Italias, and 7 Supercoppas. In somewhat vaster terms, she's made 625 domestic appearances, and scored 627 goals. She is unstoppable.

Interviewed about the whole affair in today's pre-match presser for the Tavagnacco match, Panico said about the induction, "It's gratifying to understand that what you did was important. These things always give me the strength to do better, to move ahead." Those two sentences were the entirety of her discussion on the honor; she chose instead to discuss the next opponent and her own teammates.

Patrizia Panico is awesome.