West Ham Women have turned to one of European football’s most decorated coaches in an attempt to revive their faltering season, appointing Rita Guarino as manager following the dismissal of Rehanne Skinner.
Guarino, 54, has signed an 18-month contract and will take charge of a team battling near the foot of the Barclays Women’s Super League. It is her first managerial role outside Italy and a bold appointment by a club searching for stability and direction after a difficult start to the campaign.
Skinner was sacked on Thursday after West Ham managed just one win from their opening 11 league matches. The Hammers currently sit second-bottom of the WSL table, two points above Liverpool, and face a daunting trip to champions Chelsea in their next league fixture on January 11.
Guarino arrives in East London with an enviable pedigree. She was most recently in charge of Inter Milan between 2021 and 2024, guiding the club to a third-place finish in Serie A during the 2022/23 season. Her reputation, however, was forged at Juventus, where she oversaw one of the most dominant spells in Italian women’s football.
Appointed in 2017 ahead of Juventus Women’s inaugural season, Guarino built the team from the ground up and immediately set the tone with a 13-0 win over Torino in her first match. That campaign ended with a dramatic title-winning play-off victory over Brescia, and it proved to be the first of four consecutive Serie A titles under her leadership. Her fourth championship, secured in 2020/21, came via a flawless league campaign in which Juventus won every match. During her time in Turin, Guarino also lifted two Supercoppa titles and the Coppa Italia.
Before her club coaching success, Guarino served as head coach of Italy’s Under-17s and enjoyed a distinguished playing career. A clinical striker, she began playing at 14 and represented Juventus, Torino, Lazio, and Maryland Pride in the United States. She earned 99 caps for Italy, featured at the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991, and scored against Norway in the quarter-finals of that tournament. A decade later, she found the net against the same opponents at the UEFA Women’s European Championship.
Speaking after her appointment, Guarino said she was relishing the challenge ahead. “I’m so happy to be joining West Ham. It is a club with a long history and strong values that align with my own,” she said. “I’m really excited by the project here. There is a lot of talent and experience in the team, and I want to support the girls to develop as individuals but also as a collective.”
Her philosophy, she explained, will centre on organisation, intensity and unity. “I want to build a team that is organised, aggressive with the ball, and tries to recognise and use space. The team's mentality – its togetherness and hard work – is the most important thing.
I’m looking forward to the chapter ahead in the best league in the world.”
West Ham’s decision to appoint Guarino, a relative unknown in England, underlines the scale of their ambition and the urgency of their situation. One of her first major tasks will be navigating the January transfer window as the club looks to add reinforcements capable of lifting them away from danger.
Skinner, who was appointed in 2023 and became the first woman to manage West Ham in the WSL era, departs after overseeing finishes of 11th and ninth in her two seasons in charge. In a statement confirming her exit, the club cited the need for “a change… to help improve the team’s position in the Barclays Women’s Super League as soon as possible”.
With a wealth of silverware behind her and a reputation as a meticulous builder of winning teams, Guarino now faces a very different challenge: restoring confidence, results and belief at West Ham in one of the most competitive leagues in the women’s game.
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