NEWS; Swedish midfielder Julia Zigiotti Olme has joined Bayern Munich

Swedish midfielder Julia Zigiotti Olme has joined Bayern Munich on a free transfer after leaving Brighton. Zigiotti has signed a two-year contract and has already had her first training session with the German champions.

“It all happened very quickly,” Zigiotti told GIVEMESPORT. “I have joined a big club with a lot of history. When I first found out about the Bayern offer, I got very excited. It wasn’t something I expected, but I’m really happy to join.

“I have always strived to be at one of the top clubs in Europe, and now I have got the chance. Everyone here is so nice and caring. It’s been a really fun first few days.”

26-year-old Zigiotti spent two years at Brighton having joined them from Hacken in January 2022, along with her partner and fellow Sweden international Emma Kullberg. She made 65 appearances, scoring six times, and was named captain under former manager Jens Schuer.

I moved to Brighton because I felt the Women’s Super League was the best league there is. It was also great to transfer at the same time as Emma. It helped to move together. To be honest, I was a bit of a pain to my agents in order to make it happen! When you change clubs, it is always about the football first, but joining at the same time thankfully helped our personal lives as well.

“Becoming captain was not something I expected. As a player I like to talk and help my team-mates, so it was a proud moment to become captain of a WSL team. Jens just told me before one of the games that I would be leading out the side. It puts pressure on you because as captain you’re supposed to be the voice of the team and if things are not working then it gets reflected on you. It was a big responsibility for me, but I like that extra pressure.

“Overall, Brighton had a lot of ups and downs, and some frustrations. If you count the two interim managers, they have changed coach five times since I joined. It’s hard because with every change you have to learn how the new coach wants to play and see whether they like you as a player. I always tried to show Brighton the best side of me.”

Zigiotti turned down a contract extension at Brighton after a difficult 2023/24 that saw her lose the captain’s armband under then manager Melissa Phillips. She still made 26 appearances in all competitions last season but felt the time was right to leave.

“When I lost the captaincy, I wasn’t too surprised,” Zigiotti revealed. “I could kind of tell during pre-season that Melissa wanted to go a different way. It was disappointing and tough mentally to have it, then lose it. The hardest part was I didn’t even get an explanation as to why.”

Zigiotti’s focus is now to break into a competitive midfield at Bayern and add to her 31 caps for Sweden. She will wear 16 at Bayern, the same number Kullberg had at Brighton and her best friend Filippa Angeldahl wears for Sweden.

“Right now, my goal is to get into the team and play as many minutes as I can,” said Zigiotti. “That’s my focus: to settle and eventually get playing time, and then win as many games and titles as possible.

“Bayern went ‘invincible’ in the league in 2023/24, and it’s pretty amazing to have the chance to potentially go unbeaten this season. I would like that on my CV. I’m just really happy to be here.

“Hopefully, moving to Bayern will also help me win further international caps. I get to play with my best friend, Filippa, in midfield, so that’s really cool. And even though I was a forward or number ten in the earlier part of my career, I’ll be playing for Bayern in a similar role to the national team. Being here can make me a better player, which will benefit Sweden as well.”

Zigiotti’s rise to Bayern has had its challenges, especially towards the back-end of her Hacken spell. She was forced to have surgery on both hips in December 2020 and was sidelined for six months. But she recovered in time to attract Brighton, making the switch right in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

I had pain in my hips for over a year and took injections to handle it,” said Zigiotti. “But you can’t do that forever, so I needed to have the surgery. It was tough mentally to be out injured for half a year and to not be eligible for the Swedish national team.

“There were ups and downs, like a roller coaster. Sometimes all I wanted to do was to be with the team, and at other times it was hard to do that. I had an excellent support system, though, through both my family and my agency, Neverland Management. I think Neverland, with Michael Kallbäck and Meg Brakes, is one of the best agencies there is. They are so caring for the players and they fix everything you want.”

“Of course, after returning from injury, the pandemic hit. And all I wanted to do was play football and enjoy it again. In the beginning, I was in Sweden playing for Hacken and we could still train and be around friends and family. But once I came to Brighton, the rules were stricter. It was difficult. When I first arrived, I had to isolate in my hotel for a week because someone on the plane caught Covid.”

Zigiotti can now put that difficult period firmly behind her and could even get her first Bayern minutes as early as Thursday in a friendly against St. Gallen. As part of their pre-season, Bayern also play Juventus, the club Zigiotti grew up supporting. Although born 25km from Stockholm, Zigiotti’s heritage is Italian, and as a kid she looked up to Juve legend Alessandro Del Piero.

“When I was younger, the women’s game wasn’t on television at home, but I watched a lot of the Juventus games,” said Zigiotti. “I was a forward back then and my idol was Del Piero. He was someone I wanted to be just like. I grew up a Juventus fan much like my whole Italian family and Del Piero scored a lot of goals, so I wanted to do the same.

“I always knew I wanted to represent Sweden rather than Italy, though. It’s where I grew up and it made me who I am today. But you can never take away the Italian side from me. That’s why I play with Zigiotti on my back. Plus, when I was younger I just thought it looked cooler on the shirt!”

Zigiotti is joined at Bayern by fellow Sweden internationals Magdalena Eriksson and Linda Sembrant. Meanwhile, fellow new signing Lena Oberdorf’s serious knee injury could provide an opportunity for Zigiotti to establish herself in the team early into her Bayern career. It’s a competitive midfield, with the likes of Georgia Stanway, Sarah Zadrazil, Sydney Lohmann, Linda Dallmann and Samantha Kerr all options in the centre of the park.

“I think what you want is competition to help improve you as a player,” said Zigiotti. “Everything is top class here. The coaches, staff, players and facilities. You can instantly tell Bayern is a world-class team. They know how to take care of every player on and off the field.

“I know the two Swedish girls, Magdalena and Linda, and the day before I arrived they texted me and said, ‘It’s going to be so much fun’ and that made me happy. It’s really just about settling in and not getting ahead of myself.

“I haven’t had a one-on-one with [coach] Alexander [Straus] yet. But I can already see from training he is very clear with how he wants us to play and open to what we think as players. I really like the way he is as a coach and it’s going to be fun to play under him. I haven’t got a clue about the German language yet, but thankfully, Alexander is Norwegian and we speak English. I will take some classes and we’ll see how much I can learn!”

Zigiotti still has a month to bed in since the Frauen-Bundesliga season doesn’t start until August 30, when Bayern travel to Potsdam. Between now and then, the talented and amiable Swede is just solely focused on settling in and will no doubt add leadership, quality, calmness, the odd goal and a bit of tenacity to Bayern’s midfield.

“I can’t wait to wear the Bayern shirt for the first time,” Zigiotti said. “I always remember where I came from and what I needed to do to get here. Now my past injuries and the difficult period during the pandemic feels so far away because I represent a world-class team. All the hard work has paid off.

“And my message to the fans is simply that I am a really hard-working player who will do everything for the team… and hopefully get in some good slide-tackles!”

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