Los Angeles area native and graduate of Pepperdine University, Picarelli has made a name for herself with the Italian champions Bardolino Verona with whom she won 2 Serie A titles, 2 Italian Super Cups and 1 Coppa Italia in the last three years. She also reached the quarterfinals and the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League with her team where she excelled against such great clubs as Arsenal of England and Umea of Sweden.

A very quick and active keeper with great reaction, Picarelli made her full international debut in a friendly versus France last year. The call-ups to the Peace Queen Cup and Algarve Cup International Tournaments ensued, and by the time the Euro 2009 in Finland came around, Picarelli was the undisputed number 1 for Italy.

By making a number of spectacular saves and having an outstanding tournament, Picarelli helped Italy defeat heavy favorites England, shut out Russia, and take the World and European Champions Germany all the way in the quarterfinals. Picarelli’s next objectives are to get drafted to the new Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league in the US and help Italy qualify for the FIFA World Cup Germany 2011.

Making her debut for the South African Senior Women’s National Team (Banyana Banyana) at the age of 17, Busi became the youngest South African player at last year’s CAF Africa Women’s Championship in Equatorial Guinea where Banyana Banyana reached the final. After impressing as a substitute in the last group match against the perennial continental powerhouse Nigeria, Busi started both the semifinal against Cameroon, and the final match against the hosts Equatorial Guinea.

A lightning-quick and creative winger, Busi possesses a very close control and is always ready to take on defenders and create danger by making penetrating runs. As part of the Banyana Banyana set-up she participated in the Cyprus Cup this year where she featured against the Euro 2009 runners-up England, Scotland, and France, and has also appeared in all three games of the Four Nations Tournament hosted by the Netherlands in July 2009 versus China, Switzerland, and the hosts.

Busi Ndimeni currently plays for the Moroka Swallows FC Ladies team of Johannesburg in the new Sasol sponsored South African Women’s League.

Her new team 1. FFC Frankfurt won the match 4:0 and is tied for the first place in the Frauen Bundesliga table together with three other teams after winning both games to start the new 2009-2010 season.

According to the official team release, “the 4-0 was something that makes football fans’ hearts beat faster: Laura del Rio was sent on the breakaway straight down the right flank; at full speed she dribbled past Laura Vetterlein, the sister of the former FFC goalie Alisa Vetterlein, then switched inside and hit a left-footed shot straight into the net.”

Del Rio’s German debut marks the third country and the third Top League in the career of the prolific striker who has won trophies in both the USA and her native Spain. 1. FFC Frankfurt will play their next Bundesliga match away to SC Freiburg on Saturday, October 4, 2009 at 11:00 am CET.