WOMEN of the YEAR
SPORTSPERSON
The England and Arsenal footballer who took the Lionesses into the World Cup final has seen her childhood dreams become a reality – and she’s not finished yet
IT WAS ALESSIA RUSSO’S GOAL AGAINST Australia in the 86th minute of the World Cup semi-finals that sent the Lionesses into the final. As the crowd roared, Russo valiantly fist-pumped the air, beaming from ear to ear, then ran towards the sidelines, where her teammates flurried around her in ecstasy. England’s women’s-football team had just made history.
Today, as Russo sits in her kitchen, wearing an oversize green Adidas hoodie (she is a brand ambassador for the sportswear giant), she is in a reflective frame of mind, looking back at the dizzying season when this dynamic squad became the first senior England team to reach a World Cup final on foreign soil. She comes across as friendly, serene and measured; any disappointment in the wake of the Lionesses’ defeat by Spain is outweighed by the immense pride she has in her team, who share a closeknit bond. Her best friend is Ella Toone, she admired Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright and Alex Greenwood for years before beginning to play alongside them, and she praises the ‘super-talented’ Lauren James and Lauren Hemp for their recent performances. As for the manager, Sarina Wiegman: ‘She’s a winner,’ Russo says enthusiastically. ‘She wants the best for every single player and she puts you, as a person, first, which is really important. She is exactly who you want in charge of your team.’
Playing in a World Cup was Russo’s childhood hope, even when her only option was joining a boys’ side in her home town of Maidstone. Rising up through the youth teams of Charlton Athletic and Chelsea FC, she won a football scholarship to the University of North Carolina, among whose alumnae are Wiegman and Bronze. Upon her return to the UK aged 21, she was signed to Manchester United (where she stayed until her highly publicised transfer to Arsenal in the summer) and was called up to England. In 2021, during a World Cup qualifier against Latvia, Russo delivered the fastest hattrick of any Lioness in history (11 minutes). However, it was the 2022 Euros – and, more specifically, a brazen back-heel goal through the Swedish goalkeeper’s legs in the semifinal – that brought her to new levels of public acclaim.
The successes of both tourna
