In a leisure centre on White Hart Lane in north London, a blast of high-pitched screams rings out.
England and Arsenal striker Alessia Russo has just arrived at the second edition of The Alessia Cup, a girls’ football tournament that takes her name and is organised under the banner of her foundation. The noise is being made by 18 teams of teenagers who have just realised their heroine has arrived.
Russo walks around the pitch, chatting to girls whose mouths have practically hit the floor. They are starstruck and overexcited, but the moment is as surreal for Russo as it is for the girls. England’s shy superstar is still getting used to her status four years after she announced herself to the world during Euro 2022.
“It does feel weird”, she says. “And I say it to my parents all the time that it just feels weird that that is a thing. I see myself as just Alessia from Maidstone. I’m just a normal 27-year-old girl. I love doing normal things.”
Russo is speaking to The Cutback the day after England’s emphatic 5-0 win over Greece in World Cup qualifying, and at the end of an international window during which she scored three goals in two games.
The 27-year-old launched the Alessia Russo Foundation last year with a focus on participation, empowerment and education around women’s health. The Alessia Cup has become a core part of the foundation’s activation and, in partnership with Sky, the event brings together teams from around north London for much more than just a football tournament.
There are dance classes, photo booths, face painting, T-shirt printing, menstrual health workshops, free boots from Adidas, and a chance to play Sky Sports reporter for the day. It is a playground of joy for the hundreds of 14-year-olds taking part.
For Russo, the tournament and wider work of the foundation are about creating a tangible legacy, and ensuring that girls across the country can access the football opportunities that she had.
“The grassroots is so important. It’s something that lays the foundation for your love for football. But there’s still girls that can’t play, haven’t got teams, or their teams fold.
“I was very fortunate as a kid that I had a really good grassroots and academy journey, but I did start in boys’ football teams, until I got a girls’ team. I didn’t mind. I’ve grown up with two older brothers, so I’ve always liked competing against the boys. But I know that that might put a few girls off. I think it’s important to make sure that we don’t miss out on finding the next superstar.”
Russo, like many of her Lionesses teammates, grew up playing with boys because that was so often the only option available. The Arsenal striker’s journey started at Bearsted FC boys’ team in Kent, before she later moved on to Charlton and Chelsea.
As she works her way through the crowds on tournament day, stopping for photos and signing autographs, she’s reminded of interactions she had with her idols as a child.
“I know it definitely had an impact on me when I was younger and I met Kelly [Smith] at my school,” she says, referencing the now famous picture that Smith posted on her X account in 2012, when she highlighted Russo as a future “top player for England”.
“When you can see someone that’s like you doing something that you want to do, it makes you believe it that little bit more. I hope it can have even the slightest impact on a few of them to go on and want to pursue football.”
Legendary England striker Smith is now back at Arsenal as an assistant coach working specifically with Russo and the other forwards. Russo describes it as an “amazing full circle moment” to now learn from Smith, who scored 46 goals for England and 130 for Arsenal.
Finding form is the ultimate challenge for every striker, and despite the “tough” start to Arsenal’s season, which currently sees them 10th in the WSL table, Russo’s own form has turned a corner.
Having failed to score in her opening five games of the season in all competitions, Russo is now on a run of four goals in her last five games for club and country. It all started with an impressive finish in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Paris FC in the Champions League – a moment that seemed to break a seal for the forward.
Since that goal, she’s not only grabbed more, but finished from distance with confidence and ease. The statement goal came in Arsenal’s 4-2 defeat to Manchester City, where Russo bent one into the bottom corner.
Russo admits that with experience has come an acknowledgement that she needs to work on the mental side of her game.
“I’ve learned that as I’ve gotten older. When I was younger, with how the start of the season went, I would have beaten myself up even more, and it probably would have taken me even longer to get back firing. But as I get older, I understand the importance of talking to people, letting emotions out, and then also finding solutions.
“I think that the more you sit and dwell on not scoring and missing big chances, the more it affects you.”
It was a meeting with the Arsenal psychologist just before the Paris FC game that helped everything click.
“We have great people both at Arsenal and England that I can speak to and open up. And I did that actually before the Paris game to our psychologist at Arsenal, and he was great. And then after that, things did click. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I don’t know. But I think the little 1% in tough moments of elite sports are really important.”
Russo has now hit the run of form we’ve become accustomed to: when she hits a streak, she can’t stop. But what does it actually feel like to be in a goalscoring run where every shot seems to go in?
“It’s a tough question. I think that chances come easier than when you’re not in that space, and it’s not that you’re doing anything wrong. I think that when you’re just in a flow, things kind of fall into place.
“I also think when things aren’t going well for me, I like to really strip it back and just focus on training and I think then that sets me up for then things to flow into place, not overcomplicating things.
“I would be the first one to be frustrated and angry that I’m not scoring and helping contribute to the team. But I think the more you get in that mindset, the less likely things are to come. So I think it’s just staying really free in your mind, working hard in training, hitting the back of the net in training, and in all your chances that you get. And then I think that that makes it come alive on a game day.”
The Alessia Cup provides the perfect antidote to the high intensity and pressure of professional football, reminding Russo of why she started playing football in the first place.
“I just feel such a sense of gratitude and a weight off my shoulders,” Russo says. “Things are so intense in the football world and there’s so much pressure, but you feel so grateful for what we are doing with young girls and I think it’s a moment where you can kind of step back and just enjoy seeing all the smiles on these kids’ faces. Your love for football is in them too, and it’s a really special feeling.”
As the tournament day comes to an end, and Russo works her way through the carousel of signature and selfie requests, priorities turn back to the WSL and Arsenal. The Alessia Russo Foundation will continue to build, with more tournaments planned across the country, but for now it’s back to the Emirates, and the pressure.
Such is the life of the superstar striker.