From the NCAA to the Ballon d’Or Stage

Some footballers are defined by a moment.

For unfortunate souls, that might be an own goal in a critical game, or a sending off. Others rise to the occasion, pulling off their most extravagant feat when inhabiting the biggest stage.

It is 26 July 2022 and we are at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. England’s Lionesses are two-nil up in a Euro semi-final against a Sweden side considered dangerous going into the match. Jeopardy remains. They still need putting to bed.

In the 68th minute Fran Kirby finds space down Sweden’s right and cuts the ball back to Alessia Russo who has hung back, anticipating such a delivery. This is the forward’s favourite type of goal, the kind that can be dismissed as ‘being in the right place at the right time’ but actually requires positional nous and cunning.

She shoots but the keeper saves well, the ball spinning into a wide area. Russo is quick to respond, reaching it before anyone else, but she is now several yards out with her back to goal.

Here is the moment. The one that defines her.

An improvised backheel surprises all around her, including the goalkeeper who sees the ball fly between her legs. It is a spectacular goal, one that is subsequently nominated for a Puskas Award. It is so quintessentially Alessia Russo.

A Life-Changing Tournament: Forward’s Profile Skyrockets

Though he was as amazed as everybody else on witnessing such ingenuity, Chris Brookes, editor of She Kicks magazine, insists it was simply the latest in a long line of magical enterprises from the player.

“It’s funny how the back-heel nutmeg against Sweden is the goal that she’ll likely always be most associated with when she’s actually produced more impressive and impactful moments than that.

The goals against Colombia and Australia in the 2023 World Cup were both so well taken; a quarter-final winner, and the semi-final clincher in front of a near-76,000 home crowd in Sydney.”

He does however cede that Russo’s inventiveness that evening was monumental, both for the women’s game in England and for the individual.

“It was the 2022 Euros when her profile skyrocketed and she lives a very different life now, with mainstream magazine covers, red carpets and floods of endorsements. But she backs it up on the pitch.”

That moment – the moment – was the forward’s fourth goal of the tournament, all contributing to England securing a famous Euros victory, and what followed has been of a similar gold standard.

Two further major finals have been reached with her country – Russo converting in the 2023 World Cup final, ultimately to no avail - while an outstanding season with Arsenal last year saw her jointly claim the WSL Golden Boot merit. Her eight goals in Europe meanwhile played a considerable part in the Gunners winning the Champions League.   

Rightfully, in October of last year, in recognition of such a stand-out campaign, she came third in the Ballon d’Or Féminin rankings.

Russo is now top of the world, a truly elite talent feared and admired in equal moderation by her peers, and yet it all began with a hard road taken when young, a path that required bravery.

It began with a life-changing relocation to the Tarheel State, better known as North Carolina.

America Beckons: An Opportunity To Grow

Russo’s career path seemed laid out for her as an emerging teen.

Scouted by Chelsea aged 11 she joined their academy and thrived and developed in West London for six years, becoming team captain and representing her country through the age groups.

Only then an opportunity arose to go to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a chance too good to decline.

By the player’s own admission, she had always been drawn to America. It intrigued her. Furthermore, going there meant she would be coached by Anson Dorrance, a legendary figure in US college football who had led the North Carolina Tar Heels to a remarkable 16 NCAA Championships to that point.

Dorrance was infamous for instilling a cast-iron will-to-win in his players.    

“Being a girl, my toughness was never celebrated,” the two-time World Cup winner Mia Hamm once said. “But then I got to the University of North Carolina, and it was OK to want to be the best.”

Data box – In the 2023 Finalissima between England and Brazil, Russo covered 8.73 km and reached a top speed of 28.4km/h

The Tar Heel Influence: How the US Shaped a Star

With the women’s game in England nowhere near as advanced even ten years ago as it is now, young prospects would often seek out scholarships, joining the US collegiate system and forming habits that would serve them well in their pursuit of becoming professional footballers.

Playing weekly games in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) in front of thousands of spectators meant they were thrust into the public sphere, with all the demands that came from that. There was also their athletic development to consider, with Russo once admitting she had barely visited a gym before she moved to America.

Moreover, young players were immersed in a winning culture and a fiercely competitive environment.

Previously, players such as Rachel Daly, Lucy Bronze and Karen Bardsley had undertaken this route which explains why US college football is widely attributed with being a key element behind the Lionesses successes in recent years.

Louise Beltrame-Bawden, Director of Women’s Sports Strategy for Stats Perform, explains further.  

“For a long time English players didn’t have the facilities or pathways. So if they wanted to develop their career, in all elements, whether that be their technical game or physicality, to become the incredible Lionesses they are now, they had to turn to the Collegiate program to fill a gap.

There they had the environment, the facilities, and access to the sports science they were not getting here. Crucially too, they were getting high intensity football.”

Each day Alessia Russo trained intensely. Each week she played intensely. As a player she got better and better. As a person, she grew.

Big Stage Instincts: Translating College Success to Global Glory

Russo won numerous accolades in the US, not least being named first team All-ACC for three years running.

By her sophomore year she had gained a far-reaching reputation for scoring important goals with one former team-mate noting they always seemed to be winning strikes. More often than not they were spectacular too.

Trophies were won, including the Tar Heels’ first league title for eight years, while on a consistent basis, Russo was voted ACC Offensive Player of the Week.

Naturally then her decision in 2020 to cut short her stay by a year alerted the attention of the European big guns, but really there was only one destination of choice. Manchester United. It was the club her grandfather Alfonso had fallen in love with on moving to England in the Fifties.

“I’ve been a Man United fan ever since I can remember,” she relayed to the Guardian.

Almost inevitably goals came easy for the striker in the WSL, reaching double figures in 2022/23 and again twice-over after moving to Arsenal, but what soon became apparent when starring for the Red Devils was that this was a very different, more multifaceted player to the one who flew across the Atlantic, wide-eyed and excited.

Russo had always possessed a powerful shot, and she always had the capacity to dribble, but Dorrance focused relentlessly on her build-up play, determined to make her the best forward in the Conference with her ‘back to pressure’. A year in, he described this aspect of her game as ‘extraordinary’.

Under his tutelage too, the player learnt to channel her aggression, to be highly competitive on the pitch, but with a purpose.

Combined with an eye for goal these attributes have propelled Alessia Russo into the elite, winning domestic and European silverware and finding herself in esteemed company in the Ballon d’Or rankings. With a grounding in US college football there has been no stopping her.    

2025 was the first time the Gunners striker was in contention for the highest possible individual honour. It likely won’t be the last.