Alessia Russo chats with a schoolgirl competing in the Alessia Cup
Arsenal Football Newsletter
Alessia Russo has hailed her new initiative ‘The Alessia Cup’ as an opportunity to show school girls that “football is for them”.
The Arsenal and England striker attended the final of the competition and stayed beyond dark to sign hundreds of autographs for young girls at the event in north London last Thursday, which was put on by the Alessia Russo Foundation.
In conjunction with the football development programmed ‘Goals 4 Girls’ as well as Sky, the tournament saw as many as 180 girls between the ages of 12 and 14 compete for the trophy, which was won by Chislehurst School for Girls.
“It was so nice,” Russo said when reflected on the day, having conducted a Q&A with the girls in attendance and presented medals to the winners and runners-up and trophies to standout players.
Girls compete in the Alessia Cup
“When I was a kid, memories of tournaments like this lasted a long time. Hopefully it will be the same for these girls. While we’re at the top of women’s football, it’s nice to do something lower down and make sure that they all know that football’s for them.
“Football is so intense that doing stuff like this makes me happy. This is what I want to do for the next generation. On the pitch is amazing — I totally want to win every game I play — but stuff like this means a little bit more, in the sense that you can see the passion of these young girls.”
Russo said of using her platform for good as a European champion for both club and country: “It inspires me. Seeing how much these young girls love seeing us is crazy. I just see myself as a normal person and then, coming here, it’s crazy to see how much of an impact we have. It brings you back down to earth.
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“It’s just nice to see where I was ten years ago, playing in these kinds of tournaments.
“Luckily I have amazing sponsors,” she said. “All the girls were in their Adidas kits and lots got given Adidas boots. If I was a kid getting Adidas kit at a tournament, I would have been so buzzing. Sky and Adobe were doing interview sessions. It’s so cool. They get an insight into our lives at such a young age, but also in such a fun way.”
Asked what her highlight of the day was, Russo, 26, replied: “I actually did an interview up there [in the stands] with the BBC, and one of the young girls was interviewing me. And she did great! She smashed it. She did better than all you lot,” Russo joked to reporters.
“I think it was so nice, because for her it was a cool experience.”
Players listen in as Russo conducts a Q&A session before handing out the winners' and runners-up medals
Russo, who won both the Champions League and European Championships this summer, spoke about how big she hopes her newly-launched foundation can become.
“Long-term, I want it to achieve a lot; I’ve probably got way too big ideas before it’s even possible, but I’m specifically looking at girls within school age, so 11 to 18 ideally, and then we’ll narrow it down for different things.
“When I was in school, I was fortunate to have really good people around me and a passion in football. I know that not everyone has that. It can be tough. School is definitely a focus point of mine with the charity.”