FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11 winner Alessia Russo chooses five players – past and present – that she would have in her ultimate team.
Watch the Arsenal and England forward select her ideal 5-a-side team in the video below.
'It’s important to have good people around you'
Russo’s goalscoring exploits on the international scene propelled her into world football’s elite and, in January 2024, she was named in the FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World 11 for the first time.
Speaking in January 2024 about what it meant for professional footballers from around the world to vote for her in the global team of the year, Russo said: "It feels incredible. It's something that means so much, especially being voted for by players.
"As any player would say, those are the opinions that mean the most; they are the people that you work with every day and you want to please, and they want to please you, so it’s really special coming from them. You win trophies with your peers and you're on super crazy journeys with them all, so to gain their recognition and their respect on the way is special."
Russo also paid tribute to the people around her off the field in helping her on her journey. She said: "It’s very important to have good people around you. I'm super close with my friends and family and to be on the journey with them means a lot, but also you lean on them through the good times and the bad.
"They see the tough days and the dark times, when you go through injuries or different things like that. They are on the journey with you the whole way. So, I think for me to have that support system away from football, but also where, for them, you are their sister or their daughter and you're not the football player, it's really nice to just be able to go home and switch off from everything."
Read the full interview HERE.
