Iceland 0-1 England (Russo 21′)
REYKJAVIK – If you were Alessia Russo at the end of 2025, you could have been forgiven for thinking the moment for a Ballon d’Or had passed.
In a year where the Lionesses striker had won the Champions League with Arsenal and the Euros with the national team, she ended up on the podium in third behind Aitana Bonmati and Mariona Caldentey.
The highest individual honour is so often judged on team achievements but on an individual basis, Russo has surpassed the player she was 12 months ago.
“I don’t think there’s a better striker in the world at the moment, in the women’s game, than Alessia Russo!”
@Lionesses pic.twitter.com/a8N3PnAg1x
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) April 18, 2026
The 2025-26 season could yet end with another European trophy – Arsenal face Lyon in the semi-finals – yet that should not be the deciding factor.
With one sumptuous turn and finish against Iceland – her 30th international goal – she epitomised how her technical level has shot up this year. Lauren Hemp created the run trough the middle and it was the single moment of quality England needed to get past a stubborn Iceland, who turned the last half an hour into a scrap.
Russo said afterwards that the pitch at Laugardalsvollur Stadium “didn’t help”. It was certainly a leveller and it very nearly earned Iceland a point, were it not for three vital saves from Hannah Hampton. The No 1 did not always look at her most confident following recent errors for Chelsea – those stops will have done her the world of good.
As for Russo, there is no longer any doubt that she is playing the best football of her career. In the Women’s Super League she is only three shy of her final tally for last season and crucially, she is now performing at that level domestically, in Europe and in international football. “I play in two great teams,” she said. “So that makes it a lot easier.”
There was very nearly an assist for Georgia Stanway, for whom she provided a brilliant cut-back, had the midfielder been able to properly connect with it.
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Those are the aspects of her game that are so often underappreciated. At the last Euros in Switzerland, so much of her role was about work rate, breaking down defences and stretching the play to allow the “finishers” – like Chloe Kelly and Michelle Agyemang – to exploit the final stages.
Russo has never lacked those runs, or even goals – but she is now on a level with Caldentey and her other Ballon d’Or rivals. Bunny Shaw and Ewa Pajor could stake their own claims as the best female striker in the world right now, but Russo is possibly surpassing both as an all-rounder. She was as effective in two England systems, Sarina Wiegman swapping Lauren Hemp and Lauren James from right-to-left early on in response to Iceland’s low block.
No English player has ever formally been recognised as the best in the world. Beth Mead and Lucy Bronze have both finished as Ballon d’Or runners-up, in 2022 and 2019 respectively. This could be the year that finally changes.
