Arsenal win Women’s Golden Player for 2nd year in a row

Alessia Russo has followed Leah Williamson in winning Tuttosport’s Golden Player Woman award, giving Arsenal the prize for a second year running.

Alessia Russo has been named Tuttosport’s 2026 Golden Player Woman, making her the second Arsenal player in succession to win the award.

Russo follows Leah Williamson, who took the prize last year, after being selected as the best female player in Europe by a panel of experts and journalists.

It’s another individual honour in a week which also saw Russo named in the FIFPRO Women’s World 11.

Russo’s latest recognition follows a season in which she again played a major role for Arsenal.

She scored five goals in six Champions League knockout appearances as Arsenal narrowly missed out on reaching another final.

Russo also finished the season with 24 goals in all competitions.

Williamson became the club’s first recipient in 2025, ending a run of four successive winners from Barcelona.

Lieke Martens won the inaugural award in 2021, followed by Alexia Putellas in 2022.

Aitana Bonmati then won in both 2023 and 2024 before Williamson and Russo took the next two editions.

Russo is due to receive her trophy at a ceremony in Turin in December.

She has also been nominated for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2026 and you can vote for that here.

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