Alessia Russo demands more recognition for women's football after Euros win

Alessia Russo wants the women's game to receive a huge boost following England's successful Euro 2022 campaign.

The Lionesses became European champions in July after beating Germany 2-1 in the final at Wembley. More than 87,000 fans attended the match, making it the most attended major European international final of all time - eclipsing records set in the men's game.

The WSL, which is the highest level of the women's domestic game in England, has attracted some huge crowds in recent years but still only averages around 1,000 fans per game. Russo is hoping the legacy of the Euros win can bump that figure up.

Russo is also looking to impress this term. The Manchester United forward, 23, has become England's primary centre-forward following the retirement of Ellen White and wants to improve on her record from last season, scoring nine goals in 22 WSL games.

"I think every season is massive for me," said Russo. "But after what we've done this summer, we hope that the game keeps progressing. We hope that we keep setting new records - with more and more people coming to the games. We want more and more recognition."

The new WSL campaign was expected to start this weekend but the first round of fixtures were postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II after her sad passing on Thursday, aged 96. The Queen has been succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.

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As such, United's first WSL game of the new season will now take place on Saturday, when they welcome Reading to Leigh Sports Village. Marc Skinner's side will be hoping to break into the top three of the WSL this term after finishing fourth three years in a row.

"We have to now connect the dots between positioning, how we play and those principles," Skinner told MUTV last month. ''For a lot of these girls it's the first time that they have been together, we have only had them for four or five days.

''The England girls for example only came back to join our flight. For us now it's about connecting those dots and getting ready, we play Everton next week and then after that it's getting ready and ramping it up ahead of the Tottenham game [postponed].

''We must connect everything now and put the pieces in place as the principles are already there. We have to just now make sure that everybody understands them. Then we will be an absolutely menace to any team we play.''

If United are to be successful this term, they'll need Russo to deliver. The England international is prolific for her country, scoring 10 goals in 15 senior caps. The promising forward is hoping to take inspiration from United's record scorer Wayne Rooney.

"I used to love watching Wayne Rooney," she told The Times. "He was a No 9, played with his heart on his sleeve. He was just aggressive, passionate, scored goals."

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