Ruesha Littlejohn (born 3 July 1990) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a striker for

FAWSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...

side

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

. She has also had four spells with Glasgow City and stints with

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are ...

club

IL Sandviken Idrettslaget Sandviken is a Norwegian sports club from the neighborhood of Sandviken in Bergenhus borough, Bergen. It has sections for basketball, football and handball. It was mostly known for its women's football team that played in the Top ...

and English sides

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. Th ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Despite having played youth football for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, Littlejohn chose to feature at the senior level for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

Club career

Glasgow-born Littlejohn played youth football with Clydebank and Baillieston girls before joining Arsenal North. She signed for Glasgow City in January 2007 and won four successive titles with the club. In January 2010 Littlejohn signed for English champions

and made an immediate debut in the Gunners' 2–1 home win over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

. Shortly afterwards

Tony Gervaise Tony Gervaise (born 10 May 1955, in Paisley) is a Scottish association football former player turned women's football coach. He is a former manager of Arsenal Ladies, having succeeded Vic Akers in 2009. Career Gervaise played as a left back, ...

, who had also been Littlejohn's coach in Scotland's youth national teams, stood down as Arsenal manager. With Littlejohn then out of favour she returned to Scotland on loan with

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, where she featured in the first women's match to be staged at

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . ...

. Littlejohn then returned to Glasgow City. She hit seven goals in the final game of the season against Inverness, as City secured another Premier League title. Along with Megan Sneddon and Suzanne Lappin, Littlejohn signed for Liverpool Ladies ahead of the

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparati ...

season. The Scottish trio made their Liverpool bow in a friendly win over Hibernian Ladies. On her competitive debut against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship re ...

, Littlejohn marked the occasion by scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

. She also fired a last-minute goal as Liverpool held rivals Everton 3–3 in the opening match of the WSL campaign. During the mid-season break Littlejohn and Lappin went back to Scotland, this time with Celtic, making their debuts against Rangers. In May 2012,

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world ...

(FA) gave Littlejohn a six-match ban and charged her £500 costs for comments made on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. During the

2012 FA WSL The 2012 FA WSL is the second season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 8 April 2012 and was scheduled to end in October 2012. The league is to break between 8 July and 19 August to allow prepa ...

mid-season break, Littlejohn returned to Glasgow City: "It is great to be back at City again. I know the club so well. I have been here since I turned 16 years old and City is like my home, as I always seem to come back here." In March 2014 Littlejohn signed for the Norwegian First club

, based in Bergen. By August she had scored 11 goals in 13 games to top the goalscorer's chart. She finished the season as the league's top goalscorer with 19 goals from 22 matches as Sandviken were promoted to the

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

champions. Littlejohn was called into the Ireland squad in February 2015, listed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. After a year with Celtic in 2015, Littlejohn returned to Glasgow City for her fourth spell with the club in January 2016. She departed during the mid-season break, and was back in Celtic colours for the second part of the campaign. In July 2018 Littlejohn signed with

. In 2019, she joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

on non-contract terms. On 25 January 2020, she signed a deal until the end of the season. On 16 January 2021 it was announced the Littlejohn had signed for

for the remainder of the 2020/21 season. She made her debut the next day in a 0-0 drawn with Brighton. On 1 September 2021 it was announced that Littlejohn had signed for

for the 2021-22 season.

International career

Scotland

Littlejohn represented

at Under–15 and Under–17 level. At the Under–19 age group, Littlejohn was part of the side which qualified for the

2008 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2008 Final Tournament was held in France between 7–19 July 2008. Players born after 1 January 1989 were eligible to participate in this competition. Qualification There were two qualification rounds.< ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. She scored Scotland's only goal in a 3–1 defeat to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at the final tournament group stage. Littlejohn scored 12 goals in her 15 appearances for Scotland's Under–19s. Scotland's senior national team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Anna Signeul excluded Littlejohn due to personal differences: "Em, well, the senior manager wasn’t a fan of mine. I think she thought I had too much carry on, a little personality, and she wasn’t really into that."

Ireland

After three years of not playing internationally, Littlejohn's situation caught the eye of Arsenal teammates

Emma Byrne Emma Anne Byrne (born 14 June 1979) is an Irish football goalkeeper who played for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team on a record 134 occasions and served as captain of the team. She spent almost 17 years with Arsenal before ...

Yvonne Tracy Yvonne Tracy (born 27 February 1981) is an Irish female international football defender. She is a well known player at the club and international level, competing in youth cups beginning at age 16. Club career Tracy began her career with Liffo ...

and

Niamh Fahey Niamh Fahey (born 13 October 1987) is an Irish footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Liverpool in the Women's Super League and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has previously played for Chelsea. Before ...

. They alerted the FAI to her eligibility through her maternal grandparents. In February 2012 Littlejohn received her first call–up to the senior

squad, for the

2012 Algarve Cup The 2012 Algarve Cup was the nineteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It began on 29 February and ended on 7 March 2012. Format The twelve invited teams were split into three ...

. She made her debut with the Irish national team against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

at the final game of the Algarve Cup on 7 March 2012. Ireland won 2–1 to avoid a last place finish. Altogether Littlejohn has so far been capped over 60 times by the Irish.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Ruesha's twin sister Shebahn was a travel reporter on Glasgow radio station

102.5 Clyde 1 Clyde 1 is an Independent Local Radio station based in Glasgow, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Glasgow and West Central Scotland. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audie ...

. The family has a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

background and grew up in

Old Drumchapel Old Drumchapel is a neighbourhood of Glasgow, Scotland. It is located around Drumchapel railway station and formed part of the Cowdenhill and Garscadden Estates. It is situated to the south of the larger and newer Drumchapel housing estate, and ...

. She is openly lesbian. In June 2019, fellow player and captain

Katie McCabe Katie Alison McCabe (born 21 September 1995) is an Irish footballer who plays for FA WSL club Arsenal and serves as captain of the Republic of Ireland national team. As a teenager, she won the Irish Women's National League title twice and t ...

revealed that they are in a relationship and that

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

is very accepting of LGBT people.

Honours

Club

;Glasgow City *

Scottish FA Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Women's Premier League Cup The Scottish Women's Premier League Cup or SWPL Cup is a league cup competition in women's football in Scotland. The Cup is open only to the teams in the Scottish Women's Premier League. There are four rounds, including the final. The competitio ...

: 2009 & 2013 ;IL Sandviken *

: 2014

Individual

*Glasgow City Top Goalscorer: 2009 *

topscorer: 2014

References

External links

Ruesha Littlejohn
at Glasgow City FC

at Liverpool LFC
Ruesha Littlejohn
at Celtic FC
Ruesha Littlejohn
at the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) {{DEFAULTSORT:Littlejohn, Ruesha 1990 births Living people Celtic F.C. Women players Arsenal W.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players Glasgow City F.C. players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Women's association football forwards Footballers from Glasgow SK Brann Kvinner players Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Irish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Scottish Women's Premier League players LGBT association football players Scottish LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen London Bees players West Ham United F.C. Women players Rangers W.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Aston Villa W.F.C. players Scottish women's footballers Scottish people of Northern Ireland descent Scottish twins Twin sportspeople