.jpg) Littlejohn withLondon Bees in February 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ruesha Littlejohn[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1990-07-03)3 July 1990 (age 34) | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker,midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Shamrock Rovers | ||
| Number | 31 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Clydebank Girls | |||
| Baillieston Girls | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2007 | Arsenal North[2] | ||
| 2007–2009 | Glasgow City | 43 | (53) |
| 2010 | Arsenal | 2 | (0) |
| 2010 | →Rangers (loan) | ||
| 2010–2011 | Glasgow City | ||
| 2011–2012 | Liverpool | 13 | (2) |
| 2011 | →Celtic (loan) | 2 | (1) |
| 2012–2013 | Glasgow City | 26 | (14) |
| 2014 | IL Sandviken | 22 | (19) |
| 2015 | Celtic | 19 | (11) |
| 2016 | Glasgow City | ||
| 2016–2018 | Celtic | 22 | (13) |
| 2018–2019 | London Bees | 17 | (5) |
| 2019–2020 | West Ham United | 2 | (0) |
| 2020–21 | Leicester City | 6 | (1) |
| 2021 | Birmingham City | 11 | (0) |
| 2021–2023 | Aston Villa | 25 | (0) |
| 2023–2025 | London City Lionesses | 22 | (2) |
| 2025– | Shamrock Rovers | 3 | (2) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2007–2008 | Scotland U19[3] | 15 | (12) |
| 2012– | Republic of Ireland[4] | 86 | (6) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12 March 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 August 2023 | |||
Ruesha Littlejohn (born 3 July 1990) is a professionalfootballer who plays as a midfielder forShamrock Rovers and theRepublic of Ireland. She has had four spells withGlasgow City, and stints withNorwegian First Division clubIL Sandviken and English sidesArsenal,Liverpool,London Bees,Leicester City,Birmingham City,Aston Villa andLondon City Lionesses.
Born and raised in Scotland to anIrish Scottish mother, she has representedScotland and the Republic of Ireland atunder-19 andsenior levels, respectively.[5][6]
Glasgow-born Littlejohn played youth football with Clydebank and Baillieston girls before joiningArsenal North. She signed forGlasgow City in January 2007 and won four successive titles with the club. In January 2010 Littlejohn signed for English championsArsenal and made an immediate debut in the Gunners' 2–1 home win overChelsea.[7] Shortly afterwardsTony Gervaise, 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 withRangers, where she featured in the first women's match to be staged atIbrox Stadium.[8]
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.[9]
Along withMegan Sneddon andSuzanne Lappin, Littlejohn signed forLiverpool Ladies ahead of the2011 FA WSL season. The Scottish trio made their Liverpool bow in a friendly win overHibernian Ladies.[10] On her competitive debut againstCharlton Athletic in theFA Women's Cup, Littlejohn marked the occasion by scoring ahat-trick.[11] She also fired a last-minute goal as Liverpool held rivalsEverton 3–3 in the opening match of the WSL campaign.[12] During the mid-season break Littlejohn and Lappin went back to Scotland, this time withCeltic, making their debuts against Rangers.[13]
In May 2012,the Football Association (FA) gave Littlejohn a six-match ban and charged her £500 costs for comments made onTwitter.[14] During the2012 FA WSL 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."[15]
In March 2014 Littlejohn signed for the Norwegian First clubIL Sandviken, based in Bergen.[16] By August she had scored 11 goals in 13 games to top the goalscorer's chart.[17] She finished the season as the league's top goalscorer with 19 goals from 22 matches as Sandviken werepromoted to theToppserien as1. divisjon champions.[18]
Littlejohn was called into the Ireland squad in February 2015, listed as afree agent.[19] After a year with Celtic in 2015, Littlejohn returned to Glasgow City for her fourth spell with the club in January 2016.[20] She departed during the mid-season break, and was back in Celtic colours for the second part of the campaign.[6]
In July 2018 Littlejohn signed withLondon Bees.[21] In 2019, she joinedWest Ham United on non-contract terms. On 25 January 2020, she signed a deal until the end of the season.[22]
On 16 January 2021, it was announced the Littlejohn had signed forBirmingham City for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. She made her debut the next day in a 0–0 draw withBrighton.
On 1 September 2021, it was announced that Littlejohn had signed forAston Villa for the 2021-22 season.[23] On 25 May 2023 she announced that she would be leavingAston Villa W.F.C. at the end of the 2022-23 season.[24]
On 23 August 2023,London City Lionesses announced that they had signed Littlejohn on a two-year deal.[25] On 21 January 2025, the Lionesses announced that Littlejohn had left the club by mutual agreement.[26]
On 12 March 2025, Shamrock Rovers announced that they had signed Littlejohn.[27]
Littlejohn representedScotland at Under-15 and Under-17 level. At the Under-19 age group, Littlejohn was part of the side which qualified for the2008 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in France. She scored Scotland's only goal in a 3–1 defeat toEngland at the final tournament group stage. Littlejohn scored 12 goals in her 15 appearances for Scotland's Under-19s.[28][29]
Scotland's senior national teamcoachAnna 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."[30][31][32]
After three years of not playing internationally, Littlejohn's situation caught the eye of Arsenal teammatesEmma Byrne,Yvonne Tracy andNiamh Fahey. They alerted theFAI to hereligibility through her maternal grandparents.
In February 2012 Littlejohn received her first call–up to the seniorRepublic of Ireland squad, for the2012 Algarve Cup.[33][34] She made her debut with the Irish national team againstHungary at the final game of the Algarve Cup on 7 March 2012. Ireland won 2–1 to avoid a last place finish.[35] Altogether Littlejohn has so far been capped over 60 times by the Irish.[2] She was named inVera Pauw's squad for the2023 Womens World Cup.[36]
Ruesha's twin sister Shebahn was a travel reporter on Glasgow radio station102.5 Clyde 1 and now works forTalksport.[37] The family has aNorthern Irish background and grew up inOld Drumchapel.[38] She isopenlylesbian. In June 2019, fellow player and captainKatie McCabe revealed that they are in a relationship and thatwomen's association football is very accepting of LGBT people.[39][40] The couple split in May 2023.[41]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Ireland | 2012 | 7 | 0 |
| 2013 | 8 | 1 | |
| 2014 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 9 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 86 | 6 | |
| No. | Cap | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 6 March 2013 | Tasos Markou,Paralimni |  Northern Ireland | 5-1 | 5-1 | 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup | [42] |
| 2 | 18 | 12 March 2014 | GSP Stadium,Nicosia |  Canada | 1-0 | 1-2 | 2014 Cyprus Women's Cup | [43] |
| 3 | 25 | 4 March 2015 | Veli Jože,Poreč |  Hungary | 1-1 | 1-1 | 2015 Istria Cup | [44] |
| 4 | 30 | 14 May 2015 | Central Broward Park,Lauderhill, Florida |  Haiti | 1-0 | 1-0 | Friendly | [45] |
| 5 | 38 | 9 March 2016 | Tasos Markou,Paralimni |  Finland | 1-0 | 2-0 | 2016 Cyprus Women's Cup | [46] |
| 6 | 39 | 7 April 2016 | Stadion pod Malim brdom,Petrovac |  Montenegro | 3-0 | 5-0 | 2017 UEFA Women's Championship Qual. | [47] |
Glasgow City
IL Sandviken[18]
Individual
