Leah Williamson says her Arsenal co-captain Kim Little is “one of the greatest ever to play the game”.
Reflecting on the Gunners’ UEFA Women’s Champions League win in May 2025, Williamson talked to the club’s official website about her memories of the trophy presentation alongside her co-captain.
“I told Kim to lift it on her own, which she got cross about!” said Williamson. “But for me, I’m such a softie. The sentimental value of that moment with Kim, someone who’s been here so long, someone who’s done everything, one of the greatest ever to play the game, it never gets old. It was unbelievable.
“Football’s ultimately about winning and sometimes you don’t reach the biggest stages with your national team or you just don’t get the recognition you deserve as an individual. I think that’s the thing to remember: don’t take any moment for granted.
“For someone like Kim, she will now finally get that recognition because she won the Champions League. We all did that together, but we also do it for people like her. Even if you don’t know what your reason is yet and you’re just playing in a final, you realise that there are a lot of people who, like Kim, have stayed here for a really long time to try to make this happen, and I appreciate that.”
Footage released last season howed Williamson giving a team talk following their semi-final against Lyon, urging the squad on to win in the final, saying of Little: “She deserves five Champions League medals!”
Kim Little: her football career
Kim Little began her senior career at Hibernian, and first signed for Arsenal in 2008. She then spent two years in the USA at Seattle Reign from 2014 to 2016, reuniting with former Gunners manager Laura Harvey, before rejoining Arsenal.
Now 35, she remains the Arsenal captain alongside Williamson – with Little wearing the armband when both are in the team – with Steph Catley, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Katie McCabe as the squad’s supporting captains.
Little won 140 international caps for Scotland over a 15-year international career, from which she retired in 2021, and was part of the Great Britain Olympic football squad at London 2012 and Paris 2021.
