- Alessia Russo, Arsenal and England forward, has been named the new UK & Ireland Brand Ambassador for nail brand OPI.
- Russo is the reigning FWA Women's Footballer of the Year (2024–25), a two-time Women's EURO winner, and was awarded an MBE in June 2026.
- The deal will see Russo feature across OPI UK & Ireland campaigns and content throughout the year.
- OPI cited Russo's challenge to "outdated perceptions of femininity in sport" as central to why she fits the brand's values.
OPI has signed Alessia Russo as its new UK & Ireland Brand Ambassador. The move marks a clear strategic shift for OPI, placing an elite athlete at the center of its regional identity, a departure from the entertainers and models who have historically fronted beauty brands.
Russo, who plays as a forward for Arsenal and the England national team, was described by OPI as someone who “continues to challenge outdated perceptions of femininity in sport while inspiring confidence, authenticity and self-expression.”
Russo signed a new long-term deal with Arsenal in September 2025 and scored a hat-trick in the club’s 5–2 North London derby win over Tottenham in March 2026.
She also scored the equaliser in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 Final, helping England win the tournament for the second consecutive time on penalties against Spain.
Russo was awarded an MBE in King Charles’s birthday honours list released on June 12, 2026, making her arrival as a beauty ambassador particularly timely. Her cultural momentum is hard to ignore, and OPI is clearly banking on that.
It’s a pattern playing out more broadly in sport and brand culture: just this year, Jude Bellingham signed on as a brand ambassador with OnSide, while Chloe Kelly linked up with Adidas for her debut campaign alongside Kano.
The partnership will see Russo feature across UK & Ireland OPI campaigns and content throughout the year.
Russo is a prominent global ambassador for Adidas, regularly featuring the brand’s football boots and apparel, and is also a high-profile ambassador for Oakley eyewear. She has also previously partnered with Beats by Dre and Adobe. The OPI deal is her first venture into beauty.
OPI has historically leaned toward entertainment talent for its ambassador roster. The brand named Grammy, Emmy, and Tony award-winning actress and musician Cynthia Erivo as its Global Brand Ambassador in 2024, coinciding with the release of the OPI x Wicked collection.
Takeaways
This deal is genuinely interesting, not just as a brand partnership, but as a cultural signal. OPI is placing a footballer, not a pop star or model, at the front of its UK & Ireland identity at a moment when women’s football is commanding mainstream commercial attention like never before.
Russo isn’t just famous; she’s a legitimate role model with back-to-back Euro wins, a Champions League title, and an MBE. That’s a different tier of credibility for a beauty brand to tap into.
For OPI, the upside is access to Russo’s audience: a younger, sports-first demographic that traditional beauty campaigns don’t always reach. For Russo, it adds a beauty dimension to a portfolio already anchored in sport and performance, extending her personal brand into lifestyle territory.
Does this signal OPI is pivoting its UK & Ireland strategy toward a younger, sport-oriented audience, and could we see more athlete signings follow? Could this open the door for other women’s footballers to land beauty brand deals, and is this the moment the sector finally takes women’s sport seriously as a commercial vehicle?
