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Arsenal captain Kim Little has paid tribute to the people who carried her through the toughest moments of her career, admitting it was their support that helped her keep going when she was struggling with depression.
Joining Arsenal in 2008, a year after their historic quadruple, Little would go on to captain the club to 2025 Champions League glory in Lisbon.
From bringing a packed lunch to training in the early days to leading her side out in front of a sold-out Emirates Stadium, Little’s story, as written by her in The Players’ Tribune, is one of quiet resilience.
Arsenal women star Kim Little: ‘Playing felt impossible’
Speaking openly about her mental health for the first time, Little opened up on the unseen battles that ran alongside her success on the pitch.
“There have been two significant periods in my career when I’ve been depressed and on antidepressants,” the 35-year-old said. “Times when even getting out of bed felt hard. Playing felt impossible.
“And somehow, I was still doing it. I don’t know how. Still training. Still playing at the highest level. I look back at those periods and… I honestly don’t really know how I found the strength to get through all that. I think part of it was a sense of responsibility. Even when things don’t feel right, you still show up. You still go in. You still do the work. If you can’t do it for yourself, you do it for the team. For the people around you.
“I wouldn’t wish those experiences on anyone. But when you come out the other side of it… You learn so much about yourself. You realise how strong you are. How resilient. And you realise what matters most to you.
“I don’t like to dwell on it, but it changed me. I feel so much more aware of what’s happening around me now. It’s helped me as a leader. When I’m around the group every day, I can sense when someone’s not quite themselves. When their frequency changes.
“Obviously you don’t always know what it is, and you can’t always fix it. But that awareness… Seeing someone in pain and letting them know you see them. It’s a start. What I understand more than anything now is that none of this happens on your own. I think when you’re so focused on getting better – on training, on playing, on doing the work properly, writing training plans and notes and reminders – you can spend a lot of your life with your head down. It’s just how you get yourself through it.
“You can only think about the next run, the next pass, the next touch. But at some point you have to look up and see who’s around you. When I do that now, what I see most clearly isn’t really a goal or a match or a trophy. It’s people.”
‘Did I ever think we’d sell out the Emirates?’
Little grew up in a small village in the north-east of Scotland called Mintlaw - somewhere she describes as having only 2,500 people, two primary schools, a petrol station, a chippy and a Chinese.
After two years with Hibernian Ladies, she joined Arsenal in 2008 at the age of 17, stepping into a dressing room filled with iconic players like Julie Fleeting, Emma Byrne, Jayne Ludlow, Rachel Yankey, Kelly Smith - figures she describes as the “Mount Rushmore” of the game.
In 2014, she moved to Seattle Reign and later spent time on loan at Melbourne City before returning to north London in 2017. A year later, she was handed the captain’s armband going on to lead Arsenal to the Women’s Super League title in 2019 - their most recent league triumph.
Little’s journey mirrors the growth of the women’s game. When she first arrived in London as a teenager, the environment was a world away from today’s professional setup.
“I was carrying my packed lunch, lugging equipment to the pitches to train twice a week,” she said.
“Did I ever think we’d sell out the Emirates? But it’s one thing to have those experiences. What makes it so much more special is to get the opportunity to share those experiences with others.
“Whole stretches of my life live in those friendships. They are our shared memories now. We’ll never lose that. We’ll be little old ladies one day, sitting in the garden talking about things people could only dream of.”
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