Rosella Ayane ( ar, روزيلا أيان, born 16 March 1996) is a professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. Internationally, Ayane represented England at under-17 and under-19 level before being capped at senior level by

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Early life

Born in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

to a Moroccan father and a Scottish mother, Ayane attended

Maiden Erlegh School Maiden Erlegh School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Earley (near Reading) in Berkshire, England. It was established in 1962 as a Comprehensive school secondary school to serve the families of Wokingham. Today i ...

Club career

Chelsea

Ayane started her career with

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 consti ...

after coming through the club's Centre of Excellence. She began in the youth system, in 2012 she was a part of the Chelsea U17 that won the league and cup double. She made her first-team debut in August 2013 against

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

; Chelsea won. Three more appearances followed against Everton,

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

before Ayane was selected as part of Chelsea's squad for the

2013 International Women's Club Championship The 2013 International Women's Club Championship was the second worldwide international women's football club tournament, and was held in Japan from 30 November–8 December 2013. Five teams, comprising representatives from Europe, Australia, Sout ...

, she played twice as Chelsea finished second. On 30 August, Ayane scored four goals against

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 ...

in the FA WSL Cup in an 8–0 victory.

Loan spells

After making four appearances in all competitions for Chelsea in 2014, Ayane was loaned out in 2015 to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

; a team she scored twice against for Chelsea in 2015 in the

FA WSL Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pr ...

. After a few months with Millwall, she returned to her parent club. 2016 saw a loan move to

, with whom she made nine appearances and scored three goals in all competitions before returning to Chelsea after Bristol manager Willie Kirk decided against extending her loan. A few weeks after leaving Bristol, she was loaned out as Everton became her fourth career club. She scored her first Everton goal on 17 July in a 3–0 win over

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

Apollon Limassol

In August 2017, Ayane joined

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

side

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

. She scored on her debut for the club, getting the opening goal in a 4–0 home win in the first match of Group 5 in the

2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round The 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round was played between 22 and 28 August 2017. A total of 40 teams competed in the qualifying round to decide 11 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions ...

against NSA Sofia. On the second matchday, versus Noroc Nimoreni of Moldova, she scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 victory. Ayane followed that up with a goal in the final qualifying group match against

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

to help advance Apollon into the knockout phase. She netted on her league debut for Apollon on 5 November, scoring the opening goal in a 16–0 win over Champions Ypsona. In total, she scored nineteen goals in nineteen games in all competitions in her debut season. In April 2018, she was voted into the Players' Team of the Season.

Bristol City

On 18 August 2018, Ayane completed a move to rejoin former loan club Bristol City. One goal in eighteen appearances followed across 2018–19.

Tottenham Hotspur

In July 2019, Ayane moved across the

FA WSL 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 t ...

to newly promoted

. Her first appearance for Tottenham was against Everton as a substitute on 13 September 2020 and her first goal came in a game against Aston Villa on 13 December 2020.

International career

Ayane has played for England at Under-17 and Under-19 level. Between 2011 and 2012 she won seven caps and scored one goal (vs.

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, in a 2012 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifier). In 2014, Ayane made her debut for the England U19s and scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. A year later she scored her second goal for England U19s in a 2–2 draw against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in a 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualifier, a match that was replayed in extraordinary circumstances after a refereeing error. In total, Ayane made 17 appearances and scored 3 goals for the U17s and U19s respectively. Due to her Moroccan father, she was eligible to represent

and made her debut in June 2021, scoring within a minute of entering the field in a 3–0 victory over

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. Previously, she almost chose

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 the ...

, partly due to her mother's wish for her to become a member of the Scottish squad. Ayane took part in the 2022 Women's African Cup of Nation held in

. She started in all six matches and scored two goals, including one in the final. Morocco finished second as they were defeated 2–1 in the final against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Morocco's's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ayane goal.''

Honours

Chelsea *

FA WSL 1 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 t ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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 reas ...

: 2014–15 Morocco *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

runner-up:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

Rosella Ayane profile
on Chelsea's website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayane, Rosella 1996 births Living people Citizens of Morocco through descent Moroccan women's footballers Women's association football forwards Apollon Ladies F.C. players Morocco women's international footballers Moroccan expatriate footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus Moroccan people of Scottish descent Sportspeople from Reading, Berkshire Footballers from Berkshire English women's footballers Chelsea F.C. Women players Millwall Lionesses L.F.C. players Bristol City W.F.C. players Everton F.C. (women) players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women players Women's Super League players England women's youth international footballers English expatriate women's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus English people of Moroccan descent English people of Scottish descent