Annabel Blanchard (born 7 May 2001) is an English 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 lea ...

who plays as forward, most recently for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. She previously played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, and has represented England at international youth level.

Club career

Liverpool

Blanchard made her professional debut on 24 April 2018 against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Leicester

Blanchard joined

ahead of the 2019–20 season. She made her league debut against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

on 18 August 2019. Blanchard scored her first league goal against Crystal Palace on 19 January 2020, scoring in the 15th minute.

Blackburn Rovers

On 21 January 2021, Blanchard joined

Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

club Blackburn Rovers. She made her league debut against

London City Lionesses London City Lionesses is a professional women's association football club based in Hayes, Bromley, England. The team competes in the Women's Super League the first tier of English women's football. The club was founded in May 2019, as an indep ...

on 24 January 2021. Blanchard scored her first league goal against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

on 12 September 2021, scoring in the 80th minute.

Crystal Palace

Blanchard made her league debut against London City Lionesses on 21 August 2022. She scored her first league goal against

Coventry United Coventry United Football Club is an English association football club based in Coventry in the West Midlands, England, United Kingdom. The team competes in the , the 9th tier of English football, and is managed by Ellis Alleyne. The club was ...

on 27 August 2022 in the 64th minute. In the 2023–24 season, Blanchard won the Women's Championship Player of the Month award, the Women’s Championship Goal of the Month award for September, and was voted Crystal Palace Women’s Player of the Month for October. On 16 January 2024, it was announced that Blanchard had signed a new deal until 2025. She was awarded the Crystal Palace Women’s Player of the Month for April 2024. On 6 October 2024, Blanchard scored twice against

2–0 victory, gaining newly promoted Crystal Palace their first ever goals and win in the Women's Super League for the 2024–25 season. Her first goal was subsequently nominated for the WSL Goal of the Month award. On 20 October 2024, after her performance in a 1–0 draw against

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

declared that Blanchard was "the source of almost everything dangerous that comes from the Palace attack". On 10 June 2025, it was announced that Blanchard was departing the club.

International career

Blanchard represented England throughout the U14 to U19 levels, including scoring twice in three appearances at the

2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Women's Under-17 Euro 2018) was the 11th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship. It is the annual international youth association football, football championship organised b ...

in Lithuania. In October 2024, former England striker

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

appealed for

Sarina Wiegman Sarina Petronella Wiegman (; born 26 October 1969), also known as Sarina Wiegman-Glotzbach, is a Dutch football manager and former player who has been the manager of the England women's national team since September 2021. In her playing caree ...

to add Blanchard to the England squad.

Style of play

Blanchard has been credited with impressive awareness, ability to hold up the ball at the right time, and knowing when to play in other players.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Annabel Blanchard
at Crystal Palace F.C. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Annabel 2001 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool Women's association football forwards English women's footballers Liverpool F.C. Women players Women's Super League players Leicester City W.F.C. players Women's Super League 2 players Blackburn Rovers W.F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. (Women) players 21st-century English sportswomen