Angela Banks (born 23 December 1975) is an English former female footballer. She represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at full international level and played at the top club level for

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as just Arsenal, is an English professional women's association football, women's football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, London, England. The club plays in the FA Women' ...

Club career

Banks joined Whitehawk Ladies aged 11, but moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

aged 16. She spent four years playing for Surahammar, then signed for Jitex BK. Despite becoming engaged to a Swedish man, Banks left Sweden to be nearer to her parents, who are

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

. In 1998 Banks returned to Whitehawk and finished top goalscorer in the 1998–99

FA Women's Premier League Southern Division The FA Women's National League South is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the Women's Super Le ...

. She then signed for

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 ...

in summer 1999, being employed by the club as a football development officer. She has also done coaching and other administrative duties. Banks scored 42 goals in 2000–01 as Arsenal won the domestic treble, including the winner in the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup 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 (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

final against professional

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Banks was the player of the match for the FA Cup final. Her season total also included scoring five goals against

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 ...

in December 2000. She was the league's top scorer. During the 2001-02 season, Banks scored the first ever goal for Arsenal women in European football against Swiss champions

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

in the group stage. Banks celebrated with her first and only knee-slide. In March 2002 Fulham entered a seven-day notice of their intent to sign Banks, much to the fury of Arsenal manager Vic Akers. However Banks pledged her future to Arsenal when they announced a switch to semi-professionalism in May 2002. Banks retired at the end of 2002–03, but returned to Arsenal for 2004–05, helping the club remain undefeated and win another league title. Banks scored 133 goals in 143 appearances for Arsenal. In 2005 Banks returned to Whitehawk, and joined the coaching staff at the club a year later – alongside Debbie Bampton.

International career

While playing in Sweden, Banks was encouraged by her club coach to take dual-nationality and play for the

Sweden women's national football team The Sweden women's national football team (), nicknamed ''Blågult'' ("The Blue-Yellow"), represents Sweden at international women's association football competitions. It was established in 1973 and is governed by the Swedish Football Associatio ...

. She rejected the opportunity. In May 1999 Banks made her international debut for

against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Two years later she scored her second international goal, a game-winning twenty yard chip against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Banks' first goal came in only her second start, a 2–1 friendly win over

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in September 2000. Banks also scored against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in a 1–1 draw at

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany f ...

. In March 2002 Banks captained England for the first time, scoring in a 3–1 loss to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

at the

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

. Due in part to a

fear of flying Fear of flying is the fear of being on an aircraft, such as an airplane or helicopter, while it is in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aero ...

, Banks quit international football in July 2002. She was allotted 131 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

Honours

Arsenal *

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League is a group of six Association football, football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Footba ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2004–05 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 2000–01 *

FA Women's National League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). The first edition of the Cup included clubs from the 1991–92 WFA National League Premier Division a ...

: 1999–00, 2000–01, 2004–5 * FA Women's Community Shield:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

*London County FA Women's Cup: 1999–00

References

External links

Profile
at FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Angela 1975 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers Arsenal W.F.C. players Damallsvenskan players FA Women's National League players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden English expatriate women's footballers Women's association football forwards Footballers from Brighton