Anna Rose Patten (born 20 April 1999) 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender 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

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. Born in England, she is a member of the Republic of Ireland national team. Patten previously played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

and the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

in the United States, and has represented England at multiple youth levels from under-15 up to under-21.

Early life

Patten grew up in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

, England, a commuter town outside

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. A childhood Arsenal fan, Patten joined the Arsenal Academy at 12 years of age. With the youth sides she won the FA Youth Cup, in 2015 and 2016. After years of development in the academy ranks, Patten made her senior side debut in 2017 aged 18.

College career

Florida State Seminoles

In her freshman year at Florida State, Patten made 18 appearances , including 13 starts. Utilized primarily as a defender and holding midfielder, she tallied two assists during the season. In her sophomore season she made 12 starts and played in 23 matches. She scored four goals and made two assists. Patten and the Seminoles won the 2018 ACC Women's Championship & the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament.

South Carolina Gamecocks

Patten transferred to the

as a rising junior. She joined

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

teammate Grace Fisk at the university who helped with the transfer process. The pair helped the Gamecocks post 15 shutouts in their first 21 matches of the 2019 season. They helped South Carolina to a 2019 SEC-Soccer Championship. Patten was named the All-SEC second team and made the SEC Academic Honour Roll. The

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

was one of the conferences which opted to play their 2020 NCAA women's soccer tournament in the fall with a reduced 10 game season. Patten was named captain of the side for the fall campaign. She played the second most minutes of anyone on the team and was named to the All-SEC First Team. She graduated with a degree in sociology.

Club career

Arsenal

Patten made her senior side debut in a Champion's league match against Bayern Munich in February 2017. She made her league debut in April 2017, during the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL 1 Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer ...

. She went on to play every game of that series. Patten then departed Arsenal to play

in the United States. She returned to the club on 7 January 2021. On 17 January 2021 Patten made her second Arsenal debut against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in the

FA WSL 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 ...

in a game which would end 1–1, in which she played 45 minutes. On 28 February Patten came on for her second game this time against

where she played the final ten minutes in a game which would end 4–0 to Arsenal. On 19 March Patten would come on as a substitute again in the league this time against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

for the final four minutes a game in which Arsenal would win 2–0. Patten's fourth appearance would also be as a substitute this time against North London rivals

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

in game which would finish 3–0 to Arsenal. On 18 April 2021 Patten would score her first goal for Arsenal in a

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 ...

match against Gillingham in a game that would finish 10–0 to Arsenal.

Aston Villa (loan)

It was announced on 4 January 2022 that Patten had joined

on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season. She returned on loan for the full 2022–23 season.

Aston Villa

On 11 July 2023, Patten completed a permanent transfer to Aston Villa, signing a three-year contract after having made 33 appearances across all competitions during her time on loan at Aston Villa.

International career

England

Patten has been part of several England youth teams. She made her first appearance on the U-15 team in 2014. Two years later Patten was part of the England

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international Women's association football, women's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national t ...

which reached the quarterfinals. In 2018 she was part of the

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s) or England Men's Elite Squad, represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the gov ...

which finished third at the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

in France.

Republic of Ireland

In March 2024, Patten received her first senior call up to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

squad for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying The UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying competition was a women's Association football, football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified host Switzerland in the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 final tournament. Format ...

matches against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

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 ...

. Patten is eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland through her Irish grandparents. She made her debut for the team during a 1–0 defeat against France on 5 April 2024. She scored her first goal for Ireland in a 3–1 victory against France on 16 July. Patten scored in Ireland's Euro 2025 play off final 2-1 defeat to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on 3 December.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Patten goal.''

Honours

Florida State Seminoles *

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's natio ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Arsenal *

Women's FA 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 ...

runner-up: 2020/21

References

External links

Profile
at the Football Association website
Profile
at the Florida State Seminoles website
Profile
at the South Carolina Gamecocks website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patten, Anna 1999 births Living people English women's footballers Women's Super League players Arsenal W.F.C. players Aston Villa W.F.C. players Women's association football defenders Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players South Carolina Gamecocks women's soccer players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States English expatriate women's footballers England women's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers People from Harpenden Footballers from Hertfordshire 21st-century English sportswomen 21st-century Irish sportswomen