Rosella Ayane (, ; 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 lea ...

who plays as a forward 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

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 ...

and the Morocco national team. 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 a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Early life

Born in

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 ...

to a Moroccan father and a Scottish mother, Ayane attended Maiden Erlegh School.

Club career

Chelsea

Ayane started her career with Chelsea 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 England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admi ...

; Chelsea won. Three more appearances followed against Everton,

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

before Ayane was selected as part of Chelsea's squad for the 2013 International Women's Club Championship, she played twice as Chelsea finished second. On 30 August, Ayane scored four goals against

London Bees London Bees is an England, English women's football (soccer), women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League Division One South East, the fourth tier of the Women's football in England#Pyramid, Engl ...

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

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

FA WSL Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, 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 t ...

. 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.

Apollon Limassol

In August 2017, Ayane joined

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

side

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''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 Division and has won the championship tit ...

. 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 Champions League qualifying round 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 professional association football club, based in Graz, 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 Austr ...

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), 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 ...

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. In the

2023–24 FA Cup The 2023–24 FA Cup was the 143rd season of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. The final was played on 25 M ...

, after being down 2-0 to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

, Ayane came on as a substitute in the 66th minute. Spurs drew level, and then Ayane scored the winning goal in the 96th minute.

Chicago Red Stars (loan)

On 31 August 2024, the

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

announced that they had signed Ayane to a loan through the end of the

2024 National Women's Soccer League season The 2024 National Women's Soccer League season was the twelfth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soc ...

. She made her debut for the team on 20 October, in a 2–0 loss to the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

. Ayane did not make any further appearances for the Red Stars before her loan spell expired.

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, 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 a 2012 UEFA U17 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 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 ...

in a 2015 UEFA U19 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, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. Previously, she almost chose

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 ...

, 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 Africa Cup of Nations The 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (, ), (also referred to as WAFCON 2022) officially known as the 2022 TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 14th edition of the biennial African international women's ...

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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Chelsea *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 ...

: 2014–15 Apollon Limassol * Cypriot Women's Super Cup : 2017 Tottenham Hotspur *

runner-up: 2023–24 Morocco *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

runner-up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

*
Rosella Ayane
at

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayane, Rosella 1996 births Living people Moroccan women's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportswomen Women's association football forwards Apollon Ladies F.C. players Morocco women's international footballers Moroccan expatriate women's footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus Moroccan people of Scottish descent Footballers 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 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Chicago Red Stars players National Women's Soccer League players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century English sportswomen