Ashanti Akpan

Ashanti Akpan (born 24 November 2005) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chelsea. Born in Poland, she represents England internationally.

Club career
Akpan joined the Chelsea Academy in August 2013, aged seven. With the Academy squad, she won the FA Youth Cup in 2021–22 and the FA WSL Academy Cup in 2022–23.

She was involved with the Chelsea senior squad for the first time when she was named on the bench in a 2–0 UEFA Women's Champions League win over Real Madrid Femenino on 23 November 2022, though she did not feature. Her debut came in a 3–1 Women's FA Cup win against Reading on 19 March 2023, when she came on as a second-half substitute for Sophie Ingle. In December of the same year, Akpan signed her first professional contract with the club until the summer of 2025, with the option to extend by a further year.

International career
Internationally, Akpan is eligible to play for Poland through her place of birth, for Nigeria through her Nigerian father, and for England. She was capped for the latter at all youth levels from under-15 to under-19.

Personal life
Akpan was born in Warsaw to a Polish mother and Nigerian father, and later moved to England with her family. She is the sister of fellow professional footballer Ashley Akpan.