Danelle Tan

Danelle Tan Li Ern (born 25 October 2004) is a Singaporean women's football player who currently plays as a midfielder for Westfalenliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Singapore national team.

Early life and education
Tan started playing football when she was 6 and joined her brothers at JSSL academy. She scored 12 goals in her first session. Tan moved to London, England to study at Mill Hill School in 2022. Tan became the first Singaporean footballer to sign for a NCAA Division 1 team. She later decided to forgo her place when she signed for Borussia Dortmund.

Club career
In 2019, Tan joined Still Aerion, an amateur women's team from the FAS Women's National League. Scoring on her debut match in May 2019 at the age of 14 made her the second-youngest goal scorer in the league's history. Tan scored 16 goals in 6 games and became the league's top scorer for the season. She also scored 4 goals in the Challenge Cup and helped the club to enter the finals where they lost 0–1 to Tanjong Pagar United FC.

Tan then joined Lion City Sailors in 2020 but played no official matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. While studying at Mill Hill School in London, she was part of the school's first XI football team and was the first female footballer in the team.

Tan made her debut for Lion City Sailors in July 2022 against Still Aerion FC. She scored two minutes after coming on in the second half and she scored again 14 minutes later.

Tan became the first female Singaporean to play in a European league when she came on as a substitute for London Bees in their 2–1 defeat by Plymouth Argyle.

Tan became the first Asian to join Borussia Dortmund women's team in July 2023. Tan scored her first goal for Dortmund in a pre-season friendly against Alemannia Aachen. She was also awarded the top scorer with five goals in the Peuler Deerns Cup which Dortmund won. Tan made her competitive debut on 12 August 2023 for Dortmund in a 7–0 win against SC Borchen in the Westphalian Cup. She scored three goals in six pre-season friendlies.

On her debut match for Dortmund in the Landesliga against DJK Spvgg Herten, Tan made three assists and scored a hat-trick in a 13–0 rout. She was voted player of the match for her efforts. Dortmund won the fifth-tier Landesliga and was promoted to the fourth-tier Westfalenliga with 5 games to go in the season. Tan contributed 14 goals in 20 matches. Ten days later, Tan helped her team lift the Kreispokal, a regional cup, with a 1-0 win over in the final on 1 May.

International career
Tan made the Singapore U16 in 2017 at the age of 12. She scored her first goal for the under 16 team in September 2018 in a 4–1 win against Tajikistan. She registered her first hat-trick a few days later in a 4–0 win against Northern Mariana Islands.

Tan made her Singapore U19 debut on 24 October 2018 in a 0–8 loss against Jordan in the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualification. She was the youngest player in the Singapore squad at the age of 13.

In a UEFA-FAS tournament in March 2019, Tan scored four goals against Guam and one against Cambodia, to be the joint top scorer in the tournament held in Singapore. She also received the Golden Boot of the UEFA Under-15 Tournament in 2019.

Tan was called up to the senior national team and made her debut on 16 August 2019 at the AFF Women's Championship. She scored a last-minute goal in the 1–2 defeat against Timor-Leste. She was 14 years, which made her the youngest goalscorer in Singapore and the fifth youngest in the world.

In the 2022 FAS Tri-Nations series, Tan scored two goals and had one assist in a 6–2 win against Seychelles. She was also named as one of three best players in a 0–1 defeat against Papua New Guinea.

Tan scored her first international hat trick in a 9-0 win against Macau on 16 July 2024.

Personal life
Tan has been chosen to be an ambassador for women's football in Singapore and has been honoured by Edwin Tong, Singapore's Minister for Culture, Community and Youth at the 2022 Women's Football Conference. Tan was cited as one of eight Singaporean women trailblazers.

Tan also represented Singapore age group in chess when she was nine years old. She was listed as 143rd in the world for best girls under 10 years old.

International

 * Scores and results list Singapore's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tan goal.

Honours
Borussia Dortmund


 * Landesliga: 2023–24
 * Kreispokal: 2023–24