.jpg) Akpan withBirmingham City in 2025 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (2005-11-24)24 November 2005 (age 19) | ||
| Place of birth | Warsaw, Poland[1] | ||
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Southampton (on loan fromChelsea) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Kosa Konstancin | |||
| 2013–2024 | Chelsea | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2022– | Chelsea | 0 | (0) |
| 2024–2025 | →Birmingham City (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2025– | →Southampton (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| England U16 | |||
| England U17 | |||
| England U18 | |||
| 2023–2024 | England U19 | 16 | (0) |
| 2025– | England U23 | 3 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 26 June 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 27 October 2025 | |||
Ashanti Akpan (born 24 November 2005) is a professionalfootballer who plays as amidfielder forWomen's Super League 2 clubSouthampton, on loan fromWomen's Super League clubChelsea. Born in Poland, she represents England internationally.
Akpan joined theChelsea 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.[3]
She was involved with the Chelsea senior squad for the first time when she was named on the bench in a 2–0UEFA Women's Champions League win overReal Madrid Femenino on 23 November 2022, though she did not feature.[4] Her debut came in a 3–1Women's FA Cup win againstReading on 19 March 2023, when she came on as a second-half substitute forSophie Ingle.[5] 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.[3]
Internationally, Akpan is eligible to play for Poland through her place of birth, for Nigeria through her Nigerian father, and for England.[1][6] She was capped for the latter at all youth levels from under-15 tounder-23.[2] With the under-19s, she participated at the2024 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, where England reached the semi-finals after being eliminated by eventual championsSpain.[7]
In October 2024, Akpan was called up to the England under-23 squad following the injury toMaisie Symonds.[8] She made her debut half a year later, on 3 April 2025, in a 2–1 defeat againstSpain, coming on as a second-half substitute forRuby Grant.[9]
Akpan was born inWarsaw to a Polish mother and Nigerian father, and later moved to England with her family.[1] She is the sister of fellow professional footballerAshley Akpan.[1]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Chelsea | 2022–23 | Women's Super League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023–24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Birmingham City (loan) | 2024–25 | Women's Championship | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Career total | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | ||