Anita Asante, a British footballer of Ghanaian descent has announced that she will draw down the curtain on her 19-year professional career at the end of the 2021/2022 Women's Premier League season.
Asante made her retirement announcement on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, with her final game set to be against Birmingham this weekend.
''It was a difficult decision to make and I'm enjoying my season with Villa at the moment. But every journey must come to an end and for me, I think it's the right time to hang my boots up and give thanks to everyone who's helped me along my journey," she said as quoted by skysports.com.
Here is a look into her 19 years of professional career
Clubs career
Anita Ama Asante, born on April 27, 1985, turned 37 years on Wednesday, April 27, 2022.
She was born and bred in the UK and thus spent a chunk of his career in the European country.
Asante started her club career at Arsenal. She joined the youth team in 1998 and made her debut for the first team in 2003.
The center back played for 9 different clubs, amongst them, Arsenal was her longest-serving club. She spent 5 spells with the team, where she achieved most of her successes.
Asante joined rival London club, Chelsea in 2008 before traveling abroad to join US-based Sky Blues.
During her time in the US, she played for Saint Louis Athletica, Chicago Red Stars, Washington Freedom, and back to Sky Blues all in the space of two years.
She then moved to Sweden in 2012, spending five seasons in the Swedish league- one season at Goteborg and four seasons at FC Rosengard/Malmo.
She then return to England, joining Chelsea in 2018 before a move to Aston Villa in 2020, where sj=he will call it a wrap.
International career
Anita Asante served the English national team for 11 years after playing at all levels in the youth team, including being named as the captain of the U19.
She made her senior debut in 2004 when she came on as a substitute in a game against Iceland.
She played at four different major tournaments for England, namely Euros- 2005, 2009, 2013, and the World Cup in 2011.
She made a total of 71 appearances for England. Her 50th game was a 1-0 win over Japan at the 2011 World Cup.
Anita scored one goal in her international career, her goal gave England a 1-0 win against Norway in a friendly in 2005.
Honours
Asante is one of the most decorated female British players. She is a Quadruple winner and a double winner.
At Arsenal, she won the UEFA Women's Cup – (Arsenal) in 2007 the FA Women's Cup 3 times -2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, the FA Women's National Premier League 4 times – 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and FA Women's Premier League Cup 3 times – 2005, 2005, 2007.
She won the quadruple with Arsenal in 2007 (UEFA Cup, League, League Cup and FA cup) and a double in 2006 and 2008 all at Arsenal - League and FA Cup.
Her spell in Sweden also landed her four trophies, the Svenska Cupen in 2012 and Svenska Supercupen in 2013 while at Göteborg. She won the same trophies with FC Rosengard/Malmo in 2015 and 2016.
Coaching Career
Anita Asante has sight at coaching right after retirement. She has revealed that she is on the verge of completing her UEFA B coaching badge.
"I'm currently completing my UEFA B [coaching] badge at the moment, and I hope to continue that journey and explore it." she said.
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