Official: Super Falcons-eligible midfielder signs new deal with Chelsea 

With a statement on their official website, Women's Super League champions Chelsea have announced that Ashanti Akpan has signed a new deal with the club. 

Akpan has been rewarded with her first professional contract after impressing for the youth teams of the Blues. 

The new agreement between club and player will keep the midfielder at Chelsea until at least the summer of 2025, with the option to extend by a further year.

Ashanti joined Chelsea in 2013 when she was seven, rising through the youth team ranks to make her senior debut in a 3-1 victory over Reading at the quarterfinal stage of the Women’s FA Cup on March 19,2023.

She received her first call-up for a first team game in a UEFA Women's Champions League encounter against Real Madrid in November 2022 but was a non-playing substitute. 

Born in Warsaw, Akpan is eligible to represent the Super Falcons through her Nigerian father, Poland by virtue of being born in the country and having a Polish mom, as well as England where she has lived for more than five years. 

The 18-year-old became provisionally cap-tied to England in October, after coming off the bench at halftime in a  2024 UEFA European Women's U19 Championship qualifier against Greece. 

Akpan was a member of the Chelsea squad that won the FA Youth Cup in 2021-2022 and the FA WSL Academy Cup the following season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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