Anita Asante, a former professional footballer, discusses the intricacies of international football and promotes the need for gender, racial and LGBT+ equality in sport. Anita is currently an Ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card and Amnesty International UK. She aims to use her voice to open doors for minority groups. Since retiring from international and club football in 2022, Anita has continued to stay prominent in the football world, broadcasting on the BBC and Sky Sports, increasing representation in a male-dominated sport.
Over her career Anita has made 75 appearances for the Lionesses and Great Britain, and to this day continues to be one of the most recognisable faces in football. She has played for the likes of Arsenal, which whom she won the FA Cup and Premier League, WPS Champions Sky Blue, and FC Rosengård, winners of the 2017 Swedish Super Cup. Her career is a testament to her skill and determination. In 2007, Anita played an integral role in the history-defining “Quadruple” Arsenal squad. The team went on to win the league title, the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Women’s Cup. This was the first time a UK side had won the European trophy, and a feat no British team has matched since!
Anita has continued to dominate the sport, travelling across the Atlantic to win the 2009 USA Championship with Sky Blue, which included an invitation from President Barack Obama to The White House to celebrate the achievement.
As one of the UK’s leading football commentators and pundits, she regularly applies her vast knowledge to pinnacle matches and discusses the events of women’s sports. Upon being appointed an Ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card, she has further raised awareness for discrimination in football, a key topic of her speeches, as well as high-performance teamwork to equality. Most recently, Anita spoke to Heathrow's diversity network, enhaNCE, on the importance of DEI and how purpose-driven action encourages inclusion, visibility, and a thriving, empowered workplace.
Anita’s experience of thriving in a male-dominated world serves to inspire and educate audiences at events. If you are looking for a motivational sportsperson for your next event do not hesitate to contact us today!
We recently conducted an exclusive interview with Anita Asante, watch it on our YouTube channel!
Anita Asante's official speaking topics are listed below:
- Diversity
- LGBTQ+
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Motivation & Empowerment
- Overcoming Adversity
- Grassroots Sports
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"Anita was brilliant yesterday, it's one of the best fireside chats I have had the privilege to host and the whole community really engaged and connected with her." - Ritu, SVP People, Carbon Clean
"We were delighted to be joined by Anita Asante at our flagship fundraising event, a football tournament now in its 10th year. Anita was simply fantastic; she chatted with our 350+ guests, shared some brilliant words of encouragement as the players all went out to the pitches, inspired us during the Q&A session and made the winning team’s night by presenting the trophy. Chris and Hannah at Champions made the booking process seamless and they gave us the chance to have a call with Anita before the event, which was a great chance to connect and answer her questions." - Street League
"We loved having Anita join our event last month - she was absolutely brilliant. CVC also said what a pleasure Anita was to have at the event. She and Dion were a great double act, particularly during the Q&A" - Robyn, Head of Major Giving, Street League
"Anita was great - warm, authentic, personable, humble, engaging. She got the tone spot on and managed to answer some quite challenging questions at the end. I hope she didn't find the session too daunting. We loved having her and the feedback was very positive" - Victoria, Motorway Online Ltd
"Big thanks to Anita for the session yesterday. I thought she was excellent - warm, authentic, passionate, informed, confident and relatable. The feedback was universally positive and she definitely made me pause and think" - Victoria, Chief Communications Officer, Motorway Online Ltd.
“Anita spoke at MAD//Fest 2019 and was inspirational, candid and engaging. Her background in professional sport added hugely to a discussion at a marketing event on daring to be different and breaking boundaries. The feedback on this session was amazing and I couldn't recommend Anita enough!” - Dan Brain, Co-founder, MAD//Fest London Content & Marketing Director
“Anita was a great fantastic addition to our FA Pride Inside 2020 panel event in June. Anita’s experience as an elite athlete provided an amazing insight from not just a performance perspective, but importantly specifically on how that intersected with elements of her identity. She facilitated in the successful delivery of a very informative and authentic panel.” - Jehmeil Lemonius, Diversity & Inclusion Officer at the Football Association
“Anita joined our final Festival of Football panel in July 2019 and was such a valuable participant. A passionate advocate for equality and anti-discrimination, Anita is an incredibly knowledgeable and eloquent speaker. Anita’s strength is in being able to articulate powerful and original thought in an accessible and engaging manner.” - Esther Jones Russell, Head of Policy at Fare Network Ltd
I wondered if you’d be able to pass on a HUGE thank you to Anita. Her talk this afternoon was incredible – it was so inspiring, honest and authentic. It was one of the best speakers that we have had and we are already chatting about getting Anita back later in the year or early next year. - Jess, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, BDP
Anita was an incredible speaker and everyone at BDP thoroughly enjoyed her talk as it was engaging, honest and thought provoking. We really appreciated the insight into her personal journey both on and off the pitch and how open she was to share this. We couldn’t thank Anita enough for her talk and presentation and we are keen to get Anita back at a later date. The booking process was very smooth and it was really easy to get all the information we needed, secure dates and book. We’ll definitely be using Champions again for future speakers. - Jess, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, BDP
"Thank you so much for your keynote speech yesterday - it was really lovely having you kick off our IWD event and everyone came away so inspired." - Carrie, Rise
"Could you please forward on a huge thank you from us to Anita too for sharing her story and staying after the event to talk to everyone – this was really appreciated by everyone. The messaging and delivery was very inspirational." - Laine, Mayer Brown
"Anita was AMAZING. Her talk was very inspiring, she was very humble in her achievements and the audience were keen to keep asking her questions. She was very generous with her time after the talk and stayed to chat more, take selfies and sign autographs." - Abie, Participation Manager, The North Wall Arts Centre
"Anita was amazing and very well received by everyone at NBCU – please do pass on our gratitude as she was a pleasure to work with and had some very insightful and impactful experiences and thoughts to share." - Rosa, Altaloma MGMT
Feedback from Virtual Events:
"We had around 180 attendees, everyone was so engaged with Anita's session and we had lots of comments flooding in afterwards to say how insightful and influential it was, as well as people sharing their own experiences. We count it as a great success! Please say a big thank you to her from us." - Blue Yonder
- 2025 - Speaker in The Lioness Effect: 20 Years in Women's Football panel at SXSW London 2025
- 2023 - Inducted into the Women's Super League Hall of Fame
- 2023 - Technical Coach of the England Women U23s
- 2022 - Broadcaster & Pundit for the BBC, coverage of the UEFA Women's Euros
- 2022 - First Team Coach of Bristol City Football Club
- 2020 - Professional footballer for Aston Villa
- 2019 - Amnesty International Ambassador
- 2018 - Professional footballer for Chelsea
- 2013 - Professional footballer for FC Rosengard
- 2012 - Professional footballer for Goteborg
- 2012 - Represented Team GB at the 2012 London Olympic Games
- 2011 - Professional footballer for Sky Blue FC
- 2010 - Professional footballer for Washington Freedom, Chicago Red Stars & Saint Louis Athletica
- 2009 - Professional footballer for Sky Blue FC
- 2008 - Professional footballer for Chelsea
- 2007 - Member of the team who won the historic quadruple - the UEFA Women's Cup, FA Women's Cup, FA Women's National Premier League & the FA Women's Premier League Cup
- 2006 - Named the Nationwide Player of the Month
- 2006 - Awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award, presented by HRH Queen Elizabeth II at Brunel University
- 2004 - Recipient of the Sports Award at the Ghana Professional Awards
- 2003 - Named Player of the Year 2003/04
- 2003 - Professional footballer for Arsenal
How to hire Anita Asante
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Anita Asante for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
