Danelle Tan

Danelle Tan

Tan with Singapore in 2022
Personal information
Full name	Danelle Tan Li Ern
Date of birth	(2004-10-25) 25 October 2004 (age 19)
Place of birth	Singapore
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Borussia Dortmund
Number	8
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2019	Still Aerion	10	(20)
2020–2021	Lion City Sailors	4	(6)
2022	Lion City Sailors	4	(5)
2023	London Bees	12	(2)
2023–	Borussia Dortmund	23	(16)
International career‡
2019	Singapore U15	6	(6)
2017–2019	Singapore U16	11	(4)
2018–2019	Singapore U19	3	(0)
2019–	Singapore	21	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:25, 1 May 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:54, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

Danelle Tan Li Ern (born 25 October 2004) is a Singaporean women's football player who currently plays as a midfielder for Landesliga club Borussia Dortmund ^{[1] [2]} 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. ^{[3] [4]} Tan moved to London, England to study at Mill Hill School in 2022. ^{[5] [6]} Tan became the first Singaporean footballer to sign for a NCAA Division 1 team. ^{[7] [8]} She later decided to forgo her place when she signed for Borussia Dortmund. ^{[9] [10]}

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. ^[11] Tan scored 16 goals in 6 games and became the league's top scorer for the season. ^[12] 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. ^[13]

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. ^[5]

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. ^{[14] [15]}

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. ^{[16] [17]}

Tan became the first Asian to join Borussia Dortmund women's team in July 2023. ^{[9] [10] [18]} Tan scored her first goal for Dortmund in a pre-season friendly against Alemannia Aachen. ^[19] She was also awarded the top scorer with five goals in the Peuler Deerns Cup which Dortmund won. ^{[20] [21]} Tan made her competitive debut on 12 August 2023 for Dortmund in a 7–0 win against SC Borchen in the Westphalia Cup. ^[22] She scored three goals in six pre-season friendlies. ^[20]

On her debut match for Dortmund against DJK Spvgg Herten, Tan made three assists and scored a hat-trick in a 13–0 rout. ^[23] She was voted player of the match for her efforts. ^[23] Dortmund won the fifth-tier Landesliga and was promoted to the fourth-tier Westfalenliga with 5 games to go in the season. Tan contributed 13 goals in 15 matches. ^[24] Ten days later, Tan helped her team lift the Kreispokal, a regional cup, with a 1-0 win over SpVg Berghofen in the final on May 1. ^[25]

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. ^[26] She registered her first hat-trick a few days later in a 4–0 win against Northern Mariana Islands. ^[27]

She 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. ^[28]

In a UEFA-FAS tournament in March 2019, she scored 4 goals against Guam and 1 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. ^[29]

Tan was called up to the senior national team and made her debut on 16 August 2019 at the AFF Women's Championship. ^[30] She scored a last-minute goal in the 1–2 defeat against Timor-Leste. She was 14 years, which made her the youngest goalscorer (male and female) in Singapore and the fifth youngest in the world. ^{[1] [2]}

In the 2022 FAS Tri-Nations series, Tan scored 2 goals and had 1 assist in a 6–2 win against Seychelles. ^[31] She was also named as one of three best players in a 0–1 defeat against Papua New Guinea. ^[32]

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 and Second Minister for Law at the 2022 Women's Football Conference. ^{[4] [33]} Tan was cited as one of eight Singaporean women trailblazers. ^[34]

Tan also represented Singapore age group in chess when she was nine years old. ^[35] She was listed as 143rd in the world for best girls under 10 years old. ^[36]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 1 May 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Still Aerion	2019	Women's National League	6	16	4	4	10	20
Lion City Sailors	2022	Women's Premier League	4	5	0	0	4	5
London Bees	2022–23	FA Women's National League	10	2	2	0	12	2
Borussia Dortmund	2023–24	Landesliga Westfalen	16	14	7	2	23	16
Borussia Dortmund II	2023–24	Bezirksliga	1	4	0	0	1	4
Career total			37	41	13	6	50	47

International

As of match played 4 December 2023

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Singapore	2019	3	1
	2021	2	0
	2022	10	2
	2023	6	1
Total		21	4

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

List of international goals scored by Danelle Tan

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	15 August 2019	IPE Chonburi Stadium, Chonburi, Thailand	East Timor	1–2	1–2	2019 AFF Women's Championship
2	4 April 2022	Jalan Besar Stadium, Jalan Besar, Singapore	Seychelles	3–1	6–2	2022 FAS Tri-Nations Series
3				6–2
4	4 April 2023	Chonburi Stadium, Chonburi, Thailand	Mongolia	1–1	2–2	2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament

References

1. "Danelle Tan, 14, youngest to score for Singapore women's national team". The New Paper. Singapore Press Holdings. 16 August 2019.
2. "Oldest and youngest players and goal-scorers in international football". RSSSF .
3. "Soccer Girl Goals - News Who are the 23 Lionesses at AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers". soccergirlgoals.com.
4. "Profiles: Danelle". SGWomensFootball.
5. Kwek, Kimberly (10 April 2022). "Football: Lionesses Putri and Danelle step out of comfort zone in pursuit of dream". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings.
6. "Ninety (plus one) - May 2023 by Hana Basir - Issuu". issuu.com. 5 May 2023.
7. Ganesan, Deepanraj (18 November 2022). "Football: Singapore's Danelle Tan, 18, gets place at top US college". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings.
8. Basir, Hana (6 December 2022). "Trailblazing a path for future generations of Singapore girls: Danelle Tan". SportPlus.sg.
9. Ganesan, Deepanraj (9 June 2023). "Danelle Tan sets aside college to join German giants Borussia Dortmund" – via The Straits Times.
10. "S'porean Danelle Tan Joins Borussia Dortmund Women's Team, 1st Asian Footballer To Do So". 9 June 2023.
11. Ganesan, Deepanraj (4 June 2019). "Danelle Tan, 14, to give her football dreams the old college try". The New Paper. Singapore Press Holdings.
12. "Faris Ramli named SPL Player of the Year as FAS Nite 2019 recognises season's best". Football Association of Singapore. 31 October 2019.
13. "Women's Challenge Cup". Football Association of Singapore.
14. "Danelle determined to drive WPL title charge". Lion City Sailors. 22 July 2022.
15. Kwek, Kimberly (23 July 2022). "Football: Danelle Tan bags another brace to send Sailors to top of Women's Premier League". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings.
16. Ganesan, Deepanraj (6 February 2023). "Football: Danelle Tan, 18, becomes first female Singaporean to play in a European league" . The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings.
17. Goh, Chiew Tong (5 March 2023). "This teenager is breaking records at soccer and training with the boys — and she's hungry for more". CNBC. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
18. "Singapore's Danelle Tan to play for Borussia Dortmund | Video". CNA. 9 June 2023.
19. "BVB-Frauen verlieren Testspiel gegen Aachen". BVB.de (in German). Borussia Dortmund. 30 July 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
20. Ganesan, Deepanraj (26 August 2023). "Singapore footballer Danelle Tan raring to go as Dortmund kick off season" – via The Straits Times.
21. "BVB-Frauen gewinnen Tagesturnier an der Ostsee". BVB.de (in German). Borussia Dortmund. 7 August 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
22. "Souveräner Pflichtspielauftakt der BVB-Frauen". BVB.de (in German). Borussia Dortmund. 12 August 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
23. Lee, David (4 September 2023). "Singapore's Danelle Tan grabs hat-trick in home debut as Borussia Dortmund win 13-0". The Straits Times. ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 4 September 2023.
24. https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/danelle-tan-wins-german-fifth-tier-women-s-landesliga-with-borussia-dortmund
25. https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/danelle-tan-caps-fine-debut-season-in-germany-with-cup-win
26. "Tajik football players at home lost to the team of Singapore". asiaplustj.info. 17 September 2018.
27. "Match Report of Singapore U16 vs Northern Mariana Islands U16 - 2018-09-23 - AFC U-16 Women Championship Qualification". GlobalSportsArchive.com. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
28. "Danelle Tan - Soccer player profile & career statistics". GlobalSportsArchive.com. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
29. "Singapore finish second as Moldova win UEFA-FAS U15 Girls' Tournament". Football Association of Singapore. 25 March 2019.
30. Chandra, Alif (16 August 2019). "Lionesses lose to Timor Leste in opening game of Women's AFF Championships". Goal.com.
31. Kwek, Kimberly (4 April 2022). "Football: S'pore women beat Seychelles 6-2 in the FAS Tri-Nations Series". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings.
32. Hokahu, Thomas (12 April 2022). "PNG women beat Singapore". Post Courier.
33. "Celebrating Achievements and Shaping the Future of Women's Football Together". MCCY.gov.sg. Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. 8 March 2022.
34. Liew, Isabelle (7 March 2023). "International Women's Day: 8 trailblazers who defied the odds to stand tall". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
35. "CHESS COMMUNITY MALAYSIA: KITA MENCIPTA SEJARAH: RESULT & HISTORY : Malaysia Vs Singapore Match 1985-2013 - WE LEAD with VICTORY!!". 17 February 2014.
36. "Best young chess players by FIDE ratings - World / Country". www.chess-teaching.com.

External links

• Official website