Footballer Danelle Tan shares her journey to going pro & her hopes for equal opportunity in sports

"Becoming a professional footballer had not occurred to me. I did not know that female professional footballers existed, much less dream of becoming one."

What gave Danelle Tan, the first Singaporean to play in an European league, the "seemingly outrageous dreams" that compelled her to pursue a career as a professional footballer?

Tan, who also holds the record as Singapore's youngest international goalscorer, writes in a new book, Why Not? Thinking About Singapore’s Tomorrow. The book's diverse contributors tackle topics like gender inequality, inclusivity, our ageing population, and their hopes for Singapore society in the years ahead.

Here, we share an excerpt of Tan's chapter, titled "Uncharted Paths", where she discusses the choices she made to pursue football and her hopes for equal-opportunity support for children's sporting dreams — so the next generation of footballers will not be limited by age or gender.

Published by World Scientific with a foreword by former President Halimah Yacob, Why Not? can be purchased here, at Kinokuniya's bookstores, and at bookstore-café Book Bar.

By Danelle Tan

My first obstacle to playing football was a drain, a "longkang" as it is known in Singapore. A treacherous gap six-year-old me had to jump across to get to training.

Flanked on both sides by muddy patches of grass, every step pulled me further into the ground. Boots caked in mud, brown spots flaking my pristine red socks, I attended my first football training session.

An unorthodox sport for a girl, but not in my parents’ eyes. My two brothers (one older and one younger) were already attending football classes at a club, JSSL FC, near our house. When I expressed interest in following them, my parents did not see any issues. I have always thought myself blessed that I did not have to fight against many gender stereotypes growing up.

This was one of the first deterrents to playing that I might have faced simply because I was a girl. I remain grateful that I never had to worry that I was playing a "boy’s sport" and could instead focus on improving my footballing skills.

Although I played in an all-girls’ team growing up, I had always competed against boys so playing around boys was not unusual. In 2017, I started playing on boys’ teams. Suddenly, I was the only girl on the team.

During my first training session, I was met with many strange stares. I cannot confess to being able to read people’s minds, but that day, it was pretty clear what most of the boys were thinking, "What is this girl doing on our team?"

And in those early training sessions, there were many times I asked myself that same question. But it is when you are outside of your comfort zones that you grow the most. When I joined the team, I had two options: One, to continue feeling awkward and out of place, or two, to train hard and show the boys why I was on their team, not as a girl but as a teammate. You can guess which I chose.

I made my debut for the senior national team at 14. Fourteen years, 294 days to be exact.

Those numbers are now inscribed on the walls of Jalan Besar Stadium, which some consider to be the birthplace of Singapore football, next to the words Danelle Tan and Youngest Goal Scorers.

It is nice to score on your debut for your club or country because it is a statement. You can imagine how much better it felt not just to score on my debut, but to stamp my name down in the history books of Singapore football as Singapore’s youngest goal scorer. Both male and female.

11,000km out of my comfort zone

I had not always dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. In kindergarten, my teachers made us draw how we saw ourselves in the future. My"dreams" of what I hoped to be fluctuated constantly with many of them lasting all of a day but becoming a professional footballer had not occurred to me.

I did not know that female professional footballers existed, much less dream of becoming one.

With women’s football now one of the fastest growing sports in the world, that is changing rapidly.

Many girls now grow up watching the women’s World Cup, the women’s Euros, and look up to these female players. Although the women’s game is still a far cry from the men’s in terms of wages, with male footballers earning roughly 100 times more than their female counterparts, it is really nice to see girls growing up aspiring to become professional footballers.

When I had my sights set on becoming a professional footballer, I knew I had to move overseas. Staying in Singapore, my progress would only stagnate, so I took the next big step out of my comfort zone. I enrolled in Mill Hill School, in London, and lived in a boarding house with 50 other students.

Studies are overrated

Then, in November 2022, I was granted a partial athletic scholarship by the College of William and Mary (W&M), ranked in the top 50 US colleges, and became the first Singaporean footballer to be accepted into a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 (D1) soccer programme.

It was a huge privilege to accept the offer, knowing that only the top 0.5 per cent of high school soccer players get accepted into D1 soccer programmes and receive scholarship aid. It felt like a step in the right direction. Sometimes, when you embark on unfamiliar paths, you are unsure if you are even going the correct way. The offer felt like confirmation I was doing the right things.

Then I chose to give up my spot on the W&M roster to join one of Europe’s biggest clubs, Borussia Dortmund. It might seem crazy to give up such an appealing opportunity and my studies to pursue a career in football, but a professional footballer only has a short life span. I didn’t want to let the opportunity pass and then look back and think ‘what if?’.

As my dad always says, “You can study at any age, at any time; but you only have till you’re 40 max to play football.” With that in mind, I chose to take the unconventional route and give my aspirations a chance.

It was not a flippant, rash decision of a young child hoping to rise to fame and earn money. I understood the severity of the decision and the implications it would have — that if football did not work out, I would be left with nothing but an A-Level certificate. But in the end, it boiled down to a little girl wishing to chase her seemingly outrageous dreams and her parents who supported her all the way, no matter what that meant.

Unopposed beginnings for all

When I joined JSSL FC at six, there were around 20 girls and 400 boys going to training. That is 20 times the number of boys playing football at one club in Singapore. At the time, I was in the only club in Singapore that had a girls team.

Football and sport have changed my life in so many ways. Not many people, much less 18-year-olds, can say that they’ve travelled to 15 countries to play their favourite sport. Football has widened my perspectives and stretched my world view. It has shown me how important sport is to society; it unifies people.

I strongly believe that more girls should be given the opportunity to experience the power of sport. Equal opportunity has to start right at the beginning. You can bring two people to the same pond and give them both fishing rods; but if you have not taught one of them how to fish, you’re not giving them an equal chance to catch fish.

I hope change starts at all levels. I hope at the age of six, more girls will dream big, and with full support from their parents, chart their own paths. That they will believe wholeheartedly that they can shape a better, more equal society for the future they will live in. I hope at 13 years, girls competing with boys will not be unusual or awkward but will be met with more receptivity.

I hope at 14 years, the potential of these girls will not be limited because they are too young. I hope at 17 years, more girls will be willing to step outside their comfort zone to push for their goals. I hope at 18 years, more girls will not be scared to take an unconventional path if that is what they desire.

But change cannot only happen with individuals, it has to start with parents, who should be open-minded with their definition of success for their kids. Parents who, like mine, should not limit what their kids can or cannot do, and allow them to simply dream.

It will also have to start with a society that supports the ambitions of these youths, giving them the platform and opportunity to enact changes. It has to start with everyone. This is my hope for the future.

Since writing the chapter, Tan shared that she'd received "several offers from professional clubs" in the Australian football league, the A-League Women.

She will leave the Borussia Dortmund Women’s Team having played a part in their Landesliga league title win, as the first Singaporean to win a European football league title.

Top photos via Danelle Tan on Instagram