Safi – Ipswich Town Women have signed Moroccan forward Rosella Ayane on an initial one-year deal, the English club announced yesterday.

The 30-year-old arrives as a free agent after her Leicester City contract expired in June, the East Anglian Daily Times reported, adding that she is Ipswich’s 14th summer signing.

Ipswich compete in Women’s Super League 2, the second tier of English women’s football, and play home matches at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium.

Ipswich’s technical director, Sean Burt, said Ayane’s ability to play across the front line gives the squad “real versatility.”

Ayane added that she can bring pace to the attack, and called the atmosphere at Colchester, where she played as a visitor last season, “really good.”

Absent from Morocco’s last two squads

Born in Reading to a Moroccan father, Ayane represented England at under-17 and under-19 level before switching allegiance to Morocco, for whom she has 35 caps and 11 goals.

Her first Morocco goal came in June 2021, opening a 3-0 friendly win over Mali.

She started all six matches at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco. Her decisive penalty in the semi-final shootout against Nigeria sent the hosts to the final, where she scored Morocco’s goal in the 80th minute of a 2-1 loss to South Africa.

The forward was also part of Morocco’s squad at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the Atlas Lionesses’ first participation in the global showpiece.

Her most recent international goal came against Zambia in April 2024, during Olympic qualifying.

She was not in the squad for the 2024 WAFCON, played in July 2025, or for this year’s tournament. Neither the Royal Moroccan Football Federation nor Ayane has publicly explained the absence.

Morocco hosted the 2026 edition in July and August, finishing fourth after reaching the previous two finals.

That tournament doubled as African qualifying for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, which Morocco reached by winning their quarter-final.

Ayane came through Chelsea’s academy and made her senior debut in the 2013-14 season. Loan spells at Millwall, Bristol City and Everton followed, before she moved permanently to Apollon Limassol in Cyprus, where she scored 19 goals in 19 games.

She returned to Bristol City for a season before joining Tottenham in 2019, where over six years she scored 12 goals in 109 appearances and reached the 2024 Women’s FA Cup final.

At Leicester City, she made 14 appearances in her only season.

Ipswich open their league season at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, September 6.