Summary
Merel Didi van Dongen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmeːrəl ˈdidi vɑn ˈdɔŋən], born 11 February 1993) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for Liga MX Femenil side Monterrey on loan from Spanish Primera División club Atlético Madrid and the Netherlands national team.[2]
 Van Dongen training with Netherlands in 2018 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Merel Didi van Dongen[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 11 February 1993 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defender, fullback | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team |
Monterrey (on loan from Atlético Madrid) | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2014 | Alabama Crimson Tide | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Ter Leede | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | ADO | 10 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Ajax | 71 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2020 | Real Betis | 46 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020– | Atlético Madrid | 71 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | → Monterrey (loan) | 9 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2012 | Netherlands U19 | 15 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015– | Netherlands | 63 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 October 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 December 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
Club career edit
She played for Ter Leede and ADO Den Haag before going to the United States where she played for Alabama Crimson Tide. She returned to the Netherlands in 2015 and signed with AFC Ajax.[3]
College career edit
In Van Dongen's two years at Alabama she managed to become the Tide's single season assists leader registering 10 in 2014. She is No. 1 on Alabama's career assists per game list with 0.30 through 44 games, and her 10 assists in 2014 allowed her to take the No. 1 spot on the single season assists per game list with 0.53 through 19 games. Van Dongen converted four penalty kicks during her career with Alabama, which ranks fourth on the career penalty kicks made list.
In her last season with the Crimson Tide, she was selected to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-American team and All-District 4 First Team and named a member of the All-SEC Second Team.[4]
International career edit
As a junior international she played the 2010 and 2011 U-19 European Championships.[5]
Van Dongen made her senior Netherlands women's national football team debut in a 7–0 friendly win over Thailand on 7 February 2015.[3] She was one of the last three players to be cut from national team coach Roger Reijners' final squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden.[6] When Mandy van den Berg subsequently suffered knee ligament damage, Van Dongen was called up as a late replacement.[7] She was also part of the Dutch squad at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[1]
On 31 May 2023, she was named as part of the Netherlands provisional squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.[8]
International goals edit
- Scores and results list the Netherlands goal tally first.[9]
| G | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 May 2015 | Sparta Stadion, Rotterdam, Netherlands |  Estonia |
3–0 | 7–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 22 October 2021 | AEK Arena, Larnaca, Cyprus |  Cyprus |
8–0 | 8–0 | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier |
Personal life edit
She is in a relationship with Ana Romero.[10] They are engaged since December 2021.[11]
Honours edit
ADO Den Haag
- Eredivisie: 2011–12
- KNVB Women's Cup: 2011–12
Ajax
- Eredivisie: 2016–17, 2017–18
- KNVB Women's Cup: 2016–17, 2017–18
Netherlands
- Algarve Cup: 2018[12]
- FIFA Women's World Cup runners-up: 2019
References edit
- ^ a b "List of Players - Netherlands" (PDF). FIFA. 30 May 2015. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ "Profile". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ a b "Merel van Dongen". VrouwenvoetbalNederland.NL. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
- ^ "Two Former Alabama Soccer Standouts Named to 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Roster". rolltide.com. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
- ^ Last-gasp Rudelic grabs victory for Germany. UEFA
- ^ "Trio miss cut in Netherlands squad". UEFA.com. UEFA. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
- ^ Scholten, Berend (1 July 2013). "Van Dongen replaces Van den Berg for Oranje". UEFA.com. UEFA. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
- ^ Mark White (5 June 2023). "Netherlands Women's World Cup 2023 squad: 30-player preliminary team named". fourfourtwo.com. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ "Profile". onsoranje.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ Greven, Koen (11 January 2019). "Merel van Dongen: graag was ik als eerste man uit de kast gekomen". NRC.
- ^ "SHE SAID YES! Ajax will forever be part of their love story". YouTube.
- ^ "Finale Algarve Cup tussen Oranjevrouwen en Zweden afgelast" (in Dutch). nu.nl. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
External links edit
- Profile at Onsoranje.nl (in Dutch)
- Profile at vrouwenvoetbalnederland.nl (in Dutch)
- Profile at uefa.com
- Profile at University of Alabama
- Merel van Dongen at Olympedia
- Merel van Dongen at Olympics.com
- Merel van Dongen at TeamNL (archive) (in Dutch)
- Merel van Dongen at Liga MX Femenil (archive) (in Spanish)
