Dyanne Marie Christine Bito (; born 10 August 1981) is a Dutch former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

or defender for the Netherlands national team and clubs in the Netherlands and Germany.

Club career

Bito began her career in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

where she played for in 1994, she moved to in 1998 and to in 2000. In 2004, she signed with

FFC Heike Rheine FFC Heike Rheine was a German women's football club based in Rheine, North Rhine-Westphalia. Heike Rheine was the first independent women's football club in Germany. History The club has its origins at the VfB Rheine. They had played on a local ...

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. She stayed 3 seasons in Germany and scored 30 league goals in 63 league appearances. She returned to the Netherlands ahead of the 2007–08 season and played for

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

in the inaugural women's Eredivisie. Until that point in her career, Bito played as a

but at ADO she began playing as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. She also made her debut in the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

(now known as UEFA Women's Champions League) during the

2007–08 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2007–08 was the seventh edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League). 45 teams from 44 football associations took part this season. The tournament ended ...

first qualifying round match against KÍ of the Faroe Islands. In 2008, she signed with

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

and won the Eredivisie titles in 2008–09 and 2009–10. Bito won the

KNVB Women's Cup The KNVB Women's Cup () is the cup competition for women's football in the Netherlands. The competition was established in 1980, along with the KNVB Amateur Cup. It is organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (K''oninklijke Nederlandse ...

in 2010–11, she played in the final where AZ defeated

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

by 2–0. When AZ decided to stop its women's football activities after the conclusion of the 2010–11 season, Bito was amongst the many players who moved to newly created club

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

. She played in the

BeNe League The BeNe League was the highest women's football league in Belgium and the Netherlands. To increase competitiveness in their national leagues, the BeNe League was a joint cooperation between the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Royal D ...

, when it replaced the Eredivisie in 2012. After four seasons at the club, Bito announced her retirement from football in 2015.

International career

For 15 years, Bito was a member of the Dutch national team. Her debut came against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

on 14 October 2000, she came on as a substitute in the 75th minute of a qualification match for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany f ...

play-off which the Netherlands won 3–0. She was part of the Dutch squad which played the

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. In December 2009, then national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Vera Pauw Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch Women's association football, football coach and former player who is the manager of the United Arab Emirates women's national football team, United Arab Emirates women's national team. She has manage ...

left Bito and

Claudia van den Heiligenberg Claudia Voňková, née Anna Gerarda Maria "Claudia" van den Heiligenberg (born 25 March 1985) is a Dutch former footballer who played for Bayern Munich II in the German 2. Bundesliga. She played for the Dutch national team between 2005 and 20 ...

out of the squad ahead of a match against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. The decision proved controversial and it was reported that the duo were kicked out because they were in a relationship. Pauw angrily dismissed the claims, saying it was an insult to suggest they were excluded because of their relationship. Van den Heiligenberg and Bito remained together and both were restored to the national team by incoming national coach

Roger Reijners Roger Reijners (born 10 February 1964) is a Dutch football coach and former player. Playing career Reijners turned professional with Fortuna Sittard and played in the 1–0 KNVB Cup Final defeat to Feyenoord in his first season, 1983–84. He al ...

in 2010. On 22 April 2010, Bito made her 100th appearance for the Dutch national team at a

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification Qualification for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup determines which 15 teams join Germany, the hosts of the 2011 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup. Europe has 5.5 qualifying berths (including the hosts), Asia 3 berths, North and Centr ...

match against

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. In June 2013 national team coach Roger Reijners selected Bito in the squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Reijners selected Bito as part of the Dutch squad for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Shortly after the conclusion of the tournament, she announced her retirement from football and by that time, she was the second most capped Dutch international player with 146 appearances (behind only

Annemieke Kiesel Annemieke Kiesel (née Griffioen; born 30 November 1979) is a Dutch former football player and coach. She played for clubs in the Netherlands, United States, England and Germany, winning titles with Dutch and German clubs. She also played for th ...

's 156).

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list the Netherlands goal tally first.''

Honours

AZ Alkmaar *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

): 2008–09, 2009–10 *

: 2010–11

References

External links

Dyanne Bito profile on Onsoranje
(in Dutch)
Dyanne Bito profile on women's Netherlands
(in Dutch)
Profile
at soccerway {{DEFAULTSORT:Bito, Dyanne 1981 births Living people Curaçao sportswomen Women's association football defenders Dutch women's footballers Netherlands women's international footballers FFC Heike Rheine players ADO Den Haag (women) players AZ Alkmaar (women) players SC Telstar VVNH players Eredivisie (women) players Expatriate women's footballers in Germany FIFA Women's Century Club 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Dutch LGBTQ footballers Dutch expatriate women's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany 20th-century Dutch LGBTQ people 21st-century Dutch LGBTQ people 21st-century Dutch sportswomen