Merel Freriks (born 6 January 1998) is a Dutch female

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player for Danish club

Team Esbjerg Team Esbjerg is a professional women's handball team based in Esbjerg, Denmark, that competes in the Bambusa Kvindeligaen and the 2024–25 Women's EHF Champions League. They play their home matches in Blue Water Dokken, which have capacity for ...

and the Dutch national team. She was a part the Netherlands team that won the

2019 World Women's Handball Championship The 2019 IHF World Women's Handball Championship, the 24th event hosted by the International Handball Federation, was held in Japan from 30 November to 15 December 2019. The Netherlands won their first title after defeating Spain in the final. Th ...

; the first title in the country's history.

Career

Merel Freriks began playing handball at HV Borger. In 2010 she joined E&O. In 2017 she joined German Bundesliga side HSG Bensheim/Auerbach. In October the same year, she deuted for the Dutch national team. At the 2018 European Championship she won a bronze medal. In 2019 she joined league rivals

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

Here she won the 2021 German championship. In 2022 she joined French team

Brest Bretagne Handball Brest Bretagne Handball, also knows as BBH, is a French professional handball club from Brest, Brittany. This team currently competes in the French Women's Handball First League from 2016 and the 2024–25 Women's EHF Champions League. Histo ...

. In November 2023 she suffered a cruciate ligament injury, that made her miss the 2023 World Championship In 2024 she joined Norwegian top club

Vipers Kristiansand Vipers Kristiansand was a professional handball club from Kristiansand, Norway. The team competed in REMA 1000-ligaen, the top division in the country, since its promotion in 2001. They claimed their first Norwegian championship in 2018, ending ...

. In January 2025 she joined Danish

, after her former club, Norwegian

went bankrupt.

Achievements

Club

* German league (Bundesliga): **Winner: 2021 (with

Borussia Dortmund Handball Borussia Dortmund (''Ballspielverein Borussia 1909 e.V. Dortmund'', ''BVB'', ''BVB 09'') is a German professional women's handball team from Dortmund. They have competed in the Handball-Bundesliga Frauen since 2015–2016 season, the top divis ...

) **Runner up: 2022 (with

) *

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

**''Bronze Medalist'':

2024-25 A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

International

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

**Gold:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

**Bronze:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* * 1998 births Living people Dutch female handball players Sportspeople from Haarlemmermeer Dutch expatriate handball players in Germany Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for the Netherlands Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Norway Dutch expatriate handball players in France Expatriate handball players in Norway 21st-century Dutch sportswomen Brest Bretagne players {{Netherlands-handball-bio-stub