Merel Didi van Dongen (; born 11 February 1993) is a Dutch professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for

Liga MX Femenil Liga MX Femenil, also known as Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana d ...

side

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Club career

She played for

Ter Leede Ter Leede is a football club based in Sassenheim, Netherlands. The club was established on 30 April 1930, as a merger of the clubs ''Poellaan'' and ''Roda''. The men's team is currently playing in the Dutch Vierde Divisie. The women's team play ...

and

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 ...

before going to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

where she played for

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

. She returned to the Netherlands in 2015 and signed with

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

College career

In Van Dongen's two years at

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

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.

International career

As a junior international she played the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2011 U-19 European Championships. Van Dongen made her senior

Netherlands women's national football team The Netherlands women's national football team () represents the Netherlands in international Women's association football, women's football, and is directed by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which is a member of UEFA and FIFA. ...

debut in a 7–0 friendly win over

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

on 7 February 2015. She was one of the last three players to be cut from national team

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 ...

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 ...

' final 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 ...

. When

Mandy van den Berg Mandy van den Berg-Carreras (; born 26 August 1990) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a defender and for the Netherlands women's national team. She formerly played club football in the Eredivisie Vrouwen for ADO Den Haag, for Vittsj ...

subsequently suffered knee ligament damage, Van Dongen was called up as a late replacement. She was also part of the Dutch squad at 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 ...

. On 31 May 2023, she was named as part of the Netherlands provisional squad for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

International goals

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

Personal life

She is in a relationship with Ana Romero. They are engaged since December 2021. Van Dongen and Romero welcomed their first child together named Ibbie Van Dongen Romero on 28 August 2024.

Honours

ADO Den Haag *

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 ...

: 2011–12 *

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 ...

: 2011–12 Ajax *

: 2016–17, 2017–18 *

: 2016–17, 2017–18 Atlético Madrid *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Monterrey *

: Clausura 2024 Netherlands *

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

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 ...

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

runners-up:

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 ...

References

External links

* *
Profile
at Onsoranje.nl
Profile
at vrouwenvoetbalnederland.nl

at uefa.com

at

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dongen, Merel van 1993 births Living people Dutch women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Mexico Netherlands women's youth international footballers Netherlands women's international footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Footballers from Amsterdam 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football midfielders Van Dongen, Merel AFC Ajax (women) players ADO Den Haag (women) players Eredivisie (women) players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Dutch lesbian sportswomen Dutch LGBTQ footballers Real Betis Féminas players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Dutch expatriate women's footballers Ter Leede players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for the Netherlands Atlético Madrid Femenino players C.F. Monterrey (women) players Liga MX Femenil players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Dutch sportswomen