Maria Meryll Krysteen Rosales Serrano (born 20 July 1997), known in Norway as Meryll Abrahamsen, is a Filipino 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Norwegian club

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

and the Philippines women's national team.

Career

Youth

Serrano had her youth career at Haugar.

Haugar

In 2012, as a 14-year-old, Serrano made her senior debut for Haugar in a 3–0 against

Hinna Hinna is a borough of the city of Stavanger which lies in the southwestern part of the large municipality of Stavanger in Rogaland county, Norway. The borough includes the southernmost part of the city, bordering the city of Sandnes. The borou ...

Avaldsnes

After playing for three seasons in the

Norwegian Second Division The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the third-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. There are 28 teams divided into two groups, and at the ...

, Serrano joined

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

club

Avaldsnes Avaldsnes is a village in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the northeastern part of the island of Karmøy (island), Karmøy, along the Karmsundet strait, just south of the town of Haugesund (town), Hauge ...

. She scored on her debut against

Røa Røa () is a neighbourhood and a former administrative borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. In 2004 the borough of Røa was merged with neighbouring Vinderen to become Vestre Aker borough. Røa is a suburb of Oslo, located approximately 7 kilome ...

a minute and a half after coming in as a substitute. Avaldsnes finished their 2015 season as runners-up in both league and cup. Avaldsnes ended up finishing as runners-up in the Toppserien for three consecutive seasons. In 2017, Serrano helped Avaldsnes to win the

Norwegian Women's Cup The Norwegian Women's Cup () is a single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Norwegian women's association football, football. It has been organised annually since 1978. The final is usually played on a Saturday, the day before the ...

, winning her first title in her senior career.

LSK Kvinner

In 2019, Serrano joined the

defending champions LSK Kvinner on a one-year deal. LSK Kvinner ended up winning the domestic double in the 2019 season.

Arna-Bjørnar

After spending a season with LSK, Serrano joined Toppserien club

Arna-Bjørnar Arna-Bjørnar Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen. It was founded in late 2000 as a merger between the football branches from ''IL Bjørnar'' and ''Arna T&IL'', and replaced Bjørnar IL in the league system from 2001. The ...

on a one-year deal. In 2020, Serrano extended her contract for one more season. She was once again offered a contract extension in 2021, signing a deal until the end of the 2022 season.

International career

Serrano was born in the Philippines to Filipino parents and was raised in Norway, where her stepfather (surnamed Abrahamsen) is from, making her eligible to play for either

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

at international level.

Norway U15

In 2012, Serrano received a call-up from Norway women's under-15 football team. She made her debut for Norway U15 in a 4–3 win against Sweden U15, coming in as a substitute replacing Eline Glamsland in the 41st minute.

Norway U23

In 2019 Serrano received a call-up from Norway women's under-23 football team for the friendlies against Italy U23, England U23 and France U23. She made her debut for Norway U23 in a 2–1 win against Italy U23, coming in as a substitute replacing Synne Jensen in the 89th minute. She scored her first goal for Norway U23 in a 3–2 win against England U23. More than a month later, she scored her second goal for Norway U23 in a 1–1 draw against China U23.

Philippines

Serrano was invited into the

training camp in California. The training camp was part of the national team's preparation 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 ...

. In December 2022, Serrano scored her first senior international goal in a 5–1 friendly win against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. By early August 2023, she had been capped 10 times for the Philippines, scoring four goals.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

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

Honors

Avaldsnes *

runners-up:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: 2017; runner-up: 2015 LSK Kvinner *

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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Serrano, Meryll 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Pangasinan Filipino emigrants Immigrants to Norway Naturalised citizens of Norway Norwegian people of Filipino descent Filipino women's footballers 21st-century Filipino sportswomen Norwegian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders SK Haugar players Avaldsnes IL players LSK Kvinner FK players Arna-Bjørnar players Stabæk Fotball Kvinner players Toppserien players Norway women's youth international footballers Philippines women's international footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for the Philippines 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen