Sarah Wijnants (born 13 October 1999) is a Belgian

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

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 ...

for

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

and the

Belgium women's national football team The Belgium women's national football team, nicknamed the Belgian Red Flames, represents Belgium in international women's football. It is controlled by the Royal Belgian Football Association, the governing body for football in Belgium. Their home ...

(also known as the Belgian Red Flames). She has won nine league titles in a row in Belgium, the first two with Standard Liege, the rest with Anderlecht.

Club career

Wijnants started her career in the youth structure at NS Tervuren. In 2014, she moved to

Belgian Women's Super League The Belgian Women's Super League (Dutch: Super League ''Vrouwenvoetbal/Belgisch Vrouwenvoetbal Kampioenschap''; French: ''Superligue/Championnat de Belgique féminin de football''; German: ''Superliga/Belgische Frauenfußballmeisterschaft'') is t ...

side

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

, making her

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut on 10 October 2015 against

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Standard lost 6–0. Wijnants won back-to-back league titles with Standard in 2015–16 and 2016–17, departing at the end of the latter season to go to

. Wijnants immediately won seven league titles in a row with Anderlecht, sweeping the

from the 2017-18 season right through to 2023-24. These successes mean that Wijnants has won nine league titles in a row in Belgium.

International career

Wijnants played her first game with the Flames U15 on 26 March 2014 against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The game was lost 0–6. The same year, she played for the Flames U16 and U17. She made her first cap for the U16 on a tournament in

Magglingen Magglingen (French: Macolin) is a village in the municipality of Evilard, located in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is situated above the city of Biel/Bienne, at the southern foot of the Jura Mountains. The village is known for being the ...

, Switzerland against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. The game was won 0–4. Her last game for the U16 was on 7 May 2015 against

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 ...

Castro Verde Castro Verde (), officially the Municipality of Castro Verde (), is a List of municipalities of Portugal, municipality of the Alentejo, Alentejo region of Portugal (in the historic district of Beja District, Beja). The population in 2011 was 7,276 ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. On 6 October 2014 she made her first cap with the U17 in a 3–0 victory against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

on which she scored the opening goal. This was the first goal as an international. She played in total 14 games and was able to score 3 goals. She played her last game for the U17 on 29 March 2015 against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the game was lost 2–0. In 2016 she made her first cap for the U19 in a match against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and won with 2–1. The friendly game was played in

Tubize Tubize (; ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Tubize had a total population of 22,335. The total area is 32.66 km2 which gives a population density of 684 inhabita ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

on 19 September. Wijnants made her first senior appearance in a friendly match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in Clairefontaine on 19 January. She played 10 minutes and the game ended with a 1–2 victory. The Red Flames where invited to participate on the

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in the competitio ...

. Wijnants didn't made it to the selection at first but because of the injury of Laura de Neve she was called up in extremis for the selection. Belgium's first appearance at the Women's European Championships, their group stage exit at Euro 2017, came too early for Wijnants, but she was selected for the Red Flames' subsequent run to the quarter-finals at Euro 2022, where she did not score but did help Belgium out of their group for the first time ever. In their second appearance at the continental finals, the Red Flames finished second in

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

behind group favourites

, against whom they conceded a narrow defeat (1–2), but ahead of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

with a 1-1 draw and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, who they edged out 1-0. Belgium lost 1-0 to

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 ...

in the quarter-finals. At the start of 2022, Wijnants helped Belgium win the

Pinatar Cup The Pinatar Cup, by full name Pinatar Cup by IAST SPORTS, is an invitational women's association football tournament held in March in San Pedro del Pinatar, Region of Murcia, Spain. In the first edition (in 2020), it was contested by Iceland, Nor ...

in Spain for the first time, beating

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

7-6 on penalties in the final after a 0-0 draw. Wijnants scored Belgium's first successful penalty in the series, after the first had been missed by

Davina Philtjens Davina Philtjens (born 26 February 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a left back for Italian Serie A club US Sassuolo and the Belgium women's national team. She is the third most-capped Belgian women's player of all-time. ...

. She went on to contribute to Belgium's successful qualification for

UEFA Women's Euro 2025 The 2025 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2025 or simply Euro 2025, will be the 14th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the wome ...

via the play-offs. Wijnants played in the group stages and in the play-off semi-final against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, but missed the victory over

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in the play-off final on 3 December 2024.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wijnants goal.''

Honours

Standard Liege *

: 2015-16, 2016–17 Anderlecht *

: 2017-18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 *

Belgian Women's Cup The Belgian Women's Cup (; ; ) is the cup competition for women's football in Belgium. The Royal Belgian Football Association established the cup in 1977. List of finals The following is a list of all finals: Most wins See also *Football in ...

: 2022 Belgium *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

*
Profile Standard Liège
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wijnants, Sarah 1999 births Living people Belgian women's footballers Belgium women's international footballers Women's association football forwards Standard Liège (women) players RSC Anderlecht (women) players Super League Vrouwenvoetbal players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players Footballers from Leuven 21st-century Belgian sportswomen