Sylvia Smit (born 4 July 1986) is a Dutch female footballer who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for DTS Ede in the Dutch Topklasse. She has played professional football for clubs in the Dutch

Eredivisie Vrouwen The Vrouwen Eredivisie () (Dutch for ''Honor Division'', ''Eredivisie Vrouwen'' before 2020), also known as the Azerion Eredivisie Vrouwen due to a 3 year sponsor contract starting from the 2022–2023 season, is the highest women's football le ...

and the Belgian-Dutch

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 Du ...

. She also has over 100 appearances for the

Netherlands women's national football team The Netherlands women's national football team ( nl, Nederlands vrouwenvoetbalelftal) is directed by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which is a member of UEFA and FIFA. In 1971, the team played the first women's international f ...

Club career

Smit career started at amateur clubs SETA (from Musselkanaal), SPW and SC Stadskanaal (both from Stadskanaal). In 2002 she joined Oranje Nassau, winning the

KNVB Women's Cup The KNVB Women's Cup ( nl, KNVB Beker voor Vrouwen) is the cup competition for women's football in the Netherlands. The competition was established in 1980, along with the KNVB Amateur Cup. From the 2007-08 season onwards, the first round of ...

(Dutch Cup) in the last of her three seasons at the club. She then joined

Be Quick '28 Be Quick '28 is a football club from Zwolle, Netherlands, which was founded on 22 November 1928. They currently play in the Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the ...

in 2005 and was the top scorer of the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of ...

. When the professional Dutch women's league (

) was formed in 2007, she joined

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedes ...

for the league's inaugural season and won her second Dutch Cup at the club. In 2008 she joined

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 Jul ...

and was the Eredivisie top scorer for two consecutive seasons (14 goals in 2008–09 and 11 goals in 2009–10). She joined

FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a tot ...

in 2011 and when the Belgian and Dutch leagues merged creating the

, she played the inaugural season for the club (then renamed PEC Zwolle). On 1 August 2014, she returned to SC Heerenveen and signed a one-year contract. On 11 June 2015, it was announced she was joining DTS Ede in the Dutch Topklasse.

International career

On 6 August 2004 Smit debuted for the senior

, playing the first half of a 2–0

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

defeat to Japan in

Zeist Zeist () is the capital and largest town of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year ...

. Smit also featured in the Dutch run to the semi-final of

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 ...

, playing all of the Netherlands five matches in the tournament and scoring a goal. On 25 November 2012, she earned her 100th cap for the national team in a friendly match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Velsen Velsen () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal. On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known ...

, scoring the first goal of the 2–0 Dutch win. In June 2013 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 * Co ...

Roger Reijners Roger Reijners (born 10 February 1964) is a Dutch football coach and former player. He is currently assistant manager of MVV Maastricht. Playing career Reijners turned professional with Fortuna Sittard and played in the 1–0 KNVB Cup Final def ...

selected Smit in his Netherlands 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 women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held in Sweden from 10 to 28 July 2013, became the most ...

in Sweden.

International goals

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

Honours

;Oranje Nassau *

(1): 2004–05 ;FC Twente *

(1): 2007–08 ;DTS Ede * Topklasse (1): 2015–16

References

External links

Smit profile on club websiteSmit profile on women's Netherlands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Sylvia 1986 births Living people People from Stadskanaal Dutch women's footballers Netherlands women's international footballers Eredivisie (women) players FC Twente (women) players SC Heerenveen (women) players PEC Zwolle (women) players Women's association football forwards FIFA Century Club Footballers from Groningen (province)