Tess Lieder (''née'' Wester, born 19 May 1993) is a Dutch retired

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 ...

er for the Dutch national team. A full international with the Dutch national team since 2012, 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.2019 World Women's Handball Championship roster
/ref> She was also on the team that won the silver medal in the

2015 World Women's Handball Championship The 2015 IHF World Women's Handball Championship, the 22nd event hosted by the International Handball Federation, was held in Denmark. The decision to select Denmark as the host was announced on 27 January 2011. In the final Norway won 31–23 ag ...

with the Dutch team and became the goalkeeper with the highest percentage of saves in the tournament. Wester also reached fourth place with the Dutch team in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Career

Wester started her career in 1999 at Hugo Girls, at the age of 5–6. In her youth career she also played for VZV and HandbalAcademie. She played in the

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 ...

with VOC Amsterdam in the 2008–09 season. Wester played in E&O Emmen since 2010 until 2011. In 2011, she was signed for German club

VfL Oldenburg VfL Oldenburg is a German sports club from the town of Oldenburg, Lower Saxony which is best known for its football team, which plays in the Niedersachsenliga, the fifth level of the German football league system. The club has over 2,000 memb ...

, playing in the club until 2015 winning the German Cup in 2012. Wester was signed for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

SG BBM Bietigheim HB Ludwigsburg is a German professional handball club from Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg. Its women's team is playing in the Handball-Bundesliga Frauen, and internationally in the Women's EHF Champions League, EHF Champions League. The men's te ...

. She won Bundesliga title with them and played in Champions League. In 2018 she decided to take a step forward in her career and signed a contract with the ambitious Danish team,

Odense Håndbold Odense Håndbold (in its first season: Odense GOG and after that Handball Club Odense) is a Danish professional women's handball team, that plays in Damehåndboldligaen, Denmark's premier women's handball league. The team's home court is Sydb ...

. Here she won the Danish championship in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, the first national title in club history. After her contract with Odense expired in 2021, she signed for Romanian club

CSM București Clubul Sportiv Municipal București, commonly known as CSM București is a Romanian professional multi-sports club based in Bucharest. Departments Active branches: *Athletics *Basketball *Dancesport *Handball *Judo *Scrabble *Volleyball Defunct ...

. She explained her decision was influenced by the fact that ''"CSM is a top team where expectations are high. That suits me well."'' as well as ''"This club not only wants to win the Champions League, but also has the experience to do so. ... I want to feel that trigger."'' On the 21st of April 2022 it was announced that she informed her club, CSM about leaving at the end of the season with the intention of moving closer to her homeland. At the beginning of May 2022 she announced her pregnancy via Instagram. In April 2025 she announced her intention to retire after the 2024-25 season to get more time with her family.

International career

Wester played for the first time with the Dutch team in a friendly match against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 2 October 2012. She played in the

with the Dutch team, achieving the final of the tournament, but losing against Norway 23–31. She was called up to represent in the Dutch handball team in the

, achieving the fourth place after losing in the semi-finals against France 23–24, and in the bronze medal match against Norway 26–36. In 2019 she was a part of the Dutch team that won gold medals at the 2019 World Championship for the first time ever. In the final she was involved in a controversial penalty, when Ainhoa Hernandez illegally blocked Lieders' pass to start a counter with seconds remaining and the score being 29-29. Dutch teammate

Lois Abbingh Lois Abbingh (born 13 August 1992) is a Dutch handball player who plays for Borussia Dortmund Handball and the Dutch national team. She was a part the Netherlands team that won the 2019 World Women's Handball Championship; the first title in t ...

would go on to convert the penalty, which won them the game.

Honours

;Club competitions *Romanian Cup: **''Winner'': 2022 *Romanian Supercup: **''Finalist: 2021 *

Damehåndboldligaen The Kvindeligaen () is the top professional league for Danish women's handball clubs. It is administered by the Danish Handball Federation, and the winners are recognized as Danish champions. The league was previously called Bambusa Kvindeligaen ...

: **''Winner'':

: **''Winner'': 2017 *German Cup: **''Winner'': 2012 ;National team * Youth World Championship: **''Bronze Medalist'':

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 ...

* Junior European Championship: **''Silver Medalist'':

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 Medalist'':

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 ...

**''Silver Medalist'':

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 ...

**''Bronze Medalist'':

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 ...

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 ...

: **''Silver Medalist'':

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 ...

**''Bronze Medalist'':

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 ...

Individual awards

* All-Star team Best Goalkeeper of the

Personal life

She is married to Dutch footballer

Mart Lieder Mart Lieder (born 1 May 1990) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a forward. He formerly played for Vitesse, RKC Waalwijk, Dordrecht, FC Aarau, Eindhoven and Emmen. Career On 6 January 2020, it was confirmed that Lieder wo ...

. In May 2022 it was announced that she is expecting her first child. She gave birth to a girl, Flo on 18 November 2022.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wester, Tess 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Heerhugowaard Dutch female handball players Dutch expatriate handball players in Germany Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for the Netherlands Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Romania Dutch expatriate handball players in Denmark Expatriate handball players in Romania 21st-century Dutch sportswomen Odense Håndbold players