Vanity Tonja Caroll Lewerissa (born 1 April 1991) is a Dutch former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

. She previously played in the Belgian 1st Division for

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 ...

, with whom she has also played in the Champions League and

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 D ...

. She played for three Dutch

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 ...

clubs,

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

, PSV, and

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. ...

Playing career

VVV-Venlo

Lewerissa made her league debut against

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

on 2 September 2010. She scored her first league goals against Willem II on 21 October 2010, scoring a brace in the 23rd and 43rd minute.

First spell at Standard Liège

Lewerissa scored on her league debut against Zulte Waregem on 25 August 2012, scoring in the 47th minute. She scored a hattrick against K.A.A Gent on 29 November 2013. Lewerissa scored a hat trick against

OH Leuven Oh, OH, or Oh! is an interjection, often proclaiming surprise (emotion), surprise. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * Oh! (Girls' Generation album), ''Oh!'' (Girls' Generation album), 2010 * Oh! (ScoLoHoFo album), ''Oh!'' (S ...

on 24 February 2015.

PSV

On 30 July 2015, Lewerissa was announced at PSV. She scored on her league debut against

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

on 21 August 2015, scoring in the 68th minute. She scored four goals against

VV Alkmaar Vrouwenvoetbal Alkmaar, commonly known as VV Alkmaar, was a Dutch football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, ...

on 16 October 2015. She was the top goal scorer in each of her three seasons with PSV, scoring at least 10 goals per season and 34 goals total in the Eredivisie with the Eindhoven club.

AFC Ajax

Lewerissa made her Ajax league debut against PEC Zwolle on 7 September 2018. She scored her first league goal against

on 30 September 2018, scoring in the 78th minute. Lewerissa scored two goals for Ajax in her final game. Lewerissa initially announced her retirement but changed her mind and re-signed with Standard Liège.

Second spell at Standard Liège

In February 2022, Lewerissa was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. In August 2022, she announced she was cancer-free. Her final club match with Liège was a 5–1 win over

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

on 25 May 2024. On 29 May 2024, Lewerissa announced her retirement.

International career

As a junior, she played in the 2010 U-19 European Championship. She made her debut in the 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. ...

on 6 March 2015 in a match against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. She was part of the 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 ...

. Lewerissa was on the Dutch team that won the

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

. She played in one match, coming on in the 86th minute in a group stage victory over

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 ...

. After the 2017 tournament, the entire team was honoured by the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

and Minister of Sport Edith Schippers and made

Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

. On January 12, 2018, Lewerissa announced her retirement from the national team.

Coaching career

Before her retirement from playing, Lewerissa began coaching the girl's youth team of

MVV MVV may refer to: Groups, organizations, companies *Malaysia Vision Valley (MVV), an economic corridor, see Malaysian National Projects * (MVV GmbH; ), German city works of Mannheim * Militaire Voetbal Vereniging (M. V. V.), a military soccer team ...

and Fortuna Sittard. In July 2024, she was named the coach of the reserve team for Fortuna Sittard's women's team.https://www.limburger.nl/cnt/dmf20240704_93381261

Honours

;Netherlands *

UEFA Women's Euro The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

(1):

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 ...

;Individual * Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau: 2017