Zenia Mertens (born 27 February 2001) 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 defender and

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

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 ...

and the Belgium national team.

Club career

Mertens made her debut for

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian professional football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it i ...

in a 3-0 home loss to

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

on 30 August 2020. Mertens finished runners-up in the

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 ...

three seasons in a row with OH Leuven, in 2020-21, 2021–22 and 2022-23. Leuven went on to finish top of the regular season for the 2023-24 campaign, but finished third in the title play-offs as Anderlecht came from behind to take the crown for a seventh season in a row. Mertens is contracted to OH Leuven until 2026.

International career

Mertens made her debut for the Belgium national team on 10 June 2021, coming on as a substitute for

Chloë Vande Velde Chloé Vande Velde (born 6 June 1997) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a forward for ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Eredevisie and has appeared for the Belgium women's national team. Career Vande Velde has been capped for the Belgium national ...

against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. At the start of 2022, Mertens 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 ...

on penalties in the final after a 0-0 draw. Mertens 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, and was selected in the squad for both legs of the play-off final against

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 ...

. On 11 June 2025, Mertens was called up to the Belgium squad for the

Honours

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

* * * 2001 births Living people Belgian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Women's association football defenders Oud-Heverlee Leuven (women) players Super League Vrouwenvoetbal players Belgium women's international footballers UEFA Women's Euro 2025 players 21st-century Belgian sportswomen {{Belgium-women-footy-bio-stub