Merel van Dongen

Merel Didi van Dongen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmeːrəl ˈdidi vɑn ˈdɔŋən]; born 11 February 1993) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a defender for Spanish Primera Division club Atletico Madrid and the Netherlands women's national team.

Club Career

She played for Ter Leede and ADO Den Haag before going to the United States where she played for Alabama Crimson Tide. She returned to the Netherlands in 2015 and signed with AFC Ajax.

International Career

As a junior international she played the 2010 and 2011 U-19 European Championships.

Van Dongen made her senior Netherlands women's national football team debut in a 7–0 friendly win over Thailand on 7 February 2015. She was one of the last three players to be cut from national team coach Roger Reijners' final squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden. When Mandy van den Berg subsequently suffered knee ligament damage, Van Dongen was called up as a late replacement. She was also part of the Dutch squad at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.