Claudia Voňková, née Anna Gerarda Maria "Claudia" van den Heiligenberg (born 25 March 1985) is a former

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

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 le ...

who played for

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the reserve team of German association football club FC Bayern Munich, they currently play in the Regionalliga Bayern. In 2010–11 they played in the 3. Liga, having qualifie ...

in the German 2. Bundesliga. She played for the Dutch national team between 2005 and 2016 and won national league and cup titles in the Netherlands.

Club career

Born in

Roelofarendsveen Roelofarendsveen is a town in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Kaag en Braassem, South Holland, about 10 km east of Leiden. History The village was first mentioned in 1575 as "Roelifaerts Veen", and means "b ...

, she started playing when she was six years old at the boys youth team of SV Alkmania in

Oude Wetering Oude Wetering is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located in the municipality of Kaag en Braassem, east of the town of Roelofarendsveen. A bridge connects the village to the village of Weteringbrug in the Haarlemmermeer ...

. After being scouted by the

Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women ...

she moved to Racing Club in

Leiderdorp Leiderdorp () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland near the city of Leiden. It had a population of in . The municipality covers an area of of which is water. Leiderdorp has now become a suburb ...

(RCL) and played in the

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into eleven divisions, six for Saturday clubs and five for Sunday clubs. These divisions correspond to the s ...

, the second division at that time. She was the top scorer of the 2003–04 Eerste Klasse. She then moved to

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 ...

(first division) club

Ter Leede Ter Leede is a football club based in Sassenheim, Netherlands. The club was established on 30 April 1930, as a merger of the clubs ''Poellaan'' and ''Roda''. The men's team is currently playing in the Dutch Hoofdklasse, after being relegated fr ...

and won the Dutch League (Hoofdklasse),

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

and the

Dutch Super Cup The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footba ...

in 2006–07. When the Dutch women's professional league ( Eredivisie Vrouwen) was established in 2007, she moved to AZ, winning the Dutch League (Eredivisie) in three consecutive seasons ( 2007–08, 2008–09 and 2009–10) and the Dutch Cup in 2010–11. During her time at the club, she also played seven matches in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

scoring twice. The club folded at the end of the 2010–11 season and like most of its players, she moved to the newly formed SC Telstar. She played two seasons at Telstar, the first in the Eredivisie and the second in the newly created BeNe League (a merger between the professional Dutch and Belgian women's football leagues). In 2013 she joined

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

with how she won her third Dutch Cup in 2013–14. In 2015, she moved to the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club USV Jena and played two season at the club before moving to

of the 2. Bundesliga in 2017.

International career

As a RCL (Racing Club Leiderdorp) player, aged 19 she became part of the Dutch national team set up. She made her debut under

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 ...

Vera Pauw Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch football coach and former player. She currently manages the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has managed several national women's football teams, including Scotland, Netherland ...

on 7 September 2005 in a home friendly 0–2 defeat against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

. Selected by coach Vera Pauw to be in the national squad for the

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 ...

, she played in two of the five Dutch matches in the tournament helping the team reach the semifinals. In December 2009, then national coach Vera Pauw dropped Van den Heiligenberg and

Dyanne Bito Dyanne Marie Christine Bito (; born 10 August 1981) is a Dutch former football defender who played for the Netherlands women's national football team and clubs in the Netherlands and Germany. Club career Bito began her career in Haarlem where ...

from the squad ahead of a match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. The decision proved controversial and it was reported that the duo were kicked out because they were in a relationship. Pauw angrily dismissed the claims, saying it was an insult to suggest they were excluded because of their relationship. Van den Heiligenberg and Bito remained together and both were restored to the national team by incoming national coach

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 defea ...

in 2010. A 2–0 win over

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in August 2010 was Van den Heiligenberg's 50th international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

. She was selected in the 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 List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. A knee injury ruled out her chances of selection for 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 ...

. During the following seasons other injuries kept her out of contention for national team selections, she played one match, on 25 January 2016 against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, her 97th

and eventually her last, as on 6 July 2017 her international retirement was announced. She scored eight goals for the national team.

International goals

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

Personal life

Her mother Mary van der Meer was also a Dutch international footballer who played four matches in the 1970s. She combined working for the Dutch police force and playing football during her time at SC Telstar. In September 2018 Claudia married her partner

Lucie Voňková Lucie Voňková (28 February 1992) is a Czech former football striker, who was a member of the Czech Republic national team. As well as playing six seasons in her native country, she played for six seasons in Germany and two in the Netherlands ...

. In March 2021 Lucie announced Claudia's pregnancy on social media.

Honours

;Ter Leerde *

(1): 2006–07 *

(1): 2006–07 ;AZ Alkmaar *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

(3): 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 *

(1): 2010–11 ;Ajax *

(1): 2013–14

References

External links

Profile
at Onsoranje.nl
Profile
at vrouwenvoetbalnederland.nl * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heiligenberg, Claudia van den 1985 births Living people People from Kaag en Braassem Dutch women's footballers Netherlands women's international footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Eredivisie (women) players Frauen-Bundesliga players AZ Alkmaar (women) players Telstar (women's football club) players AFC Ajax (women) players FF USV Jena players FC Bayern Munich (women) players Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Dutch LGBT sportspeople LGBT association football players Dutch expatriate women's footballers Ter Leede players 21st-century LGBT people Footballers from South Holland