Jackie Noëlle Groenen (born 17 December 1994) is a Dutch professional

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 ...

and former

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...

club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and the Netherlands national team. Groenen previously played for German clubs

SGS Essen SGS Essen are a German multi-sports club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 2000 from the merger of ''VfB Borbeck'' and ''SC Grün-Weiß Schönebeck''. It is most renowned for its women's football team, which plays ...

FCR 2001 Duisburg FCR 2001 Duisburg (full name: ''Fußballclub Rumeln 2001 Duisburg'') was a German women's football club from Duisburg. The first team played in the Bundesliga. They originate from a women's team formed in 1977 under the umbrella of FC Rumeln-Kald ...

and

FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won se ...

, as well as for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the English FA WSL. She was born in the Netherlands but grew up just over the Belgian border in Poppel. In 2014,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

ruled her ineligible to switch allegiance to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, as she did not hold a Belgian passport when she played for the Netherlands at youth level.

Club career

Early career

Groenen and her sister, Merel, began playing football at Goirlese Sportvereniging Blauw-Wit. After VV Riel and Wilhelmina Boys, they moved to SV Rood-Wit Veldhoven. The sisters continued their football career in the Frauen-Bundesliga and became players for

. Groenen made her debut for SGS Essen in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

Cup on 30 January 2011 against Turbine Potsdam.

FCR 2001 Duisburg

Groenen played for

from 2011, until their insolvency at the end of 2013. On 7 May 2011, Groenen made her debut for the club against USV Jena in the Bundesliga Cup, scoring the third goal in a 4–1 win. She made her league debut on 28 August 2011 in a 2–0 win over

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

Chelsea

In February 2014, Groenen signed for

. On 17 April, she made her

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

debut in a 2–0 win over

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. On 13 July, Groenen scored her first goals, netting twice in a 13–0 victory against

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. The ...

in the

FA WSL Continental Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in England, English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 t ...

FFC Frankfurt

She returned to Germany and signed for

in June 2015. On 5 September, Groenen made her debut for the club in a 1–0 win against 1899 Hoffenheim.

Manchester United

On 22 May 2019, it was announced Groenen had signed a contract with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

ahead of the 2019–20 season. In doing so, she became the team's first overseas signing with the team having formed a year earlier consisting of all British players. Groenen made her debut for Manchester United against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in the FA WSL on 7 September 2019, a 1–0 loss in the inaugural

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to football matches between Manchester City and Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, east Manchester, while United play at Old Trafford in the borough of ...

Paris Saint-Germain

On 15 September 2022, French club

announced the signing of Groenen on a three-year deal until June 2025.

International career

blocked Groenen's attempts to switch to representing Belgium because she did not have a Belgian passport when she played for the Netherlands' youth teams. She later indicated her willingness to play for the Netherlands again. In January 2016, Groenen was called up to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

senior squad for the team's winter training camp in Turkey. She appeared in two friendly matches 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 ...

to collect her first senior

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

on 22 January 2016. Groenen was part of 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 football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national tea ...

. She played in all matches and was named in the 2017 UEFA Team of the Tournament. In February 2018, Groenen was selected for the Netherlands side that won the 2018 Algarve Cup. Due to the final between Netherlands and

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 ...

being cancelled, caused by heavy rain and adverse weather conditions, the Algarve Cup was awarded to both teams. In April 2019, Groenen was selected for her first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. She started every game at the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and scored the only goal in

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

of the 1–0 semi-final victory over

to help the team reach their first World Cup final. The Netherlands eventually lost the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Judo

Groenen has won a series of championships in judo sports. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 she was Netherlands champion in the under 15 age group. She has won these titles in the weight class −32 kg. In 2010, she was vice champion in the weight class −44 kg. On 6 March 2010 she won the gold medal in the under 17 age group in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, Netherlands and on the European level at the European championships in June 2010 in

Teplice Teplice () (until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; german: Teplitz-Schönau or ''Teplitz'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest Czech spa town, after Karlovy Vary. The his ...

she won the bronze medal of the under 17 age group, weight class −40 kg. In February 2011 Groenen won the Netherlands junior (under 20 age group) championships in the weight class −44 kg. Groenen's judo career came to an end when she was 17. Her employers

made clear their unhappiness when she broke her hip in a judo accident the day before a football match. Groenen admitted that she preferred football and would eventually have chosen to stop judo in any case.

Personal life

While playing for Chelsea in London, Groenen was studying for a law degree at

Tilburg University Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilb ...

and the club would fly her to the Netherlands for her exams. Her older sister Merel used to play for Belgian women's football team

Lierse SK Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Groenen goal.''

Honours

Netherlands *

UEFA European Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

: runner-up

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Tournoi de France The ''Tournoi de France'' ( French, 'Tournament of France') was a friendly international football tournament organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) that was held in France. There have been two tournaments: the first in February 1988 a ...

: runner-up

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual * UEFA European Women's Championship Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

Profile
at Manchester United F.C.
Profile
at OnsOranje.nl * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groenen, Jackie 1994 births Living people People from Ravels Dutch female judoka Footballers from Tilburg Footballers from Antwerp Province Women's association football midfielders Dutch women's footballers Netherlands women's international footballers SGS Essen players FCR 2001 Duisburg players MSV Duisburg (women) players Chelsea F.C. Women players 1. FFC Frankfurt players Manchester United W.F.C. players Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players Frauen-Bundesliga players Women's Super League players UEFA Women's Championship-winning players Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Dutch expatriate women's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's footballers in France Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of the Netherlands UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 21st-century Dutch women