Nathalie Geeris (born 20 December 1971) is a Dutch retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. She played for clubs in the Netherlands, Japan, the United States and Sweden, as well as for the

Netherlands women's national football team The Netherlands women's national football team ( nl, Nederlands vrouwenvoetbalelftal) is directed by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which is a member of UEFA and FIFA. In 1971, the team played the first women's international foo ...

Club career

After beginning her football with local minnows HFC Spaarnestad, Geeris transferred to top division

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 ...

to secure her national team place. At 21 years old she moved to America and participated in

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

with

Franklin Pierce Ravens The Franklin Pierce Ravens are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Franklin Pierce University, located in Rindge, New Hampshire, in NCAA sporting competitions. Franklin Pierce competes at the Division II level in 22 varsity sports. ...

. In 1996, Geeris secured a contract with

Suzuyo Shimizu F.C. Lovely Ladies was a women's football team which played in Division 1 of Japan's Nadeshiko League. It founded the league in 1989. The club was disbanded in 1999. Honors Domestic competitions * Nadeshiko.League Division 1 **Champions (1) : 1989 **Runners-up ( ...

, a professional club in the Japanese

L. League The , commonly known as the , is a semi-professional women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women o ...

. In 2000 Geeris was back in America, playing for

Boston Renegades Boston Renegades was an American women’s soccer team, founded in 2003. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and Canada. The team plays in the Northeast Divisi ...

of the

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

. She was in evidence at a pre-draft combine prior to the

2000 WUSA Draft The WUSA Inaugural Player Draft, held before Women's United Soccer Association's initial 2001 season, distributed players to the league's eight inaugural teams. The draft occurred on December 10 and 11, 2000. This took place after each team was a ...

, but was not selected. As a veteran Geeris enjoyed a prolific spell in the Swedish lower divisions with IF Böljan.

International career

On 11 April 1989, 17-year-old Geeris debuted for the senior

, playing in a 1–1 draw with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Denekamp Denekamp () is a town in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is a part of the region of Twente and the municipality of Dinkelland, and lies about 9 km northeast of Oldenzaal. The town was first noted as early as the 10th century when it was ...

. In April 1992 she scored both goals in the Netherlands' 2–1 win over

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 ...

, which brought her to the attention of

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 ...

Mark Krikorian who swooped with a scholarship offer.

Personal life

During her playing career Geeris was in a relationship with

Anneli Andelén Anneli Andelén (born 21 June 1968) is a Swedish former association football forward who won 88 caps for the Sweden women's national football team, scoring 37 goals. She represented Sweden at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and 1995. Andel ...

References

External links

Profile
at Onsoranje.nl 1971 births Living people Footballers from Haarlem Dutch women's footballers Netherlands women's international footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Japan Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United States Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Japan Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players Dutch LGBT sportspeople Dutch lesbians BK Häcken FF players Damallsvenskan players Suzuyo Shimizu FC Lovely Ladies players Nadeshiko League players Women's association football forwards USL W-League (1995–2015) players Öxabäcks IF players Dutch expatriate women's footballers Franklin Pierce Ravens women's soccer players Ter Leede players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Boston Renegades players {{Netherlands-women-footy-bio-stub