Sylvia Smit (born 4 July 1986) is a Dutch female

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 ...

er 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 ...

and striker for DTS Ede in the Dutch

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

. She has played professional football for clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie Vrouwen and the Belgian-Dutch BeNe League. She also has over 100 appearances 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

Smit career started at amateur clubs SETA (from Musselkanaal), SPW and SC Stadskanaal (both from

Stadskanaal Stadskanaal () is a town and municipality with a population of 32,715 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. It was named after the canal Stadskanaal. From 1800 until 1900 this area was ideal for its peat mining, and so ...

). In 2002 she joined

Oranje Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

, winning the

KNVB Women's Cup The KNVB Women's Cup ( nl, KNVB Beker voor Vrouwen) is the cup competition for women's football in the Netherlands. The competition was established in 1980, along with the KNVB Amateur Cup. From the 2007-08 season onwards, the first round of th ...

(Dutch Cup) in the last of her three seasons at the club. She then joined Be Quick '28 in 2005 and was the top scorer of the

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 ...

. When the professional Dutch women's league ( Eredivisie Vrouwen) was formed in 2007, she joined

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

for the league's inaugural season and won her second Dutch Cup at the club. In 2008 she joined

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

and was the Eredivisie top scorer for two consecutive seasons (14 goals in 2008–09 and 11 goals in 2009–10). She joined

FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

in 2011 and when the Belgian and Dutch leagues merged creating the BeNe League, she played the inaugural season for the club (then renamed PEC Zwolle). On 1 August 2014, she returned to SC Heerenveen and signed a one-year contract. On 11 June 2015, it was announced she was joining DTS Ede in the Dutch

International career

On 6 August 2004 Smit debuted for the senior

, playing the first half of a 2–0 friendly defeat to

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Zeist Zeist () is the capital and largest town of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year 83 ...

. Smit also featured in the Dutch run to the semi-final of

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 ...

, playing all of the Netherlands five matches in the tournament and scoring a goal. On 25 November 2012, she earned her 100th

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for the national team in a friendly match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Velsen Velsen () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal. On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known a ...

, scoring the first goal of the 2–0 Dutch win. In June 2013 national team

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 ...

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 ...

selected Smit in his 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 ...

International goals

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

Honours

;Oranje Nassau *

(1): 2004–05 ;FC Twente *

(1): 2007–08 ;DTS Ede *

(1): 2015–16

References

External links

Smit profile on club websiteSmit profile on women's Netherlands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Sylvia 1986 births Living people People from Stadskanaal Dutch women's footballers Netherlands women's international footballers Eredivisie (women) players FC Twente (women) players SC Heerenveen (women) players PEC Zwolle (women) players Women's association football forwards FIFA Century Club Footballers from Groningen (province)