Ophélie Anne-Laure Meilleroux (born 18 January 1984 in Montluçon) is a French football player who currently plays for French club Montpellier of the

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 ...

. Meilleroux primarily plays as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, but can also play in the

defensive 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 boundari ...

role. She is a member of the

France women's national football team The France women's national football team (french: Équipe de France féminine de football, sometimes shortened as Féminin A) represents France in international women's football. The team is directed by the French Football Federation (FFF). F ...

making her first major tournament appearance with her nation at

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Meilleroux began her career playing for the women's section of amateur football club ÉDS Montluçon in her hometown. She spent several years with the club's youth setup before being selected to attend

CNFE Clairefontaine The Pole France feminin de Football (English: French Women's Football Pole), formally the Centre national de formation et d'entraînement de Clairefontaine (English: National Education and Training Center Clairefontaine) is a French training cent ...

, the women's section of the prestigious Clairefontaine academy. Meilleroux played one season with the academy scoring three goals, despite playing as a defender. After leaving the academy, she joined D1 Féminine club ASJ Soyaux. At Soyaux, Meilleroux played on the team alongside future international teammate Corine Franco and earned her first call up to the national team because of her consistent play with the club. She appearing in 20 or more matches in four straight seasons for Soyaux. Meilleroux also collected a career-high nine yellow cards in her first season with the club. In her final season (2007–08) with Soyaux, Meilleroux played in 19 matches and scored only one goal.

Yzeure

For the 2008–09 season, Meilleroux moved to Nord Allier Yzeure. Her debut season with the club was both positive and negative as Nord Allier finished in a respectable 5th-place position, however Meilleroux appeared in only ten matches. She returned to form at the start of the 2009–10 season appearing in the team's first seven matches of the season helping Yzeure reach as high as 4th position in the table. Meilleroux ultimately finished the campaign with the club appearing in 19 matches.

Montpellier

On 9 July 2010, Meilleroux announced that she would be departing Nord Allier Yzeure to join Montpellier. She joined Montpellier as a replacement for the departed Sabrina Viguier who joined

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. Meilleroux was penciled in as a starter by coach Sarah M'Barek and made her club debut in the team's second league match of the season; a 2–0 win over Rodez. She consistently appeared with the team for most of the campaign before suffering an injury on 9 January 2011 in the team's 2–1 return leg victory over Rodez in the league. Meilleroux missed four matches and returned to the team on 12 February in its 5–0 win over Stade Briochin.

International career

Meilleroux had previously starred with the women's under-19 team on two occasions. Her first time, she represented her nation at the 2002 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, held in Sweden. She was among the few underage players at the tournament for France. In the tournament, France finished as runners-up to champions

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The next season at the

2003 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2003 Final Tournament was held in Germany between 25 July – 3 August 2003. Players born after 1 January 1984 were eligible to participate in this competition. The tournament is notable for featuring a penalty ...

, held in Germany, Meilleroux was installed as captain of the team and helped the team do one better winning the entire tournament. On 14 March 2003, she earned her first cap with the women's national team in a match 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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Meilleroux was a regular participant in France's qualifying for

. With that in mind, coach Bruno Bini included her in the squad for the tournament, where France crashed out in the quarterfinals losing 4–5 on penalties to the

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. Meilleroux in all four matches her nation contested.

Career statistics

Club

''Statistics accurate as of 15 February 2012''

International

:''(Correct as of 24 October 2012)''MEILLEROUX Ophélie
, French Football Federation, accessed 8 June 2011

Honours

International

France *

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is a competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belong to the ...

: 2003 *

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in t ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

References

External links

* *
France player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meilleroux, Ophelie 1984 births Living people French women's footballers France women's international footballers CNFE Clairefontaine players Montpellier HSC (women) players ASJ Soyaux-Charente players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of France People from Montluçon Women's association football defenders Division 1 Féminine players Sportspeople from Allier Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes