Daniëlle van de Donk (; born 5 August 1991) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

London City Lionesses London City Lionesses is a professional women's association football club based in Hayes, Bromley, England. The team competes in the Women's Super League the first tier of English women's football. The club was founded in May 2019, as an indep ...

and the Netherlands national team. She helped her national team to win the UEFA Euro 2017 and finish second at the 2019 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

Born in

Valkenswaard Valkenswaard () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands, in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant. The municipality had a population of in , with an area of of which is water. The name Valkenswaard ste ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Van de Donk grew up playing football with boys. Her uncle noted, "If she started training at FC Eindhoven, she was laughed at by the boys. When she had played 3 balls, they were all silent." She started playing for SV Valkenswaard in her home town at the age of 4 and later moved to

VV UNA Voetbalvereniging UNA ("Uitspanning Na Arbeid") is a association football, football club from Zeelst, Netherlands. It plays at the 2,000-capacity Hoofdveld at Sportpark Zeelst. Founded on 7 November 1929, the club currently competes in the Derde ...

Club career

2008–2011: Willem II

At age 17, Van de Donk first played as a professional footballer for Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club, Willem II. She featured for the Tricolores for the next four seasons, playing in 47 competitive league matches and scoring five goals. During her first season in 2008, she played eighteen of the 24 matches and scored one goal. In her second season, she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, which kept her off the field for several months. She made seven appearances for Willem II during the 2009–10 season and the club finished in third place with a record. During the 2010–11 season, she scored four goals in 21 matches playing as a starting midfielder.

2011–12: VVV-Venlo

Van de Donk signed with

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

ahead of the 2011–12 season. She played 18 regular season games, scoring 8 goals as a starter for the club. During a match against Heerenveen, Van de Donk scored a brace lifting her team to a 2–1 win. During a match against PEC Zwolle, she scored the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute to lift VVV to a 5–4 win. During another match against Heerenveen, Van de Donk scored a second brace helping VVV win 3–1. VVV finished in fifth place with a record. She also helped VVV reach the final of the

KNVB Women's Cup The KNVB Women's Cup () is the cup competition for women's football in the Netherlands. The competition was established in 1980, along with the KNVB Amateur Cup. It is organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (K''oninklijke Nederlandse ...

in 2012.

2012–2015: PSV/FC Eindhoven

Van de Donk then left Venlo for PSV/FC Eindhoven ahead of Eindhoven's participation in the inaugural season of the Dutch & Belgian

BeNe League The BeNe League was the highest women's football league in Belgium and the Netherlands. To increase competitiveness in their national leagues, the BeNe League was a joint cooperation between the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Royal D ...

. With Eindhoven, Van de Donk reached the final of the KNVB Cup of 2014, where she eventually earned a runners-up medal. She racked up an outstanding 30 goals in 53 appearances for the club.

2015: Göteborg

In June 2015, Van de Donk was transferred to Swedish

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

club Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC. Van de Donk made 13 appearances for the club, scoring 4 goals. During a match on 11 October, Van de Donk scored a brace —the team's only goals — in a 4–2 loss to KIF Örebro. Göteborg finished the 2016 season in sixth place with a record.

2015–2021: Arsenal

On 20 November 2015, Van de Donk signed with English club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

of the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

(FA WSL). The move proved successful with her starting in the 2016 FA Cup final on 14 May 2016. Arsenal were eventually crowned champions, beating Chelsea 1–0 at the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

to earn their fourteenth FA Cup title. On 7 October 2016, Van de Donk signed a new contract with Arsenal and was a starting midfielder in 14 of the 15 games she played. Van de Donk scored three goals helping lift Arsenal to a third place finish with a record. During the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL 1 Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer ...

, she scored two goals in eight matches. During the 2017–18 season, Van de Donk scored five goals in 18 matches. She scored a brace in the match against Bristol City on 20 May lifting Arsenal to a 6–1 win with the first and last goals of the match. Arsenal finished in third place with a record. Van de Donk was instrumental in Arsenal's 2018–19 WSL championship season. She scored 23 combined goals and assists in all competitions. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' described her as "crucial to Arsenal's efforts in trying to recapture a first Women's Super League title since 2012." On 17 November, her double

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...

went viral on Twitter. Arsenal finished in third place with a record. Marking her fifth year with the club, Van de Donk signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal in March 2019. Of the signing, Arsenal manager

Joe Montemurro Joseph Adrian Montemurro (born Giuseppe Montemurro, ; 13 September 1969), nicknamed Pepe, is an Australian soccer coach and former player who has been the head coach of the Australian women's national team since June 2025. Montemurro had play ...

said, "She brings a world class attitude and quality that are vital to our team." During the 2019–20 season, she scored five goals in 15 matches. The FA suspended the season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, deciding the competition based on points per game. Arsenal finished in third place with a record and played in the 2019–20 FA WSL Cup, where they eventually lost 2–1 to Chelsea during the 2020 FA Women's League Cup Final. In October 2020, she was named WSL Player of the Week after her performance in a 5–0 win against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

. Van de Donk scored Arsenal's second goal and had over 60 touches on the ball.

2021–2025: Lyon

In June 2021,

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

announced they had signed Van de Donk to a two-year contract. On 5 September 2021, she made her league debut for Lyon against Saint-Étienne. Home against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

in the 2024–25 Champions League, Van de Donk scored in the 81st minute, making the final score 1–0.

2025–2025: London City Lionesses

On 20 June 2025, the

announced Van de Donk joining the club on free transfer from Lyon. London City Lionesses had been competing in the England's second-highest tier competition,

Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

, and having won the competition in 2014–25, they were promoted to the top tier, the

. The club became the first independent women's team (not affiliated with men's team) to compete in WSL. It is owned by Michele Kang, the same owner of Lyon, who had projected to recruit high-profile players. Van de Donk became the first signing after the club's promotion to WSL.

International career

UEFA13 NL 10 van de Donk Danielle 130711 GER-NL 0-0 220859 3964

At the age of 19, Van de Donk made her debut for the Netherlands national team in a match against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

on 15 December 2010 at the 2010 City of São Paulo Tournament. She scored her first official international goal in the 2013 European Championship qualifiers against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. In June 2013, Dutch national team coach

Roger Reijners Roger Reijners (born 10 February 1964) is a Dutch football coach and former player. Playing career Reijners turned professional with Fortuna Sittard and played in the 1–0 KNVB Cup Final defeat to Feyenoord in his first season, 1983–84. He al ...

selected Van de Donk for the Netherlands squad for UEFA Euro 2013 in Sweden. The Netherlands squad lost all three of their

group stage 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 ...

matches and did not advance at the tournament. Van de Donk competed at the 2015 FIFA World Cup in Canada under the direction of Reijners. After finishing third in

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

and placing second in the ranking of third place teams, the Netherlands advanced to the knockout round where they faced 2011 champions,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and lost 2–1. On 14 June 2017, Van de Donk was selected as part of the Dutch squad for UEFA Euro 2017 on home soil. She went on to play an integral part in the tournament. In the semi-finals, she scored against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in a 3–0 win for the Dutch. Van de Donk also played in the final against Denmark, where her creative presence helped the Netherlands come away with a victory. After the tournament, the team was honoured by the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

and Minister of Sport Edith Schippers and made Knights of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

. Van de Donk was selected to the final squad for the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France. Ahead of the tournament,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

named her to their top 25 player ranking. After winning all three of their

matches, the team finished at the top of their group and advanced to the knockout stage. During the

Round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

, the Dutch team faced 2011 champions, Japan, who had knocked them out of the 2015 World Cup. This time, the Netherlands won 2–1 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Of the match, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called Van de Donk "Holland's best player tonight." The Dutch team faced Italy in the quarterfinal and won 2–1 advancing to the semifinal for the first time in team history. Van de Donk played every minute of the semi-final against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

until the team scored a goal in the ninth minute of extra time and won the match 1–0, advancing to the final for the first time. The Netherlands faced 2015 champions

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and lost 2–0. She also played in the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Following the loss, she noted: "The growth f women’s football in the Netherlandsis ridiculous. If I look at women’s football and the hype, it’s amazing. I think that’s what I’m most proud of, that we got so much respect from the Netherlands." On 8 October 2019, Van de Donk scored a goal in her 100th international appearance, a 2–0 win against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. In the Euro 2022, Van de Donk scored the winning goal in the 3–2 match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, helping her team advance to the knockout stage. On 31 May 2023, she was named as part of the Netherlands provisional squad for the 2023 FIFA World Cup. In the group stage game against the United States, Van de Donk hit her head and received treatment for several minutes. She returned to play wearing a

swim cap A swimming cap, swim cap or bathing cap, is a tightly fitted, skin-tight garment, commonly made from silicone, latex or lycra, worn on the head by recreational and competitive swimmers. Swim caps are worn for various reasons: they can be worn to ...

to prevent bleeding.

Personal life

Van de Donk was in a relationship with former Arsenal teammate

Beth Mead Bethany Jane Mead (born 9 May 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for the Women's Super League (WSL) club Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal and the England women's national football team, En ...

. After joining Lyon, she met

Ellie Carpenter Ellie Madison Carpenter (born 28 April 2000) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a defender for French Première Ligue club Lyon and the Australia national team. She previously played for Western Sydney Wanderers, Canbe ...

, a teammate and Australia national team defender. The two announced their engagement on 1 January 2024 during a holiday in the Maldives, and marriage on 11 June 2025 (the exact date of wedding undisclosed) at the Château Hermitage de Combas in southern France.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each van de Donk goal.'' * Note: Match not considered as an official friendly.

Honours

VVV-Venlo *

: runner-up 2012 PSV/FC Eindhoven * KNVB Women's Cup: runner-up 2014 Arsenal *

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

: 2015–16 *

FA WSL Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since t ...

: 2017–18 *

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

: 2018–19 Olympique Lyonnais *

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 *

Première Ligue The Première Ligue ( ; sponsor name Arkema Première Ligue) is a professional women's association football league at the highest level of the French football league system, and is run by the Ligue féminine de football professionnel (LFFP). ...

(new name of Division 1 since 2024): 2024–25 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 2022–23 *

Trophée des Championnes The Trophée des Championnes is a French women's association football trophy contested as an annual match between the champions of Division 1 Féminine and the winners of the Coupe de France Féminine from previous season. It is the female equi ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 2023 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

: 2021–22 Netherlands *

UEFA European Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

: runner-up

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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 and ...