The Netherlands - Oranje Leeuwinnen & Eredivisie

Jill Roord is moving from ManCity to...Twente? Is that right? What is that about? Leaving ManCity, which is no doubt reassessing everything after a down year, is one thing...but Roord is still in her prime, and so leaving the WSL completely seems a very strange move.

 

This article explains Roord's decision to return to The Netherlands and Twente. She says that 10 years of playing overseas for big clubs, with the pressure and constant travel, had taken a mental toll--that she'd lost her "joy" for football. She thinks she can find happiness again back in the home country and at Twente, where her father is the technical director and played a key role in getting her signed. Wishing her well!

https://womenfootball.blog/most-unexpected-transfer-yet-jill-roord-returns-to-the-netherlands/

 

You're not the only one:

Jonker surprised by transfer Roord: 'Fell off my chair'
17.05, May 26, 2025 Reactions
National coach Andries Jonker of the Orange Women 'did not see the transfer of Jill Roord coming'. The 104-time international made the switch from Manchester City to her old club last week.

 

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The Orange Lionesses will have to play against Germany next Friday without first keeper Daphne van Domselaar in the context of the Nations League. This is reported by the KNVB on Tuesday evening.

 

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Van Domselaar (second from the right in the photo) won the Champions League with Arsenal last Saturday, in a 1-0 final against Barcelona in which the Dutch goalie was very much put to work. However, the stronghold of the Lionesses did not come out of the battle unscathed. She is not fit enough to be part of the match selection on Friday. However, she will remain with the team to work on her recovery. National coach Andries Jonker has called up Regina van Eijk from Ajax as a replacement. She will therefore be in the match selection when the Netherlands faces Germany on Friday evening in Bremen. It is an important match for the Lionesses, the winner of the duel will most likely report in the final round of the Nations League.

 

I am quite sure van Domselaar played the champions league games at Lyon and against Barcelona under painkillers. She was clearly not 100% fit for both games, not taking goal kick in the final. She has not recovered yet from her injury, but being a UWCL final she was needed on the pitch.

 

She may have suffered a high-ankle sprain when she last played internationally--and they can be fairly serious and take weeks of recovery time, and can easily flair up again if one tries to play before the injury is fully healed. They are a lot different than an ordinary sprain. She needs to get that ankle healed, with the Euros rapidly approaching.

 

The Arsenal team doctor probably did what was necessary for her to be able to play these two matches even though she was still injured.

 

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Worrying evening for Lionesses in the run-up to the European Championship: Germany makes mincemeat of Orange
Nations League
The Orange Lionesses must pray that all top players are fit for the upcoming European Championship in Switzerland. If not, a second European title is a utopia. The Netherlands was completely painted off on Friday evening in Bremen by Germany, which painfully demonstrated the gap between the Netherlands and a top country: 4-0.

With the European Championship in sight, the Lionesses grew more and more convinced that great things can happen at the European Championship in Switzerland. 'We can beat anyone', is invariably the motto of the Dutch formation.
A motto that was very harshly rammed into the fridge by Germany on Friday evening. The Netherlands was trumped on all fronts by the number 3 in the world and was lucky that the German abacus was stuck on four goals.
"Don't worry about it: that's impossible," said national coach Andries Jonker prior to the Nations League match. He answered the question of whether he wanted to see in Bremen how the Netherlands is doing compared to a European top country, of which there are two waiting in the group stage of the European Championship with England and France. With games against Scotland and Finland still on the program, Germany could be seen as the last big test towards those tough European Championship duels.
Of course, with Vivianne Miedema, Daphne van Domselaar and Lineth Beerensteyn, three top players were missing and Victoria Pelova and Daniëlle van de Donk could only play a maximum of one half, but that should not be an excuse for the fact that the Netherlands was outclassed in every respect. Romée Leuchter - striker of Paris Saint-Germain - ran three strokes around, but never appeared in the game. In addition to the offensive impotence, it was also the defense and midfield that were run passed on all sides.

 

Andries Jonker: 'Plan not well executed again'
"Germany was much better than us. We knew how they were going to play, but we didn't find the solution. We have come up with the same strategy as last time, but we have not executed it well again and so lost again," said national coach Andries Jonker afterwards at the NOS.
"Germany plays in a tight block, tries to win the ball there and then strike quickly in the counterattack. I have explained what we have to do to avoid falling into that trap, but we can't get it done. We manage to do it in the last half hour, but then it is already 4-0. Everyone wants to see a good Orange. This is disappointing, for us too, but we don't get confused. That doesn't help at all. We've had a tick before. The most important thing is the European Championship in a month. Tuesday against Scotland is also all about that European Championship, so we play with a completely different line-up.
Individually, there were bright spots with the playing time for Jill Roord and Victoria Pelova, but as a team it was not good enough."

 

Jackie Groenen: 'It just wasn't right'
Jackie Groenen was captain and called her teammates together after 25 minutes, after the 2-0 of Germany.
"It just wasn't right tonight. It was not right in the passing and coordination," Groenen said at the NOS.
"I think we've had good games in the past period. So this was unexpected. We went into it full of confidence after a good week of training, but we were very sloppy in the passing. I tried to keep the group together after the 2-0. We wanted to play too beautiful football and Germany took advantage of that. This is also a way to get better again. We can play much better football than this. In five weeks the European Championship will come, then we will just be there."

 

What was the main problem with the Dutch today---besides everything!? (I haven't seen the match yet--and don't really want to.) Or who was the problem? Wrong personnel? Bad formation? Don't really like Jonker's comments blaming the players. Saying: "I told them what to do but they didn't do it" is lame and not helpful. It's fine to say that most of the team's best attacking players either didn't play or only played a half--but when you give up 4 goals the midfield/wings and back line tend to be the problem areas, obviously.

 

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Vivianne Miedema drops out of the Orange Lionesses, but hope for the European Championship remains: 'She is cut from the same cloth as Arjen Robben'

Vivianne Miedema has to miss the Nations League match of the Orange Lionesses against Scotland on Tuesday. The attacker is not fit enough and has left the training camp. There is confidence in European Championship participation: "She is cut from the same cloth as Arjen Robben."

Miedema (28) suffered a hamstring injury at the beginning of April during Austria - the Netherlands. She seemed to have recovered sufficiently for this international period. On Friday, in the 4-0 loss against Germany, she did not yet come into action, but on Tuesday in Tilburg she could possibly play again against Scotland. That plan is now being cancelled after all.
"I feel sorry for her," said national coach Andries Jonker on Monday. "It's unbelievable that you work so hard for so long and then every time something happens that you just don't reach your goal. That disturbs you," said the coach of the Orange Lionesses, who is nevertheless confident that the all-time top scorer of the Netherlands is fit enough to start the preparation for the European Championship on June 19.

"We have spoken extensively with each other and we have made an ambitious plan that is completely correct on paper," said Jonker, who refers to the injury that Arjen Robben suffered before the 2010 World Cup.
"He got so angry that he prepared himself well and could still play football.
Vivianne is cut from the same cloth and she is going to make a huge effort to be there on June 19. I believe that she will succeed. She wants to be there at the European Championships and that is the star that she is." The Dutch selection will take on Wales (5 July), England (9 July) and France (13 July) in the group stage at the European Championship. Jonker did not want to speculate on the question of whether he would call up Miedema if, for example, she could only participate in the games against England or France.

 

The Dutch with another lackluster effort today against Scotland in a 1-1 tie. No Miedema nor Beerensteyn. Roord scored early off a nice pass from DVD---who looked pretty lively in the highlights I saw---but Scotland equalized on a nice cross to an attacking player who got in front of Spitse and got enough on the ball to squirt it past Van Domselaar.

Leuchter had at least 3 half chances in the match and futzed them all. DVD sent a nice low cross into the 6 yard box that it appeared Leuchter could have volleyed low into the back of the net. She had a defender with her, but Leuchter got her foot on the ball--but not well enough to score. In the second half she had a chance with a bouncing ball in the box that she tried to get a foot on--but she missed the ball. She had a decent chance later off of a nice centering pass into the left side of the box, but instead of just getting a quick shot off with her left foot, as a natural scorer would have done, she tried to bring the ball over to her right leg, which was a dumb decision, as there was a defender to her right, and the ball was knocked away. It was a bad decision for another reason: you don't have time in a crowed box to pull the ball from one leg to another--just shoot the ball. I don't want to pick on Leuchter too much--she did jump from the Eredivisie to PSG this season, scored some goals early in the season and started at least a few games for the Parisian power club, though I don't know how her season went overall ---but I feel like a true scorer would have nicked at least one of those half-chances into the net. Roord missed a golden chance latish in the second half: got a nice pass from Grant, was open, and missed the net wide. No excuse for that miss--that should have been a goal. Snoeijs might have had a chance late but got pushed in the back in the box--no call. Scotland looked quite happy to throw their bodies around defensively.

Defensively, the Dutch seemed to have some problems in the 2nd half. Hard to tell from highlights, but they seemed disorganized in the back, let some Scotland runners get free and Van Domselaar had to make a couple of good saves to keep the score even.

All in all, it was a failed international period. First, the team just did not play well. Second, the team seems a rather confused mess at the moment. I get a strong sense that, roughly a month before the start of the Euros, Jonker is not clear on what formation suits the team best or who his starters are in some positions. The team seems at sixes and sevens--and the confusion is exacerbated by the fact that Jonker's stint at NT coach is over after the Euros.

For example, Who will be paired with Janssen at centerback? The young talent Burrman--who has very little high-level international experience, or Dijkstra, or Spitse--who started today? I cannot see the Dutch beating England and France with the slow, aged Spitse in the back, but the options are not great. And if your centerback pairing is unsettled, then your team is unsettled. Will Jonker play 4 in the back--he went to the traditional 4-3-3 today---or play the favored 3-5-2 that the Dutch have mostly played during his tenure. Who's in the middle of the field? We're sure to see Casparij, Kaptein, Groenan and probably Roord. And who else? I think, if fully fit, I'd be starting Pelova and benching Brugts, who has seemed quite unproductive for both club and country for quite a while, but that's a bit of a tough call. I think I'd have DVD in the lineup and not Egurrola. The latter is good with her head in the box, but overall I have mixed feelings about her--maybe I'm just not seeing her influence; certainly, DVD is more active and covers more of the field--and she'll be motivated, given it's her last days with the NT. And up front, who knows if Miedema can play--it is just one thing after another with her for more than 2 years now. With her and Beer out, Jonker started Leuchter and two mids at forward today--Roord and DVD--an illustration of why the team is struggling. They were OK--but this was against Scotland (no offense) and that's not the way to beat France and England. Depressing for we Dutch fans!

 

Well, better to get the wake up call now, so things can be addressed before the EC starts.

 

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Women's European Championship 2025 | The schedule of the Orange Lionesse

The Orange Lionesses will be hunting for the second European title next summer. Against which countries will the team of national coach Andries Jonker - who leaves after the European Championship - take on and on what dates are the matches? View an overview of all pools and the schedule of the European Women's Football Championship in Switzerland here. Below is the possible route to the final. The tournament starts on July 2 and the final is on July 27.

 

Orange Lionesses in Switzerland supported by 10,000 fans, team Andries Jonker plays for record amount

The Orange Lionesses are supported by about 10,000 Dutch fans at the European Championship in Switzerland.
This was reported by KNVB director Jan Dirk van der Zee on Thursday afternoon at the kick-off of the European Championship campaign of the Dutch women's football team. According to Van der Zee, the players will also receive more premium than ever.

Thousands of fans to Switzerland
The players will be supported by at least 10,000 Dutch fans in the hunt for the European title, of which 2,000 to 4,000 can go to the stadium per match. Other fans can go to fan zones in the host cities, where the matches will be shown on large screens.

The KNVB hopes that that number of fans will increase with the help of the 50,000 Dutch people who live in Switzerland.
A total of 673,000 visitors are expected at all European Championship matches, where fans with a match ticket can travel for free by public transport in Switzerland.

Final selection

The Orange Lionesses will meet on Thursday for the so-called training camp. Jonker's selection now consists of 26 players. That will be reduced to 23 after the training sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, after which the final European Championship selection will start preparing for the European Championship in Switzerland on Monday.

 

I saw where Van de Donk just married girlfriend Ellie Carpenter. I was a bit surprised as Carpenter is only 25, making her, what, 8 years younger than DVD, but it was she who apparently popped the question. They had a swanky wedding at a chateau somewhere in France. I googled DVD to see if there was any skuttlebutt on where she might play next and suddenly found myself on a what I think was a lesbian chat board that was full of talk and gossip about the wedding, who were the guests, what the two will be doing next, etc.! According to the chatters, DVD wants to start a family soon, but there was conflicting talk about whether she might retire completely after the European championship--she's said her NT duties will end. I read that she's said she doesn't want to go to a lesser club--and given that Carpenter remains with Lyon and still has plenty of years left in her career, it's hard to see how they're going to manage if DVD does sign with another team. Otherwise, she simply stays in Lyon with Carpenter and slips into the role of pregnant stay-at-home wife. That would seem a bit weird--but who knows. Some suggested that DVD might sign with a WSL club and Carpenter might leave Lyon for a WSL club as well, but that's all speculation. I think DVD has another couple of years in her legs---she looked pretty lively against Scotland--but certainly her priorities are shifting, not surprisingly. The last bit of gossip I heard on the L site (!) was that Roord returned to the Eredivisie because she has a girlfriend in the Netherlands. Don't know if that's true, as she did not mention that in the story or two that I read--only that she was rather tired of living abroad.

Whatever makes the two Dutch NT players happy. Enough of the personal stuff and now let's get back to football! Jonker has got another couple of weeks to figure out what his best formation/lineup is: it all seems worryingly uncertain at a very late stage in the process.

 

Carpenter is rumoured to be used in a swap with Lawrence from Chelsea.
Jill Roord partner is a Dutch hockey international player, they always get mentioned on tv when they come to watch each other play.
Regarding that forum, suffice to say it is full of toxic people as it is fully anonymous so they just insult players, fans etc...

 

https://www.ad.nl/voetbal/chill-per...en-staat-niet-bovenaan-mijn-lijstje~a152621c/
'Chill person' Lineth Beerensteyn reassures the Netherlands: 'Worrying is not at the top of my list'

The Orange Lionesses started Thursday afternoon without Lineth Beerensteyn (28) to prepare for the European Championship in Switzerland. A day later, she was still working through an adjusted program. Reason for panic, two weeks before the start of the European Championship?
"No, I'm a chill person."

"Is the Netherlands worried? Well, if I'm not worried, the rest don't have to either," says a smiling Beerensteyn on Friday morning in the Zeister woods. There, where the selection of the Orange Lionesses continued the preparation for the European Championship, she was missing on the field again. "I'm still working on my rehabilitation and it's going in the right direction," she says.
etc.

 

Yes, good info. There was mention of a possible Carpenter move to Chelsea, though she's still under contract to Lyon. I can't imagine that Lyon (newly renamed OL Lyonnes) would want to let her go, and I doubt Chelsea needs yet another good player.

Maybe Carpenter will be bound for.....London City Lionesses. Ha, ha: What? It's just been revealed that Van de Donk has signed a 2-year-deal with the London City Lionesses--newly promoted to the WSL. As it happens, Michelle Kang owns both the London City Lionesses and OL Lyonnes.

What is Beer's injury?

 

By the way van Domselaar has been phenomenal the whole season with Arsenal, she was my player of the year ahead of Caldentey who was chosen by nearly all the Arsenal fans. I watched Arsenal 32 times this season and I don't think she made more than 5 mistakes overall and made countless match saving saves.

 

Dutch site NOS says the group below was the starting 11 in the last 2 training sessions and is the presumed starting 11 for The Netherlands when it plays Wales to open its European Championship campaign on July 5. L. Beerensteyn is recovering from an injury--she wouldn't say what the injury is--and it's not clear is she will be able to play in the tournament. She's been training individually on the side and was somewhat optimistic but also vague about her availability. Is she's not fit it will be a blow for the Dutch as she's been in excellent form the last year and was the Budesliga's leading scorer this season.


Presumption of Orange
Daphne van Domselaar; Kerstin Casparij, Dominique Janssen, Veere Buurman and Esmee Brugts; Jill Roord, Jackie Groenen and Wieke Kaptein; Danielle van de Donk, Vivianne Miedema and Victoria Pelova.