1. Manon Melis spent most of her professional career playing in the Swedish league Damallsvenskan, which she won three times with her club LdB FC Malmo, in 2010,2011, and 2013.
68 Facts About Manon Melis
1. 2.
Manon Melis was the Damallsvenskan top scorer three times, in 2008,2010, and 2011.
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At age 17, Manon Melis made her debut for the Netherlands national team in 2004.
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Manon Melis's scoring helped the Dutch qualify for their first major tournament, the UEFA Women's Euro 2009, where they reached the semi-finals.
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Manon Melis was the all-time top goal scorer for the Netherlands national team from 2010 to 2019.
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Manon Melis has been the manager of women's football development at Feyenoord since 2017 with the aim to create a first team that competes in the Dutch Eredivisie and is supported by youth and reserve teams.
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Manon Melis's father is Harry Melis, a former footballer who played as a winger in the Dutch Eredivisie for Feyenoord, ADO Den Haag, and DS'79.
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Manon Melis started playing organised football in 1993 for RVVH in Ridderkerk, where she initially played in the girls' team.
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Manon Melis enjoyed the more challenging environment up to the highest youth teams.
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Manon Melis later said that most of her teammates on the senior national team had played on boys' teams in their youth.
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Manon Melis supported Feyenoord, one of her father's clubs, from an early age and has said that Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Henrik Larsson were her favourite players during her youth.
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Manon Melis continued to play for RVVH but was no longer allowed to play on mixed teams and had to switch to the club's women's team.
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Manon Melis was joined by Leonne Stentler, who had played for RVVH's mixed youth teams.
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In 2006, Manon Melis received an offer to play in the German Frauen-Bundesliga, for Duisburg, but declined.
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Manon Melis wished to focus fully on football, but this offer meant that she would have to find other work, which seemed daunting because she was unable to speak German fluently.
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Manon Melis decided to stay in the highest Dutch league and accept an offer from Be Quick '28 in Zwolle, because of their more intensive training regime.
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Manon Melis joined Sylvia Smit, with whom she had played on the national team, in attack.
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In January 2007, at age 20, Manon Melis moved abroad to play professionally for LdB FC Malmo in the Swedish Damallsvenskan.
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Manon Melis later recalled that the women's game was far more advanced in Sweden than in the Netherlands, both in terms of professionalism, exemplified by the frequency and intensity of training, and media coverage.
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In November 2008, Manon Melis was nominated for the Forward of the Year award at the annual Swedish Football Gala but she lost to Marta.
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Manon Melis shared the club's top scorer spot with Frida Nordin.
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Early in the season Malmo scored seven goals three games in a row, with Manon Melis scoring a hat-trick in one of them, against Pitea.
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Manon Melis surpassed her 2008 goal tally of 23 by scoring 25 goals in 22 games and was the 2010 Damallsvenskan top scorer.
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In November 2010, Manon Melis won the awards for Forward of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the Damallsvenskan.
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Manon Melis has been Malmo's top scorer for five straight seasons.
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In November 2011, Manon Melis announced she was moving from Malmo to Sky Blue FC, based in Harrison, New Jersey, to play in the American Women's Professional Soccer league.
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Daphne Koster, with whom Manon Melis played for the Dutch national team, played for Sky Blue the year before.
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In February 2012, Manon Melis returned to the Damallsvenskan and signed with Linkoping, ahead of the 2012 season starting in April.
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Manon Melis scored 16 goals in 21 games, finishing third on the top scorers list behind Mittag and Goteborg's Christen Press.
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Manon Melis agreed to return to Malmo in December 2012 for the 2013 Damallsvenskan season, regaining her number 14 jersey and joining Mittag in attack.
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Manon Melis collected her third Damallsvenskan winner's medal, as her team finished seven points ahead of second-placed Tyreso.
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Manon Melis scored 11 goals in 21 league matches, two goals fewer than her teammate Mittag and twelve fewer than the league's top scorer, Press.
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Manon Melis ended the season in second place on the top scorers' list with 16 goals, behind Mittag, who scored 23.
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Manon Melis ranked sixth on the top scorers list, scoring 9 goals, more than any of her teammates; leader Gaelle Enganamouit of Eskilstuna scored 18.
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In November 2015, Manon Melis signed a one-year contract with Seattle Reign FC in the American National Women's Soccer League for the 2016 season, and was assigned the number 14 jersey, stating that it was a dream come true to play in the US.
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Manon Melis joined Rapinoe and Jess Fishlock on Seattle's injury list and missed the following four games.
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In November 2016, Manon Melis announced her retirement from professional football.
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Manon Melis represented the Netherlands at the youth levels, making her debut in the under-17 team in May 2001 and in the Under-19 team in January 2003.
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Manon Melis appeared in the starting line-up for the first time in her 4th cap, a friendly against England.
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Manon Melis did not score in any of the qualifiers and the Dutch again did not qualify, which consequently meant they would not participate in the 2008 Olympics either.
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Manon Melis scored in six of the eight matches, only failing to score against the world champions.
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Manon Melis, playing in the number 9 jersey, did not score, but played the whole 90 minutes.
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In extra time Manon Melis almost scored but her shot just missed the net.
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The first eight penalties, including the third, taken by Manon Melis, were all converted.
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Manon Melis was nearly on the receiving end of a long through ball but it was intercepted by goalkeeper Rachel Brown.
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Manon Melis made room for herself on the right and played across to Marlous Pieete who equalised.
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At the 2010 Cyprus Cup Manon Melis scored in three of the four games, ending up joint top scorer of the tournament with New Zealand's Amber Hearn, both with four goals.
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Manon Melis overtook Marjoke de Bakker's goal tally of 29, scored between 1979 and 1991.
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Early in 2011 Manon Melis scored three times at the Cyprus Cup, which the Dutch finished in second place.
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Eight goals in total by Manon Melis helped her team qualify directly as best runners-up of all groups.
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Manon Melis was asked by the Swedish media to introduce the Dutch team to the Swedish public in a video clip.
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Manon Melis had a chance to score on a rebound when Martens hit the crossbar but failed to do so, thus ending the tournament for the Netherlands.
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Martens opened the score early on and Manon Melis converted a penalty in the 23rd minute.
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Manon Melis later said they had made history with this qualification, which was one of the highlights of her career.
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Manon Melis had an opportunity to equalise late on but missed.
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Manon Melis had a chance to open the score off a pass from Martens, but could not get a shot in.
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Manon Melis was disappointed that the young team would miss the opportunity to gain experience from playing the world's best.
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Manon Melis had earned 136 caps and scored 59 goals.
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Manon Melis said that the Dutch team's successful Euro 2017 in the Netherlands had been pivotal for the development of the women's game in the country.
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Manon Melis was tasked by Feyenoord with building a girls' football academy for all age groups.
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In December 2023, Manon Melis started taking a Dutch Football Association training course for technical directors.
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Manon Melis was known for her speed, which earned her the nickname 'The Flying Dutchman' in the US.
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Manon Melis's ex-teammates observed his daughter ran in the same way as he did.
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Manon Melis focused more on the differences, stressing that she is a centre forward while he was a winger.
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Martens, her teammate both on the national team and for one season at Goteborg, said Manon Melis had a "killer instinct".
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Manon Melis was more concerned with winning games and titles.
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Manon Melis married Dutch professional basketballer Ties Theeuwkens in 2016, prior to the start of her last season.
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Sky Blue FC did not play while Manon Melis was under contract.