Sherida Spitse

Sherida Spitse made her debut for the Netherlands on 31 August 2006, aged 16, and by the time she stepped away from international football in October 2025 she had won 248 caps and scored 46 goals — the most of any player, man or woman, in Dutch history, and the most-capped player in European football. That longevity ran alongside a career built on moves that reshaped her own game rather than one long stay at a single club. She began at VV Sneek before six years at SC Heerenveen, where she made 100 appearances and scored 13 goals. A switch to FC Twente in 2012 brought back-to-back BeNe League titles, and in January 2014 she moved to Norway's LSK Kvinner for a fee reported as the first paid transfer involving a Dutch women's footballer. At LSK she won the Norwegian league and cup three years running, and after a second Twente spell she returned north to Vålerenga, adding another league and cup double in 2020.

With the Netherlands, Spitse was part of the side that won the UEFA Women's Euro in 2017, earning a place in the Team of the Tournament, and she reached the final of the 2019 World Cup as well as winning the Algarve Cup in 2018. She was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau after the European title. She joined Ajax in January 2021 and has since won the Eredivisie and the KNVB Women's Cup, picking up the club's Player of the Year award in both 2023 and 2024.