Stefanie van der Gragt is one of the few players at the European Championship who does not yet have a club for next season. After the unexpected break with Ajax, the unyielding defender of the Orange Women gives her calling card at the tournament: on Wednesday she scored against Portugal.
“Girl, you scored!” It was Sherida Spitse who had to tell Van der Gragt at the Leigh Sports Village that she had made it 2-0 against Portugal. She herself lay motionless on the ground after getting a shoe from the Portuguese Catarina Amado on her nose during her header goal. She had already heard from the cheers of the crowd that her brave attempt had succeeded.
With a scrape on her nose, Van der Gragt told her story after the 3-2 victory over Portugal. The defender said he was in no pain. According to Van der Gragt, it was the risk of the profession. It is the 91-time international in full: in Saturday’s match against Sweden, she also bitten the pain in her ribcage after a major collision with keeper Sari van Veenendaal. “I’m a real defender.”
Not only because of her unyielding character and minor injuries in the past two European Championship matches, Van der Gragt is a striking appearance among the Orange Women. She is one of the few players in the tournament who does not have a club for next season.
29-year-old Van der Gragt played for Ajax for the past two years, but the team from Amsterdam recently decided not to extend her contract because they are looking for a football defender.
And that while the North Holland woman had entered the bad news conversation with the idea that her expiring contract would be extended. “I would rather have stayed there. It is no different. This is also top sport.”
Stefanie van der Gragt is treated on the nose after her goal.
Stefanie van der Gragt is treated on the nose after her goal. Photo: Pro Shots
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“Want to have full focus on European Championships”
In that respect, the goal suited the clubless Van der Gragt. “But I don’t think about that at all,” she emphasized. “It’s nice that I take a goal, but my job is to defend. We conceded two goals. I analyze that more than my goal.”
Van der Gragt refused to give Ajax a long nose after the duel with Portugal, in which the Netherlands gave up a 2-0 lead. “It doesn’t feel like revenge at all. I just do my thing and try to fill it in as well as possible.”
Van der Gragt has not yet found a new club. That’s conscious, she said. She wants to lift all club vicissitudes over the European Championship. “The people around me are working on it. I am now at the European Championship, I said, and I want to have full focus on that. That is going well.”
For Van der Gragt, a foreign club is not excluded. “Ajax was the ideal situation for me, but it is no different. Abroad is certainly possible, but then everything has to be arranged properly, also for my family. That’s what I do it for. I’m fit and I feel good.”
EC program Orange Women
- Netherlands-Sweden 1-1
- Netherlands-Portugal 3-2
- Sunday in Sheffield: Switzerland-Netherlands (6 p.m.)
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