Prestigious prize for Vivianne Miedema | Football

sport">The all-time top scorer of Orange has been named football player of the year in the election of the British broadcaster BBC. Fans from around the world preferred Miedema over Australia’s Sam Kerr (Chelsea) and Spain’s Alexia Putellas (FC Barcelona), who finished second and third respectively. Last year the prize went to the English Lucy Bronze, in 2019 the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg won.

sport">“This means a lot to me, after the year I’ve had with the Dutch team and with Arsenal,” says Miedema, who was surprised with the BBC trophy during a training session of her club. The 25-year-old striker has scored more than 100 goals for the English club since coming to Arsenal in 2017. She won the league title with Arsenal in 2019. Last season the title went to Chelsea.

sport">Miedema became top scorer at the Olympic Games in Japan last summer with no less than ten goals in four games. She stranded with the Orange in the quarterfinals against the United States via penalties. Miedema has also been the all-time top scorer of the ‘Leeuwinnen’ for quite some time. The counter stands at 85 goals in 104 international matches.

sport">“Records are there to be improved and I hope someone will do that in the future, but now I enjoy them,” said Miedema, who is already looking forward to next year’s European Championship in England. “We are defending our title there. You want to show yourself at a tournament like this, I can’t wait for it to start next summer.”

sport">Miedema is missing Monday evening in the exhibition game of the Orange in The Hague against Japan. National coach Mark Parsons allows her to skip the friendly game. Miedema can still win an individual prize on Monday evening. She is among the twenty nominees among the women in France Football’s Golden Ball pageant. Lieke Martens (FC Barcelona) is also one of them. At a gala evening in Paris, the Golden Ball is awarded to both the men and women.

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