Sherida Spitse Becomes Most-Capped European Player In Soccer History

On Tuesday night in Austria, Dutch midfielder Sherida Spitse is set to become the most-capped European player of all time by making her 241st international appearance.

If she plays any part during the Netherlands’ UEFA Women’s Nations League match in Altach, Spitse will move ahead of the previous record holder, Caroline Seger of Sweden, whom she equalled by coming on as a second half substitute in Alemlo on Friday. The most-capped male player of all time is Portugal’s 40-year-old captain Cristiano Ronaldo who made his 219th appearance against Denmark last month.

The 34-year-old Spitse has entered her 20th year as an international player after making her debut for the Oranjevrouwen as a 16-year-old in 2006. The teenage Spitse made her first appearance at The Valley in London during a 4-0 defeat to England.

At the time, there was remarkably no professional women’s league in the Netherlands. Spitse was playing with a boys team in her hometown of Sneek. It was not until the following year that the Eredivisie Vrouwen was inaugurated and Spitse was able to sign for her first women’s team, SC Heerenveen. Six years later she became the first Dutchwoman in history to command a transfer fee when she signed for LSK Kvinner from FC Twente.

In 2017, Spitse lifted the UEFA Women’s Euro trophy for her nation on home soil, scoring the decisive third goal in the final against Denmark. A native of Friesland, a northern province of the Netherlands, Spitse once said of her role as captain, “I like to make it a party in the group. That makes the sport more fun for me.”

In spite of being one of the leading players for her nation, Spitse has never chosen – unlike the overwhelming majority of the players from her country – to play in one of Europe’s big five leagues. Apart from two short spells in Norway, she has spent the entirety of her career playing in the Dutch Eredivisie.

Now the captain of AFC Ajax, she led the team into the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League last season from which they qualified to reach the last eight for the first time. Spitse was voted the Ajax Player of the Season in 2023 and 2024.

Spitse became the most-capped Dutch international in history in 2019 when she made her 157th appearance overtaking Annemieke Kiesel-Griffioen. She made her 200th appearance in the country where she made her first, England, ironically suffering another heavy defeat, this time losing 5-1 in Leeds, Spitse had crucially missed a penalty when the scores were tied.

Yet, typically on Friday, when a similar opportunity arose on her record-equalling 240th international appearance, Spitse did not shirk it. Despite coming onto the pitch just four minutes earlier, she stepped up to score from the penalty spot, her 46th goal for the Netherlands. After the game she said “I’m on the list. I’m also the type of person who gives it to someone else, but now I thought: I’ll take my responsibility. It’s great that the ball goes in.”

Spitse’s 241st international appearance will move her to joint-eighth on the all-time chart of most-capped soccer players alongside the United States’ Joy Fawcett. The top positions are held exclusively by female players from North America.

The list is led by the former United States captain Kristine Lilly who earned an incredible 354 caps during a 23-year international career. The recently-retired Canadian great, Christine Sinclair – also the leading international goalscorer of all-time – is second with 331 appearances and the only non-United States player among the top seven.