Anouk Hoogendijk has had an impressive career in the national team with 103 international matches to her name. She has played for clubs such as FC Utrecht, Ajax, Arsenal and Bristol. But what does it feel like to be a pioneer in women’s football?
When Hoogendijk started her career as a football player, this was not at all obvious for women. The pressure was therefore quite high. “With us it was just so strict. If you didn’t even have your socks on properly, you almost lost out. It was stricter in terms of rules than for the men,” said Hoogendijk at Andy in de Auto.
“You know what it was, you as men in the football world were already something. We came from nothing,” the former international continues. “Nobody knew us, so there was one chance to make a first impression and it had to be good. We just had to perform first. We didn’t have much to say yet.”
At the beginning, Hoogendijk did not always find this easy. “I also found it tough, yes. Now it has become a bit looser. Now you can do a bit more, but back then you really couldn’t. Then I often thought: what am I doing.”
