Eva de Goede named 2019 FIH Women's Player of the Year

Netherlands women's captain Eva de Goede has been named as the 2019 FIH Women's Player of the Year by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

The midfielder took the prize ahead of Argentina's Carla Rebecchi and Janne Muller-Wieland of Germany, who finished second and third respectively.

Eva de Goede has been a fixture of the Netherlands' national women's team since her debut in 2006. With each year that passes, the creative midfielder seems to just get better and better. In 2018, de Goede was part of the team that won the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup and just a few months later she was voted Player of the Tournament at the last Hockey Champions Trophy in China.

2019 saw de Goede continuing her great form, only now with the added pressure of wearing the captain's armband. She led her team to victory in the inaugural FIH Hockey Pro League - where the team lost only one game - and then gold at the EuroHockey Championships in Antwerp, where they beat Germany in the final.

Talking about the 2019 season, de Goede says her favourite moment was the FIH Hockey Pro League Grand Final in Amsterdam.

"It was a beautiful crowd, it was beautiful weather and we won the gold, which was special. I just love to play those games," she said.

Over a career spanning 14 years, 30-year-old de Goede has played more than 230 matches for the Netherlands and has two Olympic gold medals (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), two World Cup gold medals and three Champions Trophy gold medals to her name.

This is the second consecutive year that de Goede has won the FIH Player of the Year award.