Victoria Pelova

Victoria Pelova (born 3 June 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the Netherlands national team.

Club career
Pelova started playing football for boys' youth teams in her birthplace Delft with DSV Concordia and was signed by Dutch Eredivisie club ADO Den Haag for the 2016–17 season. In her freshman season, she finished fourth with ADO, scoring seven goals as her team's second-best scorer. For the 2019–20 season, she moved to Ajax Amsterdam in the Eredivisie, where she received a three-year contract. In the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League she failed with Ajax in the sixteenth final at Bayern Munich, since both games were lost (3–1 and 3–0).

She lost in the last round with Ajax in 2022–23 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying at Arsenal, who she joined in January 2023.

In June 2024, Pelova suffered an ACL rupture while on international duty.

International career
In April 2017, she qualified with the U-19 team for the 2017 Under-19 European Championship. In this she played two group games and in the 3–2 lost semi-final against Spain, where she scored the interim 1–1. In October 2017 and April 2018 she took part again with the U-19 team in the two qualifying rounds for the 2018 Under-19 European Championship. She was then able to qualify with her team for the finals in Switzerland, but did not take part. Instead, she was part of the squad for the 2018 U-20 World Cup, which took place just days later, for which the Dutch had qualified for the first time as semi-finalists of the U-19 European Championship in 2017. There she featured in the three group games and the quarter-finals, lost 2–1 to England, where she gave her team a 1–0 lead.

Already in January 2018 she had her first assignment in the senior national team. She came on as a substitute in the 81st minute of the 2–0 loss to Spain on 20 January. Her second mission followed a year later. She came on as a second-half substitute in the 2–1 win over South Africa in Cape Town. They met Spain again in the 2019 Algarve Cup, coming on as a substitute in the 58th minute and losing again 2–0.

After these three international matches, she was nominated as the youngest player for the Dutch World Cup squad.

She was also nominated for the 2020 Olympics, which was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the Olympics she scored her first international goal in the Netherlands opening match against Zambia. She came on as a substitute in the three group games and quarterfinals against USA. In the victories against Zambia (10–3) and China (8–2) she scored one goal each.

On 31 May, she was nominated for the European Championship finals. At the European Championship, she played in the three group games and in the quarter-finals, which they lost to France in extra time. In the group game against Switzerland, she scored the goal to make it 3–1 and gave the assist to make it 4–1.

On 30 June 2023, she was named as part of the Netherlands squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Personal life
Pelova is of Bulgarian descent. She studies Applied Mathematics at Delft University of Technology. During her childhood, she excelled in several different sports including chess, snowboarding, and tennis.

Career statistics

 * Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pelova goal.

Honours
Ajax
 * Eredivisie (women): 2022-23
 * KNVB Women's Cup: 2021–22
 * Eredivisie Cup: 2020–21

Arsenal
 * FA Women's League Cup: 2022–23, 2023–24