<
>

Netherlands Lieke Martens to retire from international game

Netherlands forward Lieke Martens will retire from international football in June, the 31-year-old announced on Tuesday.

Martens, who has made 158 appearances for the Netherlands since her debut in 2011, scoring 62 goals, will play her final two games in their European Championship qualifiers against Finland on May 31 and June 4.

"I know already that I'm going to say goodbye with a painful heart," the Paris Saint-Germain player said on X.

She was part of the Dutch squad that won the European title in 2017, scoring three goals in six games during the tournament held in the Netherlands.

Martens was voted the best player at the tournament and also won the UEFA women's Player of the Year award that year. She also scored twice in the 2019 World Cup where the Dutch finished runners-up.

(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk Editing by Toby Davis)