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Tessa Wullaert

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Tessa Wullaert
Wullaert with Manchester City in 2019
Personal information
Date of birth (1993-03-19) 19 March 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth Tielt, Belgium
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
Inter Milan
Number 31
Youth career
FC Wakken
Engelmunster
Harelbeke
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2012 Zulte Waregem
2012–2013 Anderlecht 15 (6)
2013–2015 Standard Liège 51 (34)
2015–2018 VfL Wolfsburg 37 (7)
2018–2020 Manchester City 31 (6)
2020–2022 Anderlecht 50 (72)
2022–2024 Fortuna Sittard 42 (46)
2024– Inter Milan 10 (5)
International career
2008 Belgium U15 2 (1)
2008–2010 Belgium U17 17 (3)
2008–2011 Belgium U19 12 (7)
2011– Belgium 139 (87)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16:20, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 December 2024 [1]

Tessa Wullaert (born 19 March 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Belgium national team, where she has amassed the second-highest number of caps for her country ever. She is her country's highest goalscorer of all-time in women's international football with 87 goals, and also holds the absolute goalscoring national record having scored two more than Romelu Lukaku.[2] Wullaert has won league titles in Belgium and Germany, plus the English FA Cup.

Club career

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Belgium

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Wullaert's first team was SV Zulte Waregem in the Belgian First Division, where she played from 2008 to 2012.[3] For the 2012–13 season, when the BeNe League, a new joint league between Belgium and the Netherlands, was created, she moved to RSC Anderlecht, with which she won the Belgian Cup. She left after one year and signed for Standard Liège, scoring 16 league goals during the 2013–14 season and winning the Belgian Cup again. In 2014–15, her second season playing for Standard, she won the BeNe League top scorer award with 18 goals, helping the club win the title.[4]

Wolfsburg

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In May 2015, Wullaert moved to VfL Wolfsburg.[5] She spent three seasons with the club, winning two Bundesliga and three DFB-Pokal titles. She also appeared in two Champions League finals, both as a substitute.

Manchester City

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In June 2018, Wullaert signed for English FA WSL club Manchester City.[6] In her first season with the club, Wullaert won the FA Cup and League Cup double, finishing runner-up in the league. Following two seasons with the club, Wullaert announced she had declined a new contract and would be leaving.[7][8]

Anderlecht

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In 2020, Wullaert moved back to Belgium to be closer to her family and boyfriend. She signed a contract with Anderlecht that made her the only fully professional female footballer in Belgium at the time.[citation needed] She scored more than 30 goals in each of her two seasons with Anderlecht, leading the Women's Super League in scoring and helping Anderlecht win two league titles and the Belgian Cup in 2022.

Fortuna Sittard

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After two years in her native Belgium, Wullaert agreed terms with newcomers to the Dutch Eredivisie Fortuna Sittard, situated just across the border from Belgium.[9] In March 2024, she scored a league record of 7 goals in an 8–0 win over Telstar.[10] With 26 goals, Wullaert became top scorer of the 2023–24 Eredivisie.[11] She also won the league's player of the year award [nl].[12]

Inter Milan Women

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On 7 June 2024, it was announced that Wullaert would join the Inter Milan women's team.[13]

International career

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Wullaert with Belgium in 2014

Wullaert represented Belgium at the 2011 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship[14] and in the same year made her debut for the senior national team.[15][16] Within four years she achieved the record for highest number of international goals by a Belgian female football player, going level up with team captain Aline Zeler in October 2015, overtaking her in March 2016.

Wullaert played in Belgium's only two appearances at the Women's European Championships, their group stage exit at Euro 2017 where she netted in a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands, and the Red Flames' subsequent run to quarter-finals at Euro 2022, where she did not score but did help Belgium out of their group for the first time ever.

In their second appearance at the continental finals, the Red Flames finished second in Group D behind group favourites France, against whom they conceded a narrow defeat (1–2), but ahead of Iceland with a 1-1 draw and Italy, who they edged out 1-0. Belgium lost 1-0 to Sweden in the quarter-finals.[17][18]

At the start of 2022, Wullaert was named in the Belgium squad for the Pinatar Cup friendly tournament in Spain but had to pull out through injury. Belgium went on to win the tournament for the first time, beating Russia on penalties after a 0-0 draw.[19][20]

Wullaert's two goals against Greece in the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-off semi-final second leg on 29 October 2024 saw her reach 85 goals for her country, matching Romelu Lukaku's men's record to become the joint-highlest goalscorer ever for any Belgiam senior national football team.[2][21]

This record came in her 137th appearance for the Red Flames, with only Janice Cayman amassing more caps (153).

Wullaert took custody of the Belgian outscoring senior reconrd again when she netted her 86th goal for the Red Flames in their 2-0 Euro 2025 play-off final first-leg win away to Ukraine on 29 November 2024,[22] scoring the clincher in the second-leg for a 2-1 win on the night, qualifying 4-1 on aggregate.[23][24]

Among Wullaert's record national haul of 87 goals, Wullaert has scored eight hat-tricks in her international career, including a five-goal haul in a 19-0 Women's World Cup qualifier against Armenia in 2021 and four against Greece in another qualifier in 2015.[25]

Career statistics

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As of match played 3 December 2024[26]
Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wullaert goal.
List of international goals scored by Tessa Wullaert
G C Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 1 20 August 2011 Stade Armand-Melis, Dessel, Belgium  Russia 1–0 1–0 Friendly
2 2 17 September 2011 Stade Armand-Melis, Dessel, Belgium  Hungary 1–0 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying
3 5 15 February 2012 Stade Armand-Melis, Dessel, Belgium  Northern Ireland 2–1 2–2 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying
4 6 4 April 2012 Stade Armand-Melis, Dessel, Belgium  Iceland 1–0 1–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying
5 8 9 June 2012 Henri Houtsaegerstadion, Koksijde, Belgium  North Korea 2–2 2–2 Friendly
6 11 15 September 2012 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway  Norway 1–2 2–3 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying
7 13 9 February 2013 Regenboogstadion, Waregem, Belgium  Netherlands 1–0 2–3 Friendly
8 14 13 February 2013 PGB-Stadion, Oostakker, Belgium  Austria 1–0 2–0 Friendly
9 15 2 June 2013 Stade Leburton, Tubize, Belgium  Ukraine 3–0 3–0 Friendly
10 19 26 October 2013 Levadia Stadium, Livadeia  Greece 4–1 7–1 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
11 7–1
12 20 31 October 2013 Bosuilstadion, Antwerp, Belgium  Portugal 2–1 4–1 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
13 4–1
14 23 5 April 2014 Niko Dovana Stadium, Durrës, Albania  Albania 2–0 6–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
15 26 13 September 2014 Stade Eneco, Leuven, Belgium  Greece 4–0 11–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
16 6–0
17 8–0
18 11–0
19 27 17 September 2014 Estádio Municipal de Abrantes, Abrantes, Portugal  Portugal 1–0 1–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
20 28 22 November 2014 Stadion Ludowy, Sosnowiec, Poland  Poland 1–0 4–0 Friendly
21 29 11 February 2015 Estadio José Antonio Pérez, San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain  Spain 1–0 1–2 Friendly
22 30 3 March 2015 Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus  Czech Republic 2–2 2–2 2015 Cyprus Cup
23 34 23 May 2015 Stayen, Sint-Truiden, Belgium  Norway 3–2 3–2 Friendly
24 37 27 October 2015 Bilino Polje Stadium, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bosnia and Herzegovina 3–0 5–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying
25 4–0
26 42 9 March 2016 Complexo Desportivo de VRSA, Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal  Russia 1–0 5–0 2016 Algarve Cup
27 44 12 April 2016 Stade Eneco, Leuven, Belgium  Estonia 3–0 6–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying
28 5–0
29 52 3 March 2017 AEK Arena, Larnaca, Cyprus  Italy 1–1 4–1 Friendly
30 54 8 March 2017 AEK Arena, Larnaca, Cyprus  Austria 1–0 1–1 Friendly
31 56 11 April 2017 Stade Eneco, Leuven, Belgium  Scotland 3–0 5–0 Friendly
32 60 11 July 2017 Van Roystadion, Denderleeuw, Belgium  Russia 1–0 2–0 Friendly
33 63 24 July 2017 Koning Willem II Stadion, Tilburg, Netherlands  Netherlands 1–1 1–2 UEFA Women's Euro 2017
34 64 19 September 2017 Stade Eneco, Leuven, Belgium  Moldova 2–0 12–0 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
35 3–0
36 5–0
37 65 20 October 2017 Stade Eneco, Leuven, Belgium  Romania 1–0 3–2 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
38 69 7 March 2018 GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus  South Africa 1–1 2–1 2018 Cyprus Cup
39 72 20 June 2018 Stade Zimbru, Chișinău, Moldavo  Moldova 6–0 7–0 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
40 81 24 May 2019 Municipal Pylos Stadium, Pylos, Greece  Greece 2–0 2–1 Friendly
41 82 1 June 2019 Stade Eneco, Leuven, Belgium  Thailand 2–0 6–1 Friendly
42 86 8 November 2019 Ivan Laljak-Ivić Stadium, Zaprešić, Croatia  Croatia 1–0 4–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
43 91 18 September 2020 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Romania 1–0 6–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
44 3–0
45 4–0
46 92 22 September 2020 Stockhorn Arena, Thun, Switzerland  Switzerland 1–2 1–2 UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
47 93 27 October 2020 Sūduva Stadium, Marijampolė, Lithuania  Lithuania 1–0 9–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
48 7–0
49 8–0
50 94 1 December 2020 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Switzerland 3–0 4–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
51 100 21 September 2021 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  Albania 6–0 7–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
52 101 21 October 2021 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Kosovo 3–0 7–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
53 6–0
54 7–0
55 103 25 November 2021 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Armenia 2–0 19–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
56 10–0
57 12–0
58 17–0
59 18–0
60 105 7 April 2022 Elbasan Arena, Elbasan, Albania  Albania 2–0 5–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
61 4–0
62 106 12 April 2022 Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina, Kosovo  Kosovo 2–0 6–1 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
63 3–0
64 4–0
65 5–0
66 108 23 June 2022 Herman Vanderpoortenstadion, Lier, Belgium  Northern Ireland 1–0 3–1 Friendly
67 3–1
68 115 6 September 2022 Yerevan Football Academy Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia  Armenia 4–0 7–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
69 116 6 October 2022 Estádio do FC Vizela, Vizela, Portugal  Portugal 1–1 2–1 2023 FIFA WC Qualy play-offs
70 117 13 November 2022 Joseph Marien Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  Slovakia 3–0 7–0 Friendly
71 6–0
72 118 16 February 2023 Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, England  Italy 2–1 2–1 2023 Arnold Clark Cup
73 119 19 February 2023 Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry, England  South Korea 1–1 2–1
74 121 11 April 2023 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Slovenia 1–1 2–2 Friendly
75 2–1
76 125 31 October 2023  England 2–2 3–2 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League
77 3–2
78 128 23 February 2024 Pancho Aréna, Felcsút, Hungary  Hungary 2–1 5–1 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League play-offs
79 4–1
80 129 27 February 2024 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Hungary 1–1 5–1
81 2–1
82 3–1
83 132 31 May 2024 Eden Arena, Prague, Czech Republic  Czech Republic 1–0 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying
84 137 29 October 2024 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Greece 2–0 5–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-offs
85 3–0
86 138 29 November 2024 Mardan Sports Complex, Antalya, Turkey  Ukraine 2–0 2–0
87 139 3 December 2024 Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium  Ukraine 2–1 2–1

Honours

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Zulte Waregem

Anderlecht

Standard Liège

VfL Wolfsburg

Manchester City

Belgium

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Al onze Red Flames" [All our Red Flames]. RBFA (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "En dat is 85! Tessa Wullaert klimt op gelijke (en eenzame) hoogte met Lukaku in Belgische topschutterstand" [And that's 85! Tessa Wullaert climbs to the same (and lonely) height as Lukaku in the Belgian top scorer rankings]. Sporza (in Dutch). 30 October 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  3. ^ 2011–12 squad Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine in Zulte Waregem's website -> Info DZW -> Speelsters
  4. ^ "Standard Liege are BeNe League champions" (in Dutch). BeNeLeague.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Tessa Wullaert switches Standard Liège for Wolfsburg" (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Manchester City Women sign Tessa Wullaert from Wolfsburg". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  7. ^ "Tessa Wullaert: Manchester City's Belgium forward to leave club". BBC Sport. 26 June 2020.
  8. ^ Oatway, Caroline. "Tessa Wullaert to depart". www.mancity.com.
  9. ^ "Wow! Wullaert tekent contract in Nederland: "Mooi project" (Foto)".
  10. ^ "Weergaloze Wullaert scoort 7 goals in monsterzege Fortuna Sittard en vestigt Eredivisie-record" (in Dutch). Sporza. 22 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Red Flame Tessa Wullaert maakt toptransfer naar Inter". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 7 June 2024.
  12. ^ a b c "Big winners of the Eredivisie Awards: Luuk de Jong, Tessa Wullaert, Johan Bakayoko, and Lily Yohannes". Eredivisie. 2 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Toptransfer voor Tessa Wullaert: Gouden Schoen tekent tot 2026 bij Inter". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 7 June 2024.
  14. ^ Quick-fire goals beat Belgium and keep Italy perfect. UEFA
  15. ^ Profile in UEFA's website
  16. ^ Tessa Wullaert scores for the Red Devils against Northern Ireland. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch)
  17. ^ (in French) Euro féminin : qualifiées pour les quarts, les Red Flames ont déjà tout gagné
  18. ^ (in French) Euro féminin - Suède-Belgique : Les Red Flames éliminées en quart de finale dans les toutes dernières secondes
  19. ^ (in French) Les Red Flames remportent la Pinatar Cup face à la Russie, le tout premier trophée de leur histoire
  20. ^ "Red Flames veroveren hoofdtrofee in Pinatar Cup na penaltythriller" [Red Flames claim top trophy in Pinatar Cup after penalty thriller]. Sporza (in Dutch). 22 February 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  21. ^ "Tessa Wullaert égale le record de Romelu Lukaku: "C'est mon job de marquer des buts"" [Tessa Wullaert equals Romelu Lukaku's record: "It's my job to score goals"]. 7sur7.be (in French). 30 October 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  22. ^ "Het EK is bijna binnen: Red Flames boeken belangrijke zege tegen Oekraïne na laat doelpunt van Tessa Wullaert" [European Championship is almost here: Red Flames book important victory against Ukraine after late goal from Tessa Wullaert]. Sporza (in Dutch). 29 November 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  23. ^ "Red Flames dansen, zingen en glunderen na EK-kwalificatie: "Zeer belangrijk voor ons vrouwenvoetbal"" [Red Flames dance, sing and beam after European Championship qualification: "Very important for our women's football"]. Sporza (in Dutch). 5 December 2024.
  24. ^ "Het EK is binnen! Red Flames klaren ook laatste klus tegen Oekraïne na knappe goal en assist van Tessa Wullaert" [The European Championship is here! Red Flames complete final task against Ukraine after a great goal and assist from Tessa Wullaert]. Sporza (in Dutch). 5 December 2024.
  25. ^ "THE STATS BEHIND THE IVES SERNEELS' 150 CAPS". RBFA. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  26. ^ "Royal Belgian FA".
  27. ^ "Standard-spits Tessa Wullaert valt in de prijzen". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 5 May 2014.
  28. ^ "Eerste Sparkle is voor Tessa Wullaert!". vrouwenvoetbal.be (in Dutch). 2015.
  29. ^ "Toby Alderweireld zet kroon op Antwerpse feestavond met Gouden Schoen, Tessa Wullaert wint vierde bij de vrouwen" (in Dutch). Sporza. 18 January 2024.
  30. ^ "Deniz Undav is Profvoetballer & Tessa Wullaert Profvoetbalster van het Jaar". SPORZA. 23 May 2022.
  31. ^ "Voetbalster Wullaert vestigt Eredivisie-record: zeven goals in één wedstrijd". hartvannederland.nl (in Dutch). 22 March 2024.
  32. ^ "Voetbalster Tessa Wullaert gehuldigd als ereburger van Harelbeke". VRT (in Dutch). 22 June 2024.
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