van DONGEN Merel

General
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
In 2020 she began the social media campaign 'You Can Count On Me' in support of gay footballers who want to come out. She was inspired to start the campaign after a British newspaper received an anonymous letter from a gay male professional footballer. "It's not up to me to tell him he has to come out. All we can do as a society is let him and others know it's okay. I see it as our duty to say, 'If you're ready, we'll be there for you'. For myself, I have never been approached, never felt not accepted and there has never been a sponsor who did not want to work with me because of my sexual orientation. I don't think that will happen so quickly in men's football. But maybe I misjudge that. I would have loved to have come out as the first [gay] male football player. I would love to show the good and beautiful sides of coming out. At the same time, it's also kind of an honourable position to be the first. I think you leave a huge legacy. I hope gay footballers will see it as an opportunity too. I would have gladly taken that chance if I had been a male football player." (ad.nl, 31 Dec 2020; trouw.nl, 20 Jul 2020)

FURTHER STUDIES
She has studied for a master's degree in work and organisational psychology at the Open University of the Netherlands. (merelvandongen.com, 2020)

US MOVE
In July 2012 she moved to Alabama, United States of America, in order to study psychology and play football for the university. (merelvandongen.com, 2020)