The women of PSV have never taken the national title, but this season they want to write history. The PSV Women can also qualify for the final of the TOTO KNVB Cup on Tuesday evening, at the expense of Feyenoord. Melanie Bross (27) from Heesch is a fixed value in the defense and sees PSV taking huge steps: “Now that we are so close, we want to win prizes.”
In club history, the women of PSV only took the cup in 2021. Melanie Bross was part of the selection that year. She also hopes to win the cup this year, but the national title is at the top of her wish list. With three games to go, PSV has as many points as leader FC Twente, but the goal balance of PSV is slightly less: +42 compared to +37. Ajax follows a point. FC Twente and Ajax still meet this competition.
“Every match is a final for us,” says Bross. “We have to win all competitions, we can’t do more. In advance, the goal was to join the top, but now we really want to bring prizes.”
PSV Women program:
15-04: Feyenoord from (cup) 20-04: SC Heerenveen (home) 03-05: Fortuna Sittard (off) 17-05: Feyenoord (off)
Her fifth season in Eindhoven service is the best year for PSV for the time being. “We are a close team, which before has been different. The selection is a mix of talented and experienced players,” she says. And with Roeland ten Berge, according to Bross, there is an excellent trainer for the group.
That she has been running for years in the top of the Netherlands was never a dream of the defender from Heesch. She took her first steps on the football field at the age of 5 at the local HVCH Association. “I played football with the boys up to and including the C1. Then I left for the Center for Topsport and Education (CTO) in Eindhoven where I played football with only girls. Then the Dutch national team under the age of 16 came my way and for the first time the feeling that I could continue in football.”
Bross then opted for the then professional club Achilles’29 and two years later for SC Heerenveen. “They warned me that all Frisians were stiff, but I thought everyone was very nice. In addition to playing football, I worked in a hotel for two days, nice to be a bit among people. I didn’t know anyone outside of my teammates.”
After two seasons, PSV knocked on the door. “The perfect step for me and I was able to go back to Heesch. PSV was further than Heerenveen in all areas, although we had a talented team there. In Eindhoven everything is perfectly arranged and the facilities are top, such as a big gym and always video analyzes. On the field I had trouble hooking up, but luckily I was in the base quite quickly.”
“The ideal route followed towards the top.”
Many players aspire to a foreign adventure, but Bross is something else in it. “I went through a nice development and walked an ideal route towards the top of the Netherlands. I don’t have the ambition to go abroad. At PSV I am in the right place, although we have to keep playing the prizes. But suppose a nice foreign club is coming, then I will think about it.”
The football star also has a different purpose. “The Dutch national team is still tickling. I am getting a little older and it is often talents who come to the team, but I keep doing my best.”