Lieske Carleer

Lieske Carleer (born 16 April 2001) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Netherlands national team. She played college soccer in the United States for the Arizona State Sun Devils, where she was a two-time All-Pac-12 selection. She has also previously played for Eredivisie club FC Twente.

Early life Carleer was born and raised in Winterswijk, Netherlands. She is one of three children born to former professional ice skaters Bart Carleer and Grietje Mulder. She started her footballing career at FC Trias before also joining FC Twente's youth academy. She spent a portion of her youth splitting time between both teams, often attending matches and trainings on alternate days for the respective clubs. She was forced to leave FC Twente after three years due to the club shutting down its girls academy. At age 15, Carleer moved to Eindhoven to play at the CTO Eindhoven regional training center.

College career When Carleer was 16 years old, she was invited to visit Arizona State University after the Arizona State Sun Devils women's soccer coach took notice of her at the Under-17 European Championship. She moved to the United States in 2019, slotting into a Sun Devils backline that had had three starters graduate the previous year. In her freshman season, Carleer started in all 17 of her appearances and also recorded 2 assists. In the following season, which was delayed to the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she earned second team All-Pac-12 honors after contributing to a strong defensive year in which Arizona State only allowed six goals across its opening nine matches.

Club career

FC Twente Near the end of her Arizona State career, Carleer reached out to her former youth club, FC Twente. She went on to help Twente win the Eredivisie title, the KNVB Women's Cup, and the . In the Eredivisie Cup final, she scored the stoppage-time game-winner to lift Twente to a 3–2 win over PSV. She set personal career highs, starting in all 21 of her appearances, scoring 2 goals, and tallying 2 assists. On 25 March 2025, she re-signed with FC Twente on a new contract lasting until the summer of 2027. She also gained UEFA Women's Champions League experience while at Twente.

VfL Wolfsburg On 9 July 2026, German Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg announced that they had acquired Carleer on a transfer from Twente and signed her to a three-year contract until 2029.

International career Carleer started her international career with the Netherlands U17 national team, eventually captaining the side. Carleer then moved up to the under-19s and participated in the 2019 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, in which the Netherlands made it to the semifinals before being eliminated by Germany.

Carleer received her first call-up to the Netherlands senior national team in October 2025, as a member of the first-ever Oranje squad selected by newly appointed manager Arjan Veurink. She was an unused substitute in both of the Netherlands' friendly matches that window, first against Poland and then against Canada.

Honors and awards FC Twente

Vrouwen Eredivisie: 2023–24, 2024–25 KNVB Women's Cup: 2024–25, 2025–26 2023–24 Dutch Women's Super Cup: 2024, 2025

Individual

Second-team All-Pac-12: 2020, 2023