Merete Pedersen

Merete Pedersen (born 30 June 1973) is a Danish former international footballer striker who the Danish national team. She played for clubs in Denmark, Germany, and Italy. Pedersen represented the Danish national team for fifteen years, taking part in the 1999 and 2007 World Cups, the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1997, 2001 and 2005 European Championships. She quit the national team for a time following the disappointment of the missed qualification for the 2007 World Cup in China. Pedersen won 136 caps with and scored 65 for the Danish national team. She was inducted into the Danish Football Hall of Fame in 2024, the first OB player to receive the honour.

Club career Pedersen started playing football at Jerlev IF at four years old. She subsequently played for Ammitsbøl, and at 13 joined Jelling, before starting her professional career with Elitedivisionen club Vejle B in the '90s. In 1995 Pedersen moved to another Elitedivisionen club, OB, where she played until 1999. Pedersen made her first move abroad to German Bundesliga club TSV Siegen in 1999 where she played for one season before returning to OB in 2000 for another three seasons. Pedersen moved abroad once more in 2003 to sign with Italian Serie A club Torres CF, whom she would represent until 2006. Following this, Pedersen concluded her playing career with a final return to OB in 2006 where she played until 2009. Pedersen participated in the UEFA Women's Cup while with both Odense and Torres.

International career In September 2008 Pedersen scored the only goal in Denmark's 1–0 win over Ukraine to secure her country's place at UEFA Women's Euro 2009. It was her tenth goal of the qualifying series. Ahead of the final tournament she retired from international football, stating that she did not wish to sit on the substitute's bench as a 36–year–old and would prefer to concentrate on her career as a teacher. With 65 goals in 136 senior internationals she was the team's all–time top goalscorer, before her record was broken by Pernille Harder on 16 September 2021 with Harder's 66th goal.

International goals No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 2. 3 July 1997 Lillestrøm, Norway 2–1 2–2 UEFA Women's Euro 1997 3. 18 March 1999 Albufeira, Portugal 2–0 5–0 1999 Algarve Cup 4. 20 March 1999 Loulé, Portugal 2–2 2–2 (1–4 p) 5. 29 September 1999 Odense, Denmark 1–0 2–4 UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualifying 6. 10 November 1999 1–0 6–0 7. 4–0 8. 16 March 2000 lagos, Portugal ?–0 2–0 2000 Algarve Cup 9. 18 March 2000 Lagoa, Portugal 1–1 2–3 10. 24 May 2000 Novi Sad, Serbia 3–0 8–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualifying 11. 13 March 2001 Olhão, Portugal 3–0 6–0 2001 Algarve Cup 12. 30 September 2001 Malmö, Sweden 1–1 1–4 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 13. 13 October 2001 Vantaa, Finland 3–0 6–0 14. 6–0 15. 20 April 2002 Gossau, Switzerland 3–1 4–1 16. 18 April 2004 Lucena, Spain 1–0 1–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2005 qualifying 17. 26 September 2004 Aalborg, Denmark 1–0 6–0 18. 2–0 19. 3–0 20. 6–0 21. 29 September 2004 Katwijk, Netherlands 1–0 5–1 22. 15 March 2005 Algarve, Portugal 1–0 1–2 2005 Algarve Cup 23. 27 August 2005 Słupsk, Poland 1–0 5–1 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 24. 2–0 25. 4–0 26. 5–0 27. 25 September 2005 Farum, Denmark 1–0 3–0 28. 2–0 29. 26 March 2006 Ath, Belgium 1–0 2–0 30. 2–0 31. 27 April 2006 Viborg, Denmark 1–0 5–0 32. 7 May 2006 Brøndbyvester, Denmark 1–0 3–1 33. 7 March 2007 Silves, Portugal 4–0 4–0 2007 Algarve Cup 34. 27 October 2007 Viborg, Denmark 1–0 5–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying 35. 5–1 36. 31 October 2007 Perth, Scotland 1–0 1–0 37. 5 March 2008 Faro, Portugal 1–0 1–0 2008 Algarve Cup 38. 27 April 2008 Viborg, Denmark 2–1 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying 39. 8 May 2008 Fão, Portugal 3–0 4–0 40. 4–0 41. 28 May 2008 Viborg, Denmark 2–0 6–1 42. 4–1 43. 6–1 44. 1 October 2008 1–0 1–0 45. 6 March 2009 Lagos, Portugal 2–0 2–0 2009 Algarve Cup