Sophie Van De Heuvel

Sophie Van De Heuvel (born 10 December 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). A cricketer as well as a footballer, she competed in both sports at the national level in her junior career. Van De Heuvel was the second selection in the 2018 AFL Women's draft and debuted in the opening round of the 2019 AFL Women's season.

Early life Van De Heuvel grew up in Ballarat and attended Loreto College. She came from a sporting family: her father Mark Van De Heuvel played football for Sebastopol and cricket for Golden Point, her mother Melinda Brown played netball and indoor cricket, and her brother played football and cricket. Van De Heuvel primarily focussed on football and cricket, but also played netball early in her junior career. She cited dual-sport athlete Jess Duffin as a role model she planned to emulate.

Cricket In her junior career, Van De Heuvel was a right-arm fast bowler, described as an all-rounder. She attended the Under-15 Girls National Championships in 2015 and was named the third-best player of the series. In 2016, Van De Heuvel began to play for Plenty Valley Cricket Club in Victoria Premier Cricket and won the competition's best first-year player award. She focussed on netball until she played in the under-14 boys football competition. She represented Vic Country at the 2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships and was named in the All-Australian side. Van De Heuvel was also named in the TAC Cup Girls team of the year and played five VFL Women's matches for Williamstown Football Club. At the AFLW draft combine, she won the left-side running vertical jump with a leap of 70 centimetres. Ahead of the 2018 AFLW draft, Van De Heuvel was predicted to be taken with one of Geelong's first selections.

AFLW career Van De Heuvel was drafted by Geelong with the second selection in the 2018 AFL Women's draft. She received the guernsey number 27, a tribute to her father's footballing career with Sebastopol wearing 27.

In May 2022, Van De Heuvel joined expansion club Essendon.

Personal life Van De Heuvel was in a relationship with Australian influencer Sophie Cachia in 2023.

Statistics Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season.

7 1 0 25 18 43 7 14 0.1 0.0 3.6 2.6 6.1 1.0 2.0 0