Wellington Phoenix midfielder Tessel Middag provided insight into the ongoing push for full-time professionalism in the A-League Women, recalling her own experiences in the Netherlands during her national team’s push for better working standards a decade ago, on the latest episode of ‘The Unused Subs’.
In 2017, women’s football changed forever in the Netherlands.
The Oranje stunned the footballing world when they ended Germany’s run of six consecutive UEFA Women’s Championship crowns, by winning the tournament on home soil.
One of the players who witnessed this first-hand was Wellington Phoenix’s Tessel Middag.
Unfortunately, Middag missed the Euros due to tearing her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) on the eve of the competition, but she had a front row seat to how the national team’s success translated into a groundswell of support for women’s football across the country.
Not only that, it turned heads among the powers at be in Dutch football.
But as Middag spoke about on the latest episode of ‘The Unused Subs’, it was only two years earlier that those same people who occupied those seats of power were unconvinced about the value of the soon-to-be European powerhouses when the Dutch women’s players came to the table asking for fair compensation.
Listen to the full episode here.
“Back home around 2015, we were sitting down with the Dutch FA (Football Association) talking about a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement),” Middag recalls.
“They were surprised that we had an agency representing us. They were like: ‘why can’t we just talk to you directly?’ They were a bit afraid asking ‘what are they going to demand?’ But all we wanted was proper facilities, to be paid, to be compensated properly.
“In 2017, when we won the Euros, only then did they see the value of the Dutch women’s national team, and the whole country getting behind them, and Oranje marches to the stadium… only then did they realise the full potential.”
Middag’s journey in women’s football has never been straight forward and has faced different challenges during her career at many of the different top clubs she has played at across Europe – including Ajax, Manchester City, Rangers, West Ham and Fiorentina.
But despite the frustrations and roadblocks along the way, its the continuous doubt in the women’s game that’s motivated the 44-time Dutch international to keep up the good fight, who shed light on those challenges during her playing career.
“Part of me thinks there’s a bit of beauty in struggle. I was kept motivated by people maybe doubting us or not investing in us enough. I’m motivated to prove them wrong.
“At other times, it’s deeply frustrating and I’ve had this at every single club. I remembered actually asking the people high up [at Ajax] ‘what is your plan for the women’s game?’ Because it was frustrating. We wanted to train more, but we couldn’t. So we wanted to improve. We wanted to get better. We wanted to get to the Champions League, and they basically said to us: ‘well watch your tongue… Be grateful that there’s a women’s team’. So that was the attitudes we were met with and that is only 10-15 years ago.
“A lot has changed. Ajax is now one of the better run clubs in the country when it comes to the women’s program, including the whole academy, and so I can’t fault them now, but it just shows where we came from, not that long ago.
“It’s partly motivating to try and prove them wrong, and partly frustrating at times, because I’ve been in so many conversations, even at Rangers a few years ago, literally someone higher up asking the question: ‘well, do you have any suggestions on how to bring more money to the club’ or ‘how you can be more profitable?’ I’m like, well: ‘I don’t have a background in marketing. I don’t have a background in sponsoring. This is your job. I’m here to play football!’ And this is only two-three years ago.
“We’re part of this as female footballers. I’ve been part of conversations that I know my new counterparts have never been part of, and never had to think about it. Even how can we get more people coming to the stadium? Well, you know, I don’t know, I’ll focus playing my football as best as I can, and hopefully that will attract people, because we want to play good entertaining football, that makes people want to follow us, but yeah, just to give a bit of an insight on a bit of the unique side of the women’s game, where you have to prove your existence over and over again.”
Now, in 2026, Middag is plying her trade for Wellington and has entered a competition at a crossroads, with all players across the A-League Women still not being compensated on a full-time basis and on 12 month contracts.
In an eerily similar parallel to her home country, this comes despite a similar groundswell of support – that Middag witnessed back home – for the Australian and New Zealand women’s national teams off the back of a highly successful 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The World Cup smashed attendance and TV records and captured the imagination, particularly of the Australian public during the Matildas’ run to the semi-finals.
Middag – who as she described is ‘one of the lucky ones’ being paid a full-time wage – she has seen the ongoing struggle for her teammates who have had to try balance their football commitments with earning a living.
“I don’t need to work a job in order to pay my bills. But that’s not a reality for many players in our team,” she said.
“We’ve got players who work 20 hours a week elsewhere, and when we would get a day off, which would be given to recover mentally and physically from travel and hard sessions and games, they would have to go in and work a 9-5 job, and when we’re away, they have to get up at 6am to try and align with the time zones back in New Zealand and join meetings and stuff like that.
“It’s tough, if we want to move to women’s game forwards, and deliver this elite product, it’s full-time contracts, its players who can focus on their main job: football, and can rest when appropriate. I’m all for education and getting work experience, and I think that’s very important, but I think it’s different when you have 20 hours or, in some cases, even more responsibility elsewhere, because it’s always going to go at the cost of something.
“We have to find a solution for those three months that we’re unpaid for as well and investment in women’s football and women’s sports is always worth it. Women’s football is on the rise worldwide, and it’s only going to get bigger.”
One of the key pillars – Effective Fan Engagement – talks to the big fanbase that does exist in the women’s space and needs to be tapped into more with a professional product to offer the fans.
“It’s very family friendly. It’s more inclusive, LGBT friendly,” Middag said speaking about the women’s football fanbase.
“I don’t know enough about the men and women’s game in Australia and New Zealand, but there’s a whole new audience that women’s football can attract which I think definitely clubs and leagues and sponsors can tap into and probably haven’t done enough of so far, but hopefully we will see a bit more of [that].”
Wellington have been able to tap into their women’s football fan market during their time in the A-League Women, with strong crowds at many of their home games.
“The dream would be to be able to fill Sky Stadium for the men’s and for the women’s games as well, to try and increase that fan base. I think at Poriura Park, we’ve got an amazing atmosphere, the Yellow Fever, the hardcore fans here are fantastic,” Middag said.
“But there’s also a lot of kids and families and I think we would love to keep that going and grow different base as well.
“I think there’s so much opportunity here. I know the report (Ready for Takeoff) focuses mainly on Australia, because it’s the PFA Australia, and we play in an Australian league, but I think definitely here in New Zealand, we’ve got so much opportunity as well.”
In an added boost, Middag and her teammates have access to some of the best training facilities in the competition, with Wellington training at the state-of-the-art NZCIS Sports Hub.
These facilities – in fact – played a huge role in Middag deciding to come to Wellington this season, which have also helped her during her rehabilitation from yet another ACL tear at the beginning of the campaign.
“That was a big part of my decision to to come to New Zealand, knowing that I would be able to train, and play at such a high quality facility,” she said.
“I’ve thought about it [rehab facilities] as well. What if I get injured? Do I have the right facilities? So that is not something that I didn’t think about before coming here, because football is a very vulnerable job. Bodies are vulnerable, so I think about it every time I make a decision about clubs, and I had to learn that the hard way with my first ACL injury, but that is a big reason why I wanted to come here.
“Because it doesn’t just mean that you have access to a gym all the time, and a good gym, and good grass pitches, and then there’s pools and things like that, but also it shows the level of commitment from the people higher up towards the men and the women’s team.
“To me, it showed that they were taking me, and also the women’s team seriously. I wish for every player in A-League too have facilities like we do, but I know some stories from players who may have played at other clubs in the A-League, that’s not a case. So there’s a lot of different realities within the A-League.
“But in terms of facilities, I think, Wellington Phoenix is setting a very high standard. I can’t judge [other facilities] because I haven’t seen every training ground, but I believe that it’s probably maybe together with Melbourne City’s, the best in the A-League, which is amazing that we can profit from that here in Wellington.”
