On Monday, Lyon teammates Ellie Carpenter and Daniëlle van de Donk announced their engagement after dating for about a year– exciting news for soccer fans and lesbians everywhere!
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Posing by the ocean, van de Donk showed off her gorgeous new ring as the couple celebrated the New Year as fiancés.
Carpenter, 23, plays for the Australian National Team while van de Donk, 32, plays for the Dutch National team. The two are both players for the French D1 Féminine club Lyon, which Carpenter has played for since 2020, and van de Donk since 2021.
The comment section was quickly flooded with love and congratulations from family, friends, teammates, and fans.
“FINALLY!!,” Lyon teammate and Canadian national team player Vanessa Gilles wrote.
Matildas’ captain and Chelsea star Sam Kerr, who also recently proposed to USWNT player Kristie Mewis, wrote, “Let’s goooooo” before adding in a second comment, “Congrats guys xx”.
“Congratssss,” also wrote Australia teammate Emily Van Egmond.
“My bbbbbbyyyyyys,” US team captain Lindsey Horan, who also plays for Lyon, commented.
The overwhelmingly positive news comes after Carpenter made headlines for speaking out against online hate that professional soccer players face.
After the Matildas were defeated by England in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup, a match played in their home country, Carpenter had to disable her Instagram comments due to negative feedback stemming from a critical error she made in the 71st minute of the game. Carpenter miscalculated a high pass, which led to Lauren Hemp taking a shot on goal, ultimately benefiting the opposing team.
She shared her experiences with online harassment before Australia’s upcoming Olympic Games qualifier against Iran, scheduled for Thursday.
“You see it [online abuse] everywhere, in different leagues and different sports codes as well,” Carpenter said. “Obviously it’s a problem. And I know a lot of people are trying to make apps and platforms to try and stop abuse and things like that, so that’s good that people are aware of it and are trying to change it.”
Luckily, it looks like 2024 is bringing nothing but exciting things for both Carpenter and van de Donk!
