At 27 years old, Victoria Pelova still has her prime years ahead of her. Her career has spanned the last five years in England, having previously represented Ajax and ADO Den Haag in her native Netherlands. A UEFA Women’s Champions League winner and FIFA Women’s World Cup runner-up, most players with achievements like that on their CV would be among the first names on the team sheet. For Pelova, however, game time has been hard to come by over the last couple of seasons.
Granted, injury played a significant part in 2024/25, with Pelova making just 36 appearances across the last two seasons. Having recovered from an ACL injury in time to contribute towards the end of Renée Slegers’ first season in charge, she then fell down the pecking order in the campaign just gone, starting only seven league games as Arsenal roared to a second-place finish.
It was announced in May 2026 that Pelova will depart Arsenal at the end of her contract, having fallen further behind Kim Little, Mariona Caldentey, Frida Maanum and Kyra Cooney Cross in the pecking order under Slegers. Pelova also faced profound personal loss, revealing in an emotional statement on social media that her mother had passed away.
On the pitch, Pelova is a player who can be deployed across midfield and out wide on the right when needed, and most Arsenal fans would point to the 2023/24 campaign as her standout season in the famous red shirt. In her second season at the club, she lifted the FA Women’s League Cup, courtesy of Stina Blackstenius’ dramatic 116th-minute winner at Molineux.
That season, Pelova appeared in 33 games across all competitions, contributing two goals and six assists as an integral part of Jonas Eidevall’s plans at Arsenal, before an ACL rupture in July 2024 cruelly halted her progress on both the club and international stage for the then 25-year-old.
Pelova’s lengthy spell on the sidelines coincided with a managerial change at Arsenal, with Renée Slegers first replacing Jonas Eidevall on an interim basis in October 2024 before being appointed permanently as Head Coach in January 2025, ahead of the Dutch midfielder’s return in a 4-0 victory over Liverpool on 22 March 2025.
Looking back at Pelova’s early years, it’s clear to see she had an eye for goal, scoring 11 goals in 24 games while playing in a more advanced role for Den Haag during the 2017/18 season. Another impressive campaign earned her a move to Dutch giants Ajax ahead of the COVID-curtailed 2019/20 season, where she made 12 appearances before football, and the world, ground to a halt. She also made her senior international debut in 2019, just two years after lighting up the U19 European Championships, earning a place in the Team of the Tournament and scoring twice as the Netherlands reached the semi-finals.
Pelova lifted silverware in three of her four seasons in Amsterdam, winning the Eredivisie Cup in 2020/21, the KNVB Women’s Cup in 2021/22 and the Eredivisie title in 2022/23. She also shone on the international stage during this period, collecting 27 of her 70 caps across 2023 and 2024 and, to date, representing the Netherlands at one World Cup, two European Championships and the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, which took place in 2021.
Upon joining Arsenal in January of 2023, Pelova was thrust straight into the action, 21 appearances and a League Cup winners medal gave her a dream start to life in England, lifting the same trophy again the following season, as mentioned earlier.
She was also part of the side that delivered arguably Arsenal’s most magical moment of the last 20 years, winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Lisbon last summer, marking a dream comeback from the ACL rupture that had brought her career to a temporary halt.
Where the future lies
Reports from Tim Stillman have suggested that Pelova could be set to make the switch across North London to join Tottenham Hotspur, in what would represent something of a coup for Martin Ho’s side, particularly if they can help the Dutch midfielder rediscover the levels she was producing before her ACL injury.
All football fans want to see players happy and performing at their best, and those who hold Pelova close to their hearts may not relish the prospect of a move to a direct rival, but if it guarantees that smile returns to the 27-year-old’s face and allows her to rediscover her best form, it will be hard to begrudge her.
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