Frédérique Matla’s Quiet Brilliance: The Goal Machine Who Doesn’t Count the Goals

Frédérique Matla will be forever known as one European hockey’s greatest goalscorers but it is a title which does not linger her memories.

In the lead-up to the ABN AMRO EHL FINALS at Easter, another article appeared about her incredible statistics – 100 Hoofdklasse goals at Oosterplas; 21 hat tricks; up to seventh in the all-time women’s scorers charts.

Every few months, she breaks another record; in the EHL, she has already amassed 17 goals in 11 games since 2021, bringing in three gold and a silver. It adds to four EuroHockey Club Cup golds between 2013 and 2019 along with a couple of silvers. She has scored in each of the last four EHL finals she has contested.

Indeed, the Den Bosch star has collected medals at a rate that would satisfy even the most statistics‑obsessed striker. But that’s just the thing: Matla isn’t one of them. She celebrates moments, emotions, snapshots in her mind, not numbers on a screen.

“I’m not even good at knowing what score it was or what goals we made,” she laughs. “I don’t even remember the goals I scored earlier this season. I remember the images, the crowd going crazy, the shouting, the shirts we wore, the parties afterwards.”

It’s a refreshing approach for whom the statistics, she insists, aren’t the point. And perhaps that’s because her journey to becoming one of Europe’s most feared finishers is something of an accident.

Until 2017, Matla wasn’t a striker at all.

“Up until my first cap in the national team, I always played midfield,” she says. “I never scored back then. My first game as a striker was actually my first cap, and from my second cap I started scoring and just never stopped.”

The change altered her career forever, bringing over 350 already for club and country, but it also brought pressure.

I remember the images, the crowd going crazy, the shouting, the shirts we wore, the parties afterwards.”

Den Bosch’s Frédérique Matla

“When people started judging me on goals, that was hard. Suddenly statistics mattered, and that wasn’t normal for me. For two years it really affected me.”

That phase is long gone. Today she plays with clarity and a sense of joy that overrides the numbers.

“I know what my value is,” she says. “If I can help with goals, amazing. But giving a great assist? Celebrating loudly for someone else? That means as much to me. I’m quite a humble person; I’d rather cheer for my teammates than for myself.”

She is looking forward to Den Bosch’s second successive hosting of the EHL from April 1st to 6th with the home club awaiting the winner of either Watsonians or Railway Union in the FINAL8.

Matla’s European journey began in 2013 as a 16‑year‑old midfielder thrown into the deep end as they won gold at Bloemendaal against Laren in the final, a match she remembers mainly for having a terrible stomach ache.

“You don’t realise how big it is at that age,” she says. “You just go with the flow. I was perfectionistic, but also very calm. I just did my thing!”

Her early memories are blurred, but the emotions are intact: “the big finals, the rivalries with Laren and Amsterdam, the home crowds before the stadium expansion, the parties afterwards, the feeling of being part of something special.”

Those are the things she carries – not who scored, or when, or how many.

For the moment, her side is now also facing a reasonably unique challenge, playing catch-up on their rivals SCHC after a difficult first half of the season.

Den Bosch spent the winter break in a rare position outside the top three of the Hoofdklasse after winning “only” five of their first ten games. Injuries to key players including Emma Reijnen and Lara Nunnink stretched the squad and disrupted rhythm while Maartje Krekelaar also picked up a knee injury during the indoor season..

“This season didn’t flow naturally at the start,” Matla says. “Years before, things just happened so easily. But for me, it’s a nice challenge one which he haven’t really had before. I’m studying organisational psychology so maybe that helps me see it positively.”

Since the winter break, the team has clicked with three wins from three despite a very limited preparation time between Pro League and EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup tournaments.

Krekelaar and Reijnen are fighting to return soon; Nunnink will need more time, but the squad feels its momentum shifting as they go in pursuit of a fourth EHL Women’s title.

“The atmosphere is very good,” Matla says. “We’re happy with how we’re building. We want to work our way back to the top two.”

This Sunday brings the matchup everyone circles on the calendar: unbeaten SCHC.

“It’s always heated,” Matla says. “We see a lot of them twice a week in the national team, then again on Sunday. Both teams want nothing more than to fight for championships. It goes deep!”

The timing adds intrigue: just two weeks before the EHL finals.

“You don’t want to give too much away,” she admits. “Euro Hockey League is more important than this competition game. Both teams know they will be in the playoffs anyway, so we will keep some cards to ourself!

“We want to see where we’re at before the EHL and these are the nicest games to play.”

Last year, Den Bosch knocked out SCHC in the FINAL8 and then survived a shootout thriller against Gantoise on their way to the title. This season, the path may again run through SCHC, but this time only in the final.

“It’s good we can meet them later in the tournament,” Matla says with a smile. “Those games are intense but amazing for the crowd.” And maybe she will add some goals along the way. She may not track them… but everyone else does!

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