Janou Levels (born 30 October 2000) is a Dutch professional football player who plays as a defender for Liga F club Real Madrid. Levels has captained the Netherlands women's national under-23 football team, and she has been capped for the Netherlands national team once. She previously played for Dutch teams CTO [nl] and PSV.

Club career

Levels started playing football at the age of five for SHH Herten.[2] At the age of 14, she moved to CTO [nl] in Eindhoven.[2]

At the age of 17, Levels signed for PSV ahead of the 2018–19 Eredivisie season.[3][4] She was a part of the PSV team that lost the 2020 Eredivisie Cup Final to FC Twente.[5] In April 2020, she signed a new contract with PSV.[6] In the 2020–21 KNVB Women's Cup Final against ADO Den Haag, Levels conceded a peculiar penalty for handball. The ball touched her hand in the 18-yard box, when she raised it to appeal for supposed handball by her opponent.[7][8] Nevertheless, PSV won the match 1–0, and earned their first major honour.[9] In April 2021, she signed a new three-year contract with the club.[10] In total, she made 117 appearances for PSV in five seasons with the club. In June 2023, Levels was transferred to Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.[11]

On 11 July 2026, it was announced that Levels had signed a four-year deal with Liga F club Real Madrid until June 2030.[12]

International career

In October 2021, Levels was named to the Netherlands women's national football team for the first time.[13] The next month, she made her senior debut in a match against Japan.[14] She was in the Dutch squad for three matches in February 2022.[15]

Personal life

Levels grew up in Herten, Netherlands.[16] She is the daughter of Jo Levels, who played for VVV-Venlo.[10]