She spent most of her professional career playing in the Swedish league Damallsvenskan, which she won three times with her club LdB FC Malmö, in 2010, 2011, and 2013.

In 2016, she moved to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the US, playing for Seattle Reign for one season, before retiring from professional football.

She supported Feyenoord, one of her father's clubs, from an early age and has said that Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Henrik Larsson were her favourite players during her youth.

She wished to focus fully on football, but this offer meant that she would also have to find other work, which seemed daunting because she was unable to speak German fluently.

[21] She later recalled that the women's game was far more advanced in Sweden than in the Netherlands, both in terms of professionalism, exemplified by the frequency and intensity of training, and media coverage.

[9] Malmö had finished in fourth place in the twelve-team league the previous season and signed her to challenge defending champions Umeå IK.

[27] In her second season at Malmö, Melis scored the first equalising goal in a 2–2 draw with Umeå, who ended up winning the league again, their fourth consecutive title.

[40] In her first Supercup, held just prior to the start of the 2011 Damallsvenskan season between league champions Malmö and cup winners Örebro, Melis scored the winning goal in extra time.

[48] With three games to play Melis scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Kristianstad, keeping Malmö close to league leaders Tyresö and rivals Göteborg and Umeå.

[50] Melis finished the season as Damallsvenskan's top scorer, with 16 goals from 21 games, sharing the honour with Kristianstad's Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir.

[25][53][54] In November 2011, Melis announced she was moving from Malmö to Sky Blue FC, based in Harrison, New Jersey, to play in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league.

[55] Sky Blue FC head coach Jim Gabarra said that because the WPS defences were quick and physical he needed a fast forward player like Melis.

[57] Before Melis could start her first game for Sky Blue, the WPS suspended operations in January 2012 because of a legal dispute with an ousted owner.

[65][66] Melis agreed to return to Malmö in December 2012 for the 2013 Damallsvenskan season, regaining her number 14 jersey and joining Mittag in attack.

[74] In Melis's final season in Sweden, the 2015 Damallsvenskan, Göteborg achieved a sixth-place finish, as her former club Rosengård won the title again.

[25] The club's fourth Dutch international, Daniëlle van de Donk, opened the scoring early on with an assist by Melis, but the away team won the game 4–2.

[85] In November 2015, Melis signed a one-year contract with Seattle Reign FC in the American National Women's Soccer League for the 2016 season, and was assigned the number 14 jersey, stating that it was a dream come true to play in the US.

"[88] Melis was surprised at the popularity of women's football in the US, exemplified by how her teammate Hope Solo had to travel wearing a hoodie and sunglasses to avoid attention.

[9] Seattle's season started with a defeat to Melis's former club Sky Blue, ending their streak of 24 undefeated home games, in front of a crowd of 4,000.

[25][92] On 25 September 2016, she played the last game of her career, in front of over 5,500 people and scored in the 60th minute to help Seattle to a 3–2 away win over Houston Dash.

[110][111] Prior to Euro 2009 the team competed at the Cyprus Cup, where Melis scored four times, twice in their victory over Russia and twice in the match for fifth place against South-Africa, which the Netherlands won 5–0.

In extra time the English missed several chances before a Jill Scott header gave England a 2–1 win and a place in the final.

[119][120] At the 2010 Cyprus Cup Melis scored in three of the four games, ending up joint top scorer of the tournament with New Zealand's Amber Hearn, both with four goals.

[121] To qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, Melis and her teammates had to win a group with Norway, Macedonia, Belarus and Slovakia.

[122][123][124] In the final qualifier game, against Belarus in August 2010, Melis scored twice, her 29th and 30th international goals, which made her the national team's all-time top goalscorer.

[136] In the return leg, Martens and Melis scored again while goalkeeper Geurts kept a clean sheet, sending the Netherlands through to a play-off final against Italy.

Soon after, Japan scored and the Netherlands missed chances to equalise as both Vivianne Miedema and Martens failed to connect with a Melis pass.

[8] In interviews throughout her playing career she stressed the importance of the national team doing well for the development of Dutch women's football in general, for "local competition, financially, sponsors, and everything".

[6] Sky Blue assistant coach Emma Hayes noted that apart from being "lightning quick", she was also "technical and with a wonderful eye for goal".

[56] Dutch national team coach Arjan van der Laan said Melis was a "superfast" attacker, with excellent goalscoring skills and the ability to set up goals with assists.