She made a comeback return to the national side after a gap of nearly three years in 2017 and was also the member of the Netherlands side which managed to defend the Hockey World League in 2017 after defeating New Zealand 3–0 in the final. Malou Pheninckx played a key role for the Netherlands women's team which claimed victorious over Japan 5–0 in the 2017 International Festival of Hockey tournament, which was their first International Festival of Hockey tournament title victory. She also scored a winning goal in the final against Japan. She too was also the part of the Dutch team which secured its 8th World Cup title after emerging victorious at the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup beating Ireland to record an emphatic 6–0 victory in the final. She also scored a winning goal in the final.