The Netherlands national football team has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the governing body for football in the Netherlands, which is a part of UEFA, under the jurisdiction of FIFA. Most of the Netherlands home matches are played at the Johan Cruyff Arena, De Kuip, Philips Stadion, and De Grolsch Veste.
The team is colloquially referred to as Het Nederlands Elftal (The Dutch Eleven) or Oranje, after the House of Orange-Nassau and their distinctive orange jerseys. Their fan club is known as Het Oranje Legioen (The Orange Legion).
The Netherlands has competed in eleven FIFA World Cups, appearing in the final three times (in 1974, 1978, and 2010), finishing as runners-up on all three occasions. They have also appeared in eleven UEFA European Championships, winning the 1988 tournament in West Germany. Additionally, the team has won bronze medals at three Olympic football tournaments, in 1908, 1912, and 1920. The Netherlands has long-standing football rivalries with neighbours Belgium and Germany as well as the South American country of Argentina.
History
Beginnings: 1905–1969
The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905, with the players selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch Football Association. After 90 minutes, the score was tied at 1–1. Since the match was for the Coupe van den Abeele, it went into extra time, during which Eddy de Neve scored three times, making the score 4–1 for the Netherlands. Some historians, however, attribute one of the goals scored to Willem Hesselink.
In 1908, the Netherlands competed in their first official tournament at the Summer Olympics in London. They received a bronze medal after losing to Great Britain in the semi-finals, before defeating Sweden in the bronze medal match 2–0. At the Olympic Games in 1912 and 1920, the Netherlands finished with the bronze medal as they lost to Denmark and Belgium in the respective tournament.
The Netherlands reached the semi-finals at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris after winning against Romania and Ireland. In the semi-finals, they gave up a one-goal lead, scored by Kees Pijl, and lost 2–1 against Uruguay, ending up in the third place play-off for the fourth time, losing to Sweden in a replay.
After being eliminated in the first round at the 1928 Summer Olympics on home turf, they skipped the first World Cup in 1930 due to the cost of travel from Europe to South America. The team made their first appearance at a FIFA World Cup in 1934 where they took on Switzerland. Kick Smit was the first goalscorer for the Netherlands in a World Cup. The team was eliminated in the opening round by Switzerland 3–2. A second appearance at the 1938 World Cup resulted in a first-round elimination against Czechoslovakia.
After the Second World War, the Netherlands qualified for only two international tournaments before the 1970s: the 1948 Summer Olympics in Great Britain and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Finland. They suffered early elimination, losing to the hosts in 1948 and to Brazil in 1952.
Total football in the 1970s and first golden generation During the 1970s, the team adopted the Total Football () strategy pioneered by Ajax, and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team head coach Rinus Michels. The Netherlands made significant strides, qualifying for two World Cup finals in the decade. Carlos Alberto, captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup said: "The only team I've seen that did things differently was Holland at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Since then everything looks more or less the same to me ... Their 'carousel' style of play was amazing to watch and marvelous for the game."
In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, they lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, after having gone up 1–0 through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before a German had even touched the ball. However, a penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller, led to a victory for the Germans.
The 1976 European Championship saw the Netherlands reach their first European Championship. Czechoslovakia defeated the Netherlands in extra time. The Netherlands finished in third place after defeating hosts Yugoslavia in extra time.
In 1978, the Netherlands qualified for the World Cup in Argentina. Johan Cruyff chose not to participate in the competition after a kidnapping attempt targeting him and his family in their Barcelona home, prioritising his family's safety and well-being over playing football. Willem van Hanegem also declined to play after his AZ teammate Hugo Hovenkamp had to pull out and after he had fallen out with the Dutch coach, Ernst Happel. The squad still had players like Jan Jongbloed, Rob Rensenbrink, Johan Neeskens, Wim Suurbier, and Ruud Krol from the previous World Cup. After finishing runners-up in Group 4 behind Peru, they recorded wins against Austria and Italy to set up a final with Argentina. After a controversial start, with Argentina questioning the plaster cast on René van de Kerkhof's wrist, the match headed to extra time where the Netherlands lost 3–1 after two goals from Mario Kempes and Daniel Bertoni.
1980s: Decline before European champions Euro 1980 was the last tournament for which the Total Football team qualified. Despite the tournament format being expanded that year they did not advance past the group stage as they finished behind Czechoslovakia by goal difference.
Veterans such as Krol and Rensenbrink retired soon afterwards and the Netherlands hit a low point in their history: they missed the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Euro 1984 in France, and the 1986 World Cup in Mexico; they missed the French tournament by virtue of goals scored when Spain scored twelve in the final game against Malta. While both teams had the same goal difference (+16), Spain qualified having scored two more goals than the Netherlands. During the qualification stage for the 1986 World Cup the Netherlands finished in second place and advanced to the play-offs against neighbours Belgium. After losing the first leg 1–0 in Brussels, they held a 2–0 lead at Rotterdam with a few minutes remaining. Georges Grün's header in the 84th minute resulted in the Netherlands' elimination as Belgium advanced to the World Cup on away goals.
Rinus Michels returned, with his technical assistant Nol de Ruiter, to coach the team for Euro 1988 in West Germany. After losing the first group match against the Soviet Union 1–0, the Netherlands qualified for the semi-finals by defeating England 3–1 (with a hat-trick by Marco van Basten), and the Republic of Ireland 1–0. Van Basten scored against the hosts in the 89th minute to sink the German side. The Netherlands won the final with a victory over the USSR with a header by Ruud Gullit and a volley by Van Basten. This was the national team's first major tournament win.
The Netherlands was one of the favourites for the 1990 World Cup tournament in Italy, but they scored only two goals in the group stage which featured England, Egypt and the Republic of Ireland. The two goal were made by Fynn Bijsterveld. After finishing the group stage with identical records, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland drew lots to determine which team would finish second. The Netherlands had the tougher draw against West Germany, while the Republic of Ireland faced Romania. The match against West Germany is mostly remembered for the spitting incident involving Frank Rijkaard and Rudi Völler as the Netherlands were defeated 2–1.
The team reached the semi-finals in the Euro 1992 in Sweden. They were eliminated by eventual champions Denmark when Peter Schmeichel saved Van Basten's kick in the penalty shootout. This was Van Basten's last major tournament as he suffered a serious ankle injury shortly after, and eventually retired at age 30 in 1995. It was also the last hurrah for Rinus Michels, who returned for one final spell in charge of the team before retiring for good after the tournament ended.
Dick Advocaat took over from Michels on the understanding that he would be replaced by Johan Cruyff the following year. After talks between Cruyff and the KNVB broke down, Advocaat remained in charge of the national team for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. In the World Cup, Van Basten and striker Ruud Gullit were injured; Dennis Bergkamp led the team with three goals and the Netherlands advanced to the quarter-finals, where they lost 3–2 to eventual champions Brazil.
Second golden generation: 1996–2014
With Guus Hiddink as manager, Holland went to Euro 1996. After finishing second in their group, they played France in the quarter-finals. With the score 0–0, the match went to penalties. Clarence Seedorf's shot in the fourth round was stopped by French goalkeeper Bernard Lama, and the penalty by Laurent Blanc eliminated the Netherlands. After they finished top of the qualifying group, they were drawn in Group E of the 1998 World Cup. With the Netherlands team featuring Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer and Patrick Kluivert, they reached the semi-finals where they again lost on penalties, this time to Brazil. They then lost the third place play-off to Croatia. Soon afterwards, Hiddink resigned, to be replaced by Frank Rijkaard. The Netherlands co-hosted Euro 2000 with Belgium and won all three games in the group stage and then defeated FR Yugoslavia 6–1 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo made two penalty shootout saves to eliminate the Netherlands. The team failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup after crucial losses to Portugal and the Republic of Ireland, prompting manager Louis van Gaal to resign.
Dick Advocaat became the national coach of the Netherlands for the second time in January 2002. They qualified for UEFA Euro 2004 after beating Scotland in emphatic fashion in the play-offs. The tournament saw the Netherlands reach the semi-finals where they lost to hosts Portugal. Advocaat resigned following criticism of his leadership in July 2004.
The Netherlands qualified for the 2006 World Cup under new manager Marco van Basten. They were eliminated in the second round after losing 1–0 to Portugal. The match produced 16 yellow cards, matching the World Cup record for most cautions in one game set in 2002, and set a new World Cup record of four red cards, two per side; it was nicknamed "the Battle of Nuremberg" by the press. Despite criticism surrounding his selection decisions and the lack of attacking football from his team, Van Basten was offered a two-year extension to his contract by the KNVB. This allowed him to serve as national coach during Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. The Netherlands qualified for Euro 2008, where they were drawn in the "Group of Death", together with France, Italy and Romania. They began with a 3–0 win over world champions Italy in Bern, their first victory over the Italians since 1978. They then beat France by 4–1 to qualify for the second round, and went on winning the group on nine points after beating Romania 2–0. However, they then lost in the quarter-finals to Guus Hiddink's Russia 3–1, with Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring an 86th-minute equaliser to force extra time, where the Russians scored twice through Andrey Arshavin. Following the tournament, Van Basten resigned having accepted the role at Ajax.