Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly. Sport in Nederland
Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands, with field hockey (including indoor hockey) and volleyball as the second and third most popular team sports. Speed skating, cycling, tennis and golf are the four most widely played individual sports.<ref name="sport"> sport.nl (Figures are from 2005) </=177 Fitplein]</ref> A number of native Dutch sports are also practiced, such as fierljeppen (polsstokverspringen), beugelen, kaatsen, klootschieten, kolven and korfball.
Organization of sports began at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Federations for sports were established (such as the speed skating federation in 1882), rules were unified and sports clubs came into existence. A Dutch National Olympic Committee was established in 1912. Thus far, the nation has won 356 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 147 medals at the Winter Olympic Games.
An influential figure in Dutch sport was Pim Mulier. In 1879, he founded the first rugby union and football club in the Netherlands, and he was involved in forming the first tennis club in 1884. He also established the predecessor of the Royal Dutch Football Association five years later, and introduced field hockey in 1896, as well as bandy. His hometown Haarlem and the English Bury Fen Bandy Club played the first international match.
Team sports
Football
The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) is the largest sports federation in the country with 1,076,759 players (in 2005). According to the KNVB's website, it has over 1.2 million members as of 2016. The organization came into being on 19 December 1899, and was one of the founding members of FIFA (the world Football Association) in 1904.
Dutch football teams won three Olympic bronze medals in 1908, 1912 and 1920. Other successes came in the 1970s, when the national team played in the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cup finals, losing to the tournament's host on both occasions. In the same period, Dutch league sides Ajax and Feyenoord won European Cups from 1970 to 1973. In 1988, the national team won the only international title so far at the European Championships. PSV won the European Cup that year too. Ajax won the European Cup again in 1995.
Despite their wealth of individual talent, the Dutch national men team have only been able to claim one trophy in their entire history. This came at the UEFA Euro 1988 in which they defeated the Soviet Union to claim the coveted Henri Delaunay Trophy. In 2017 the Dutch national woman team equalized this result when they beat Denmark, claiming their European title on home ground.
Many Dutch football players have gained international fame, such as Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Clarence Seedorf, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Frenkie de Jong. Rinus Michels was named Coach of the Century by FIFA in 1999. Additional football notoriety came with the Dutch team's participation in the 2010 World Cup finals, in which they lost to Spain, giving Spain its first World Cup title. In June 2019 the Netherlands reached their 6th major final, where they lost to Portugal in the UEFA Nations League final. A month later the national woman team reached their first World Cup Final against USA.
Football stadiums Johan Cruyff Arena and De Kuip have UEFA's 5-star rating, enabling them to host finals of the UEFA Champions League and the European Championship.
Baseball
The Royal Dutch Baseball Federation was established on 12 March 1912. They merged with the softball federation to form the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation in 1971 honkbalsite.com In 2008 there were over 24,000 players active at one of the 184 clubs in the country. knbsb.nl PDF file
The Netherlands boasts the most successful national baseball team in Europe, winning the European Baseball Championship 20 times and frequently representing the continent in international competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and Baseball World Cup. There is a domestic professional baseball league whose best team, Neptunus of Rotterdam, regularly contends for the European club championship, including five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004.
Baseball is especially popular on the island of Curaçao. In 2005, the Pabao Little League Champions of Willemstad advanced all the way to the championship game in the Little League World Series. Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Andruw Jones, now of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan's Pacific League, is arguably the most successful and popular baseball player to emerge from Curaçao, and in 2006 was a member of the Netherlands national team that participated in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. Jair Jurrjens, pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, became the first pitcher from Curaçao to pitch in the major leagues. John Houseman became the first Dutch-born player in the Major Leagues when he made his debut for the Chicago Colts in 1894.sports.espn.go.com Bert Blyleven was an All-Star, a two-time World Series champion and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.
In 2009, the Netherlands twice upset the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic's entire roster played in Major League Baseball (MLB), while the Netherlands only had one player on an MLB roster. The Dominican teams' combined salary total in the MLB was about $84 million, while the Netherlands totals for $400,000. The Dominican Republic were highly favoured but in its first game against the Dominican, the Dutch won 3–2. The Dominican Republic won its next game against Panama to set up a rematch against the Netherlands. The Dutch stunned the Dominicans again and won 2–1 in extra innings.Dutch pull off second upset to advance | MLB.com: News. Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved on 2011-02-18. At the 2013 World Baseball Classic the Netherlands performed even better. With a mix of experienced veterans and talented youngsters they progressed through the preliminary rounds to the semi-final, where the team lost to the Dominican Republic. The team again reached the semifinals at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but again fell one game shy of the championship, losing this time to Puerto Rico.
Field hockey
The Royal Dutch Hockey Federation was formed on 8 October 1898 and is, with 185,923 members (in 2005), the fifth largest sports federation. Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey and Women's Hoofdklasse Hockey are the country's primary hockey competitions, which are contested by 12 clubs in both the male and female league.
As of 2024, the Netherlands women's national field hockey team is the most successful team in World Cup and Olympic history, having won the title nine and five times respectively. The Dutch male hockey team has won both the World Cup and Olympic gold on three occasions. Several Dutch hockey league clubs have won the European Cup. At the Paris 2024 Olympics both the men's and women's teams won the gold medal.
Korfball
Korfball is a mixed gender or only female ball sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. It is played by two teams of eight players with four females and four males in each team or with eight female players in each team. The objective is to throw a ball through a bottomless basket that is mounted on a high pole. Mixed gender korfball is more generally played in the north of the Netherlands, while all female korfball is generally played in the south of the Netherlands. The sport was invented by Dutch schoolteacher Nico Broekhuysen in 1902. In the Netherlands, there are around 580 clubs and over 100,000 people playing korfball. The sport is also very popular in Belgium and Taiwan, and is played in 54 other countries. The Dutch korfball union is called Koninklijk Nederlands Korfbalverbond (KNKV).
Basketball Basketball is also a popular sport in the Netherlands. The national team had its most successful time during the 1980s. At the 1983 European Basketball Championship the team finished in the final four and qualified to the 1986 FIBA World Championship where the Dutch left behind strong competition such as Team Australia and Team Germany. During that time, the Dutch had its strong players in Jelle Esveldt and a young Rik Smits. Smits later became an NBA All-Star and emerged as the Dutch basketball-icon for years to come.
Since 2000, basketball in the Netherlands went through some revival and has been home to several National Basketball Association (NBA) players, including Francisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric.
Handball While the men's national handball team has only qualified for the World Championship once and also once for the European Championship and never for the Olympic Games, the women's team have been more successful, with a gold medal at the 2019 World Women's Handball Championship as the best result.
Volleyball Volleyball is the third most participated team sport in the country. Founded on 6 September 1947, the Dutch Volleyball Federation is with 128,693 players (in 2005) the ninth largest sports association. The A-League is the highest division in which eight men's and women's teams compete for the national championships.
The national men's team is the most successful exponent, winning the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and the gold medal four years later in Atlanta. The biggest success of the women's national team was winning the European Championship in 1995 and the World Grand Prix in 2007
The Netherlands featured national teams in beach volleyball that competed at the women's and men's section at the 2018–2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.
Cricket
The Royal Dutch Cricket Federation was formed in 1883. kb.nl In 2021 the federation had 5000 members, which indicates that cricket is a minority sport in the Netherland yet still growing. The premier division is called the Topklasse, in which ten teams compete for the national championships.
The Netherlands national cricket team qualified for the cricket World Cup on five occasions; 1996, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2023. The country has been considered one of the stronger associate in the world and in Europe alongside Scotland. Netherlands is ranked within the top 15 teams in the world and has co-hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1999.
Most recently at the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, the Dutch team made a name for themselves by their victory over hosts, England, in the opening match of the tournament. Though they failed to qualify for the Super Eight stage afterward, their win against England, considered one of the biggest wins in Dutch cricket history. Recently the Dutch have managed to beat two time world champions West Indies in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifiers Zimbabwe 2023 considered ones of the biggest upsets in Cricket history due to it eventually leading to the West Indies not being able to qualify for the World Cup in India 2023.
In ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 Dutch team led by captain Scott Edwards has surprised the cricket world by beating South Africa and Bangladesh by big margins.
Bandy In terms of licensed athletes, bandy is the second biggest winter sport in the world.