Robin van Persie is a Dutch retired professional footballer who played for the Netherlands national football team as a striker. He made his debut for the Netherlands in June 2005, coming on as a substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy in a 2–0 victory over Romania. His first international goal came in his next appearance for the Netherlands, scoring the final goal in a 4–0 win against Finland in Helsinki during the qualification campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. With 50 goals in 102 appearances, Van Persie was formerly the Netherlands' all-time top scorer, until being overtaken by Memphis Depay in 2025. He became the country's leading scorer in 2013, when he surpassed former leader Patrick Kluivert's tally of 40 goals. Van Persie made his 102nd and final appearance for the Netherlands in August 2017.

Van Persie scored two hat-tricks during his international career. In September 2011, he scored four goals in an 11–0 victory against San Marino in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match. He also scored three goals in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in an 8–1 win against Hungary in October 2013. He also scored twice in a single match on seven occasions. Van Persie scored more goals against Hungary (six) than any other nation. Twenty of his goals were scored in the Amsterdam Arena.

Van Persie scored more goals in friendlies than in any other format, with fifteen. He scored thirteen goals in qualifying for both the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, six in FIFA World Cup finals, and three in the UEFA Euro finals.

International goals Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first. + Key Indicates goal was scored from a penalty kick

Cap Date VenueOpponent Score Result Competition Ref. 1 2 8 June 2005 Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland 4–0 4–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 2 12 16 June 2006 Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, Germany 1–0 2–1 2006 FIFA World Cup 3 15 16 August 2006 Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland Ireland 4–0 4–0 Friendly 4 17 6 September 2006 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands 1–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualification 5 2–0 6 18 7 October 2006 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 1–1 1–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualification 7 19 11 October 2006 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 2–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualification 8 26 13 June 2008 Stade de Suisse, Bern, Switzerland 2–0 4–1 UEFA Euro 2008 9 27 17 June 2008 Stade de Suisse, Bern, Switzerland 2–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008 10 29 20 August 2008 Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia 1–0 1–1 Friendly 11 33 19 November 2008 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 3–1Friendly 123–1 13 35 28 March 2009 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2–0 3–0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 14 39 5 September 2009 De Grolsch Veste, Enschede, Netherlands 1–0 3–0 Friendly 15 42 26 May 2010 Badenova-Stadion, Freiburg, Germany 1–0 2–1 Friendly 162–0 17 43 1 June 2010 De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands 4–1 4–1 Friendly 18 44 5 June 2010 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–1 6–1 Friendly 19 47 24 June 2010 Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa 1–0 2–1 2010 FIFA World Cup 20 53 25 March 2011 Ferenc Puskás Stadium, Budapest, Hungary 4–0 4–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification 21 54 29 March 2011 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 5–3 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification 22 57 2 September 2011 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands 1–0 11–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification 236–0 247–0 259–0 26 63 26 May 2012 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 1–2 Friendly 27 65 2 June 2012 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 6–0Friendly 283–0 29 67 13 June 2012 Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv, Ukraine 1–2 1–2 UEFA Euro 2012 30 69 7 September 2012 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 31 71 16 October 2012 Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania 4–1 4–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 32 73 22 March 2013 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2–0 3–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 33 74 26 March 2013 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2–0 4–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 343–0 35 76 11 June 2013 Workers' Stadium, Beijing, China 1–0 2–0 Friendly 36 78 6 September 2013 A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia 2–2 2–2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 37 79 10 September 2013 Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella, Andorra 1–0 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 382–0 39 80 11 October 2013 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 8–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 404–0 415–1 42 83 17 May 2014 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–1 1–1 Friendly 43 84 31 May 2014 De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands 1–0 1–0 Friendly 44 86 13 June 2014 Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil 1–1 5–1 2014 FIFA World Cup 454–1 46 87 18 June 2014 Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil 2–2 3–2 2014 FIFA World Cup 47 91 12 July 2014 Estádio Nacional, Brasília, Brazil 1–0 3–0 2014 FIFA World Cup 48 94 10 October 2014 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 3–1 3–1 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification 49 96 16 November 2014 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1–0 6–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification 50 101 13 October 2015 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2–3 2–3 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification

Hat-tricks

Date Venue Opponent Goals Result Competition 1 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands 4 – (7', 65', 67', 79') 11–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification 2 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 3 – (16', 44', 53') 8–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Quat-tricks Date Venue Opponent Goals Result Competition 1 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands 4 – (7', 65', 67', 79') 11–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification

Statistics

+ Goals by year Year Apps Goals 2005 7 1 2006 12 6 2007 4 0 2008 9 5 2009 8 2 2010 11 5 2011 9 6 2012 10 7 2013 10 10 2014 15 8 2015 5 1 2016 0 0 2017 1 0 Total 102 50

+ Goals by competition Competition Goals Friendlies 15 FIFA World Cup qualifiers 13 UEFA European Championship qualifiers 13 FIFA World Cup finals 6 3 Total 50

References