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 the
final of the
1974 World Cup 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. 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 match against Scotland at
Villa Park stadium in
Birmingham With
Guus Hiddink as manager, Oranje 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. Under new coach
Bert van Marwijk, the Netherlands went on to secure a 100% record in
their World Cup 2010 qualification campaign, winning all their eight games to qualify for the World Cup. After they had comfortably qualified with maximum points in Group E and
Slovakia in the round of 16, they took on Brazil in the quarter-finals. After trailing 1–0 at half-time,
Wesley Sneijder scored two goals in the second half to advance the team to the semi-finals where they beat
Uruguay 3–2. They advanced to their first World Cup final since 1978 but
fell to Spain 1–0 after midfielder
Andrés Iniesta scored in extra time. From August to September 2011, the team was ranked number one in the
FIFA World Ranking, becoming the second national football team, after Spain, to top the ranking without previously winning a World Cup. For
Euro 2012, the Netherlands were placed in Group B with Germany, Portugal and Denmark, dubbed the tournament "Group of Death". The Netherlands lost all three of their group matches in a tournament for the first time in their history. Manager Bert van Marwijk resigned after the disappointment. Louis van Gaal became the manager for the second time. In the
2014 World Cup UEFA qualifying round, the Netherlands won nine games and drew one, topping the group and earning automatic qualification. They were drawn into
Group B, alongside Spain,
Chile and
Australia. The team avenged their 2010 defeat by defeating title holders Spain 5–1 in their opening match. After finishing top of Group B, the Netherlands defeated
Mexico 2–1 in the round of 16, with Wesley Sneijder equalising late in the match and
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scoring a penalty. In the quarter-finals, where they faced
Costa Rica. After a 0–0 draw, the Netherlands won the ensuing penalty shootout 4–3. Backup goalkeeper
Tim Krul was brought on just before the end of extra time and made two saves in the shootout. In the semi-final against Argentina, the Netherlands were eliminated 4–2 on penalties. The Netherlands won the third place match against hosts Brazil. Van Gaal, who successfully motivated the team after their semi-final elimination, received praise for getting more out of the young and inexperienced Netherlands squad than many expected.
Decline and recovery: 2014–present Guus Hiddink followed Van Gaal as manager for the
Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. On 29 June 2015, Hiddink resigned and was succeeded by his assistant
Danny Blind. The Netherlands finished fourth in their group, failing to qualify for the European Championship for the first time since 1984, and missing a major tournament for the first time since 2002. The team's poor form continued into the
2018 World Cup qualifiers, eventually resulting in Blind being dismissed after a 2–0 defeat to
Bulgaria in March 2017. After the return of Dick Advocaat as coach, the Netherlands failed to qualify for the
2018 World Cup, finishing third in
Group A behind France and
Sweden. In February 2018, Advocaat was replaced by
Ronald Koeman, on a contract until the summer of 2022. The Netherlands qualified for League A in the
UEFA Nations League which they would win to qualify for the final four after drawing with Germany on the last match day, beating France on the head-to-head record. The Netherlands beat
England in the semi-finals of the Nations League, but lost 1–0 in the final against
Portugal. The Netherlands qualified for
UEFA Euro 2020, however following the qualification, Ronald Koeman resigned from the team to coach
Barcelona, eventually to be succeeded by
Frank de Boer. With the
coronavirus pandemic postponing
Euro 2020 to 2021, the Netherlands played their group matches at home at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, beating
Ukraine 3–2,
Austria 2–0 and
North Macedonia 3–0. However, the tournament ended in disappointment for the Netherlands once more, as they were beaten 2–0 by the
Czech Republic in their round of 16 tie in
Budapest. Two days later, De Boer left his position. He was replaced by Louis van Gaal, who came out of retirement to return for a third spell in charge of the side. On 16 November 2021, the Netherlands qualified for the
2022 World Cup after beating
Norway 2–0 and topping their
qualification group on the final day. In the
2022 World Cup, the Netherlands topped their group with 7 points. They progressed to the quarter-finals where they eventually lost to
Argentina on penalties. The tournament was a farewell to manager Louis Van Gaal. He had come out of retirement, despite suffering from prostate cancer and promising his wife he was done with football. According to Dutch media, Van Gaal hid his health struggles from the Dutch team in the build up to the World Cup, even attending training with a catheter in. At
UEFA Euro 2024, the Netherlands qualified from the group stage as one of the best third place teams after a win against
Poland, a draw with
France and a defeat to
Austria. In the round of 16, the Netherlands won 3–0 against
Romania. In the quarter-final, they faced
Turkey who initially took the lead before
Stefan de Vrij equalised for the Netherlands. The comeback was completed with an own goal by
Mert Müldür meaning that the Netherlands qualified for the semi-finals for the first time since
UEFA Euro 2004 and the
2014 FIFA World Cup. In the semi-final, they were eliminated by England after a late goal. ==Team image==