Netherlands
- Robin van Persie – Goals: 50
- Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – Goals: 42
- Patrick Kluivert – Goals: 40
- Memphis Depay – Goals: 39
- Dennis Bergkamp and Arjen Robben – Goals: 37
Some of the greatest players of all time have come from the Netherlands. Johan Cruyff is perhaps the best known player in Dutch history and he won the Golden Ball at the 1974 World Cup as the tournament’s best player. He was renowned for his playmaking and dribbling abilities and later managed the national team.
Clinical striker Marco van Basten was the leading scorer on the only Dutch team to win a major trophy at Euro 1988. He was also named the player of the tournament as he scored an incredible volley and provided an assist in the final vs. Russia. Both Cruyff and Van Basten won the Ballon D’or three times.
The only other Dutch player to win the Ballon D’or was Ruud Gullit. An incredibly versatile player who could line up nearly anywhere on the pitch, he was the captain of the Euro 1988 winning side. Gullit also scored the opener in the final vs. the USSR.
Robin van Persie is the Netherlands’ all-time leading scorer. The lefty striker was deadly in front of goal and one of the most complete forwards of his generation.
Dennis Bergkamp, like Van Persie, played for Arsenal for many years. He was one of the most technically gifted players in the world and was the Oranje’s leading scorer until he was overtaken by Patrick Kluivert in 2003.
The Netherlands national football team had a loaded squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It included a host of talented attack minded players like Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart.
They won all of their group stage matches, with wins vs. Denmark, Japan and Cameroon. Robben and Sneijder were both on target in a 2-1 round of 16 win vs. Slovakia.
In the quarterfinal, Netherlands fell behind to Brazil within 10 minutes. Sneijder came up clutch in the second half with two goals to complete an impressive comeback.
Left back Gio van Bronckhorst scored a thunderous strike in the semifinal to put the Dutch ahead vs. Uruguay. Netherlands would go on to win 3-2, setting up a final vs. Spain.
A tense final ended in a 90-minute deadlock but defender Johnny Heitinga was sent off in the second period of extra time. Iniesta’s winner for Spain came soon after
Since the World Cup expanded, Netherlands national football team have never been eliminated in the Group Stage. They did, however, fail to win a match at Italy 1990.
In a group with England, Republic of Ireland and Egypt, the Oranje drew all three of their matches. They made the knockout stage as a third-place team but fell to rivals West Germany in the round of 16.
Netherlands National Football Team History
Early Years
It took the Netherlands national football team just one match to win their first ever trophy. They drew with Belgium 1-1 in the 1905 Coupe van den Abeele, but won in extra time as Eddy de Neve scored a hat trick.
The Oranje participated in their first official tournament a few years later, at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The Netherlands won the bronze medal in London by defeating Sweden 2-0 in the third place game. They also won bronze in 1912 and 1920 and made the first Netherlands World Cup appearance in 1934.
Kick Smit was the first Dutch goalscorer in a World Cup, but the Oranje were eliminated in the opening round in both 1934 and 1938. The team ceased to be relevant until the rise of Dutch total football in the 1970’s.
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Netherlands National Football Team Records
Total football was a creation of Dutch club Ajax and it was perfected by attacking midfielder Johan Cruyff and adopted by national team coach Rinus Michels. It involved a sort of positionless soccer in which any player could take the position of another teammate during the course of the game.
Playing their unique style in their iconic orange kits, the Netherlands national football team beat Brazil and Argentina in the 1974 World Cup en route to making the final. In what would become a big rivalry, West Germany beat the Oranje 1-0 in the final. In their first ever European Championship appearance in 1976, the Dutch finished in third place.
The Netherlands national football team were without Johan Cruyff at the 1978 World Cup due to a kidnapping attempt but still managed to make the final vs. hosts Argentina. Tied 1-1 in normal time, Argentina scored two goals in extra time to send the Dutch packing in the final for a second straight World Cup.
After the total football era ended in 1980, the Netherlands missed three straight major international tournaments from 1982-1986.
European Glory and Recent Times
Michels returned to coach the team at Euro 88. Striker Marco van Basten finished as top scorer and the Netherlands managed to win their first ever major international tournament as they beat rivals West Germany in the semis and the USSR in the final with goals from Ruud Gullit and Van Basten.
Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp made a name for himself at Euro 92 as the Oranje reached the semifinal. Bergkamp led the Netherlands with three goals at the 1994 World Cup in the USA but they fell to Brazil 3-2 in the quarterfinal.
The Oranje had a string of bad luck in penalties as they were eliminated from all of Euro 1996, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 in shootouts. In the lead up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Netherlands won all eight of their qualifying matches and came in as one of the favorites in the tournament. Bert van Marwijk’s squad made their first World Cup final since 1978, but Andres Iniesta broke Dutch hearts as he scored the game’s only goal to give Spain their first World Cup win.
The Netherlands were ranked first in FIFA’s World rankings in late 2011. The Oranje then avenged their loss to Spain in the 2014 World Cup as Robin van Persie scored a famous diving header in a 5-1 win. The Netherlands would go on to make the semifinal, where they were eliminated by Argentina on penalty kicks.
Then, the Oranje missed out on both Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup and cycled through six coaches in as many years. They did come in third in the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019, though.
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