Dutch national football team / European championships

Netherlands
Nederland

European Championship record scorer:	Patrick Kluivert and Ruud van Nistelrooy (6 each)
European Championship record players:	Edwin van der Sar (16)
Rank:	6th
Organizer:	2000 (together with Belgium)
Balance sheet
35 European Championship games 17 wins 8 draws 10 defeats 57:37 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Netherlands 1: 3 n.V. Czechoslovakia Zagreb ( YUG ); June 16, 1976
Biggest European Championship victory Netherlands 6: 1 BR Yugoslavia Rotterdam ( NLD ); June 5, 2000
Biggest European Championship defeat Netherlands 1: 4 England London ( ENG ); June 18, 1996
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	9 ( first : 1976 )
Best results	European champion in 1988
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held
(As of July 2016)

The article contains a detailed description of the Dutch national football team at European championships . The Dutch team won the title once and is on the all-time list of the best after the Dutch failed to qualify for 2016 in sixth place. Together with Belgium, the Dutch hosted the first European Championship finals organized by two countries in 2000.

Overview

The Netherlands first took part in qualifying for the European Championship in 1964, but failed in the round of 16 against Luxembourg. For the first time qualification for the finals in 1976 and then with the exception of 1984 for all subsequent finals.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not participated
1964	Spain	not qualified				In the second round of Luxembourg failed.
1968	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of Hungary failed, but that could also not qualify for the final round.
1972	Belgium	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to vice European champion Yugoslavia , which could not qualify for the finals either.
1976	Yugoslavia	3rd place match	Yugoslavia	Third	George Knobel	In the semifinals, the later European champions Czechoslovakia failed in extra time.
1980	Italy	Preliminary round	Greece , Germany , Czechoslovakia	-	Jan Zwartkruis	After one win, one defeat (against later European champions Germany) and one draw due to the worse goal difference, they were eliminated as third party
1984	France	not qualified				In the qualification because of fewer goals scored in the late Vice European champion Spain failed.
1988	BR Germany	final	USSR	European champion	Rinus Michels	First title for the Elftal.
1992	Sweden	Semifinals	Denmark	-	Rinus Michels	Failed in the penalty shootout at the eventual European champions.
1996	England	Quarter finals	France	-	Guus Hiddink	Failed on penalties.
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	Semifinals	Italy	-	Frank Rijkaard	Failed on penalties.
2004	Portugal	Semifinals	Portugal	-	Dick Advocaat	First penalty shoot-out won in the quarter-finals against Sweden
2008	Austria and Switzerland	Quarter finals	Russia	-	Marco van Basten	Defeat in extra time.
2012	Poland and Ukraine	Preliminary round	Denmark , Germany , Portugal	-	Bert van Marwijk	Worst tournament record in the history of Elftal - retired as the reigning vice world champion with three defeats in the preliminary round. Bert van Marwijk subsequently resigned as a bond coach.
2016	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Czech Republic , Iceland and Turkey failed.
2021	Europe	qualified				With the Amsterdam Arena, the Netherlands provide a venue for three group games and one round of 16, but had to qualify, which they did on the penultimate matchday and will play all games in the group stage in Amsterdam , where they will face Austria, Ukraine and a play-off winner.

The tournaments

EM 1960

The KNVB did not register its national team for the 1960 European Football Championship, which was still the “European Cup of Nations” .

EM 1964

Four years later, the Dutch wanted to take part and since more teams participated than 1960, the round of 16 was preceded by a preliminary round . In the preliminary round, the Dutch, trained by Elek Schwartz since 1957, faced Switzerland . After a 3-1 in the first leg, in which Anthonie van der Linden scored the first European Championship qualifying goal for the Dutch, and a 1-1 in the second leg, they were in the round of 16 against Luxembourg , which waived their home rights. Here the first leg in Amsterdam ended only 1: 1, the second leg in Rotterdam they then surprisingly lost 1: 2. Luxembourg failed in the quarter-finals to Denmark after a playoff in Amsterdam. Schwartz initially stayed in office, but moved to Benfica Lisbon in May 1964 .

EM 1968

For the European Football Championship in 1968, group games were scheduled for the first time in qualifying . The Dutch had to play against Hungary , Denmark and the GDR . The Dutch, now trained by the German Georg Keßler , remained unbeaten in the home games, but could only win against Denmark and the GDR, but lost all away games. It was only enough for third place. Group winners Hungary failed in the quarter-finals against the Soviet Union . On September 7, 1966, in the first qualifying match against Hungary in Rotterdam, a 19-year-old player named Johan Cruyff was used for the first time in an international match, who immediately scored his first international goal and eight years later would become one of the stars of the 1974 World Cup . Since Cruyff was expelled from the field in his second international match and thus the first Dutch player in an international match and was suspended from the association with a one-year ban, he could not be used again until September 13, 1967 against the GDR. Already in the second minute he scored the 1-0 winner, but could not prevent the 2-3 defeat in the last game in Denmark. Keßler initially retained the post of bond coach, but switched to Sparta Rotterdam in early 1970 .

European Championship 1972

For the European Championship finals in 1972, the Dutch now trained by František Fadrhonc could not qualify . In a group with Yugoslavia , again the GDR and Luxembourg, which was the only team in the group to not win a game, qualification was missed due to defeats in the GDR and Yugoslavia. Johan Cruyff was only used in the games against Luxemburg (2 goals in 6: 0 and 3 goals in 8: 0) and the GDR (no goal in 3: 2). In the end, the Dutch scored the most goals - thanks in part to Cruyff - but second place was not enough. This time, too, the group winners (Yugoslavia) failed in the quarter-finals against the Soviet Union. Fadrhonc stayed in office and was able to qualify with the team for the 1974 World Cup, but then got Rinus Michels put in front of his nose as a supervisor.

EM 1976

In 1976, the final round was last played with four teams, the Dutch have now is the European Championship finals for the second place at the World Cup, the first time they had reached again since 1938, also for the qualifying . They have now been trained by Georg Knobel , who took over the post of bond coach after the 1974 World Cup. They prevailed against Italy and third place in the World Cup, Poland and Finland thanks to the more goals they scored before Poland. In the quarter-finals, neighboring Belgium were eliminated 5-0 and 2-1.

On June 16, 1976, they met in Zagreb in their first European Championship final match against Czechoslovakia , which England had eliminated in qualifying. Since the trunk of the World Cup had largely been preserved, they were now considered favorites alongside defending champions and world champions Germany . The Czechoslovak defender Anton Ondruš took the lead after just 20 minutes. The Dutch attacked in a more than tough game, but only an own goal by Ondruš in the 73rd minute brought Oranje into extra time. After two red cards against Johan Neeskens and Willem van Hanegem (stand against it a red card for the Slovaks Jaroslav Pollák ) had decimated the Dutch team that Czechs scored in the 114th minute through their striker Zdenek Nehoda and three minutes later by František Veselý the Hit to 3-1 victory. In the subsequent game for third place against host Yugoslavia , captain Johan Cruyff was not used. This time the Dutch were able to take the lead, with Ruud Geels being the first Dutchman to score a European Championship goal. But after the 2-0 in the 39th minute, they had to accept the connection goal before the break and the equalizer in the 82nd minute and again into overtime. In the 107th minute, Geels scored the winning goal with his second goal to make it 3-2. Knobel, who saw the team as divided, had already submitted his resignation before the tournament. His successor was Jan Zwartkruis , who alternated several times with Ernst Happel in the following years , who then coached the team at the 1978 World Cup.

EM 1980

In qualifying for the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams, the Dutch, who had lost the World Cup final again in 1978 and had to do without Johan Cruyff since 1977, again met Poland and the GDR as well as the Switzerland and Iceland . The Dutch, trained by Jan Zwartkruis again after the World Cup, could not win both games against Poland (0: 2 in Poland and 1: 1 at home), but the Poles lost 2: 1 in the GDR and only 1: 1 at home played against the GDR, the Dutch had one point more in the end and qualified as group winners for the finals.

In the final round, a group stage took place for the first time, in which 4 teams each played once against each other and the best team in each group reached the final, while the second best team played the last game for third place. The Netherlands met Greece , a newcomer to the European Championship, in their first game and won 1-0 with a penalty that Kees Kist converted. In the second game against Germany they were down 3-0 after 65 minutes with three goals from Klaus Allofs . Johnny Rep with a goal from a penalty kick and Willy van de Kerkhof were able to make it exciting again, but could not avert the defeat. In the last game against defending champion Czechoslovakia they had to win in order to reach the game for 3rd place, but only managed to score 1-1. This meant that the Czechoslovaks were in the game for third place due to the better goal difference - they had won against Greece 3-1 and lost the European Championship final against Germany with 0-1 - and won it against hosts Italy through a penalty shoot-out . Zwartkuis initially remained in office until the beginning of 1981, when Rob Baan and Kees Rijvers took turns .

EM 1984

For the European Championship in France, the Netherlands, trained by Kees Rijvers, could not qualify for the last 32 years . In the qualifying group with Spain , Ireland , Iceland and Malta , the Spaniards were group winners because of the more goals they scored with the same number of points and goal difference. One of the deciding factors was a 1-1 draw by the Dutch in their first qualifying game in Iceland. Spain then reached the final in France, but lost it to the hosts. Rijvers initially stayed in office and also laid the foundation stone for the Dutch European Championship title in 1988, but after losing the first qualifying game for the 1986 World Cup , his tenure as bond coach ended. He was followed alternately by Rinus Michels and Leo Beenhakker , who did not succeed in leading the Elftal to the 1986 World Cup.

EM 1988

Starting grid in the final

For the European Championships in Germany, the Netherlands against Greece, Hungary, Poland and had to Cyprus qualify . The Dutch managed this under Rinus Michels with six wins and two draws without defeat. They were lucky that after abandoning the game against Cyprus, when the Cypriot goalkeeper was hit by a smoke bomb while the score was 8-0 for the Dutch, they were only sentenced to one replay in camera, which was 4-0 was won.

In Germany they were drawn into a group with England , Ireland and the USSR . The Dutch had to play the opening game against the USSR and lost 1-0. In the second game against the English, the Dutch won 3-1 with three goals from Marco van Basten and then also won the last game against the self-sacrificing Irish 1-0, which the 50th minute substitute Wim Kieft only eight minutes scored before the end of the game. So they were in the semifinals against the hosts. There has been a special rivalry between the two teams since the 1974 World Cup final . The duel between the German man marketer Jürgen Kohler and the Dutch striker Marco van Basten was seen as decisive for the outcome . After a goalless first half, the German team received a penalty after a foul on Jürgen Klinsmann , which captain Lothar Matthäus was able to convert in the 55th minute. In the 74th minute, Kohler brought van Basten down in the German penalty area and this time the penalty was awarded to the Netherlands. Ronald Koeman converted this penalty to equalize. After a long pass from Jan Wouters , van Basten scored the 2-1 winner for the Netherlands in the 88th minute. The Dutch and the USSR met again in the final, in which the Dutch reciprocated for their defeat in the preliminary round and became European champions for the first time. The Dutch were the first team to become European champions after an opening defeat. Marco van Basten was also the top scorer of the tournament with five goals and with a total of 7 goals together with the Italian Alessandro Altobelli and the Belgian Nico Claesen the top scorer of the overall competition. Two years later, the German team was able to return the favor at the 1990 World Cup, knock out the Dutch in the second round and then become world champions for the third time. After the European Championship triumph, Rinus Michels initially stopped working as a bond coach. His successors Thijs Libregts and Nol de Ruiter managed to lead the team to the 1990 World Cup, but Beenhakker was responsible - and less successful.

EM 1992

As defending champions, the Dutch - unlike the world champions at the time for the world championships - also had to qualify for the next European Championship finals. In the qualification , the Dutch, trained by Rinus Michels after the round of 16 at the World Cup, faced Greece , Portugal , Finland and Malta . The Dutch started with a defeat in Portugal, but prevailed again in the end, Portugal in second and the Greeks in third.

For the final round, they were drawn into a group with world champions Germany, the team from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) , which had succeeded it after the final collapse of the Soviet Union , and the Scots who qualified for the first time . In the first game against the Scots they ran 74 minutes without success, then Dennis Bergkamp scored the 1-0 winner. In the second game against the CIS they only came to a goalless draw. In the last group game, they then temporarily led Germany to world champions and won 3-1. Germany, which had only scored 1-1 with a last-minute goal against the CIS and defeated the Scots 2-0, then benefited from the fact that the Scots who had already been eliminated defeated the CIS 3-0. The Germans and the Netherlands as group winners were thus in the semi-finals, the Netherlands met Denmark. The Danes were nominated shortly before the start of the final round for the Yugoslavs who were excluded due to UN sanctions as a result of the Yugoslav wars. Most of the Danish players had already started their vacation after the end of the season of the national leagues because they did not expect to participate. The Danes arrived in Sweden without much preparation, but surprisingly reached the semi-finals by winning their last game against France as second in the group, but were considered underdogs. But against the Dutch they took the lead in the 5th minute through Henrik Larsen . After Dennis Bergkamp equalized in the meantime, Larsen also scored the second goal for the Danes in the 32nd minute. In the second half, the Dutch pushed for an equalizer, which Frank Rijkaard finally scored in the 86th minute. After goalless extra time there was a penalty shoot-out , with only Marco van Basten forgiving. For the favored Dutch, the EM was over and Michels finally ended his activity as a bond coach. His successor was his assistant coach Dick Advocaat . Dennis Bergkamp was together with three other players, including Larsen, top scorer of the EM. The Danes were surprisingly in the final, where they caused the next surprise and won 2-0 against world champions Germany.

EM 1996

Scene from the opening game against the Scots

The Netherlands, England, Greece, Austria and Portugal had applied for the 1996 European Championship. It was not yet clear at the tender that the tournament would be held for the first time with 16 teams. On May 5, 1992, England was awarded the contract and was automatically qualified for the finals. The Dutch, on the other hand, had to qualify in terms of sport. In the qualification they went with Advocat, but in January 1995 he moved to PSV Eindhoven . He was followed by Guus Hiddink . The qualification was only possible via the playoff games. At first they had only finished second in the qualification group behind the Czech Republic , which took part for the first time after the split up of Czechoslovakia . Norway , Belarus , which also took part for the first time, Luxembourg and Malta were relegated to the places . In addition to the defeat in the Czech Republic, a defeat in Belarus was also decisive for missing the direct qualification. After all, on the final day of the match, a 3-0 win against direct rivals Norway made it into second place. However, they were only seventh-best runner-up in the group and had to play a playoff game against the worst runner-up Ireland on a “neutral” place in Liverpool . They won it 2-0 with two goals from Patrick Kluivert , Marco van Basten's successor in the center-forward position.

When the groups were drawn, the Dutch were drawn against the English , Scots and the Swiss who qualified for the first time . With Jordi Cruyff there was now another Cruyff, the son of Johan Cruyff in the squad. In the opening game against Scotland there was only a goalless draw, followed by a 2-0 win against Switzerland and a 4-1 win against the English. So they were dependent on the result of the game between Scots and Swiss. Since the Scots only managed to score 1-0, with which they had scored fewer goals than the Dutch with the same number of points and goal difference, the Dutch were in the quarter-finals. There they met France and since neither side scored a goal in 120 minutes, the penalty shoot-out had to decide. While all five French scored, Clarence Seedorf's Clarence Seedorf failed against French goalkeeper Bernard Lama . For the Dutch, the EM was over, the French then failed in the semifinals against the Czechs, also on penalties , who were in the final against Germany, but lost this with a golden goal .

EM 2000

The Dutch didn't have to qualify for the EM 2000. Together with Belgium they applied for the event, which they were awarded on January 18, 1998. This was the first time that an EM was held in two countries.

When the groups were drawn, they were seeded together with Belgium, defending champions Germany and Spain . They were drawn to win World Champion France , Vice European Champion Czech Republic and Denmark. The Dutch have been coached since 1998 by former national player Frank Rijkaard , for whom only reaching the final was important. In the opening game against the Czech Republic they had to wait until the 89th minute, then Ronald de Boer was fouled in the Czech penalty area. His brother Frank converted the penalty to the 1-0 winner. The already substituted Radoslav Látal disagreed with the decision, protested loudly on the bench and was the first player on the bench to receive the red card . In the last group game against world champions France it was all about winning the group - both were already qualified for the quarter-finals. In a varied game, the Dutch won 3-2 and had won all three group games for the first time.

Opponents in the quarterfinals were the team from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . The Dutch achieved their highest European Championship victory 6: 1, with Patrick Kluivert scoring three goals alone. In the semifinals, Italy was the opponent. Neither team scored a goal in 120 minutes, although the Dutch were awarded two penalties and played in the majority since the 34th minute after the yellow-red card for Gianluca Zambrotta . And in the resulting penalty shoot-out, this did not improve: an Italian and the Dutch Frank de Boer, Jaap Stam and Paul Bosvelt shot. On the side of the Dutch, only European Championship top scorer Patrick Kluivert met. The Italians were in the final for the first time since 1968, but lost it with a golden goal against world champions France. Rijkaard resigned as bond coach after the semi-finals, his successor was Louis van Gaal , whose term of office ended after he missed qualifying for the 2002 World Cup .

EM 2004

Orange fans during the game against Latvia

In qualifying for the 2004 European Championship, the Dutch, who have now been trained by Dick Advocaat again, faced the Czech Republic, Austria , Moldova and Belarus. As eight years before, only second place was taken behind the Czech Republic, as the home game against the Czech Republic was only 1-1 and the game was lost 3-1 on the penultimate matchday in the Czech Republic. So they had to go back to the playoffs of the group runners-up and met Scotland. After a 1-0 defeat in Glasgow , they were able to win the second leg in Amsterdam 6-0, with new center forward Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring three goals alone.

In Portugal, the Czechs were they randomly assigned again as a group opponents, also vice world champion and record European champions Germany , but who had more to win a European Championship game since the final victory in 1996, also EM newcomer Latvia , located in the playoffs surprisingly against the World bronze medalist Turkey enforced would have. Against Germany, the Dutch fought 1-1 after a 0-1 deficit with a goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy in the 81st minute. Since the game against the Czech Republic was lost 3-2 despite a 2-0 lead, the Dutch could no longer reach the quarter-finals in the last game against Latvia on their own. Despite the unrest in the team, which came from the criticism of coach Dick Advocaat , they won 3-0 against Latvia and then benefited from the German defeat against the Czech Republic, which had already qualified for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, Sweden was the opponent, who had prevailed against Italy together with Denmark. After 120 goalless minutes, the Dutch were able to convert five penalties on penalties for the first time - but in a total of six attempts. But since the Swedes could only convert four out of six, the Dutch had won a penalty shootout for the first time. In the semi-finals, hosts Portugal were the opponents and scored three goals, one of them for the Dutch. This was the fourth time the Dutch had failed in the semi-finals, Advocaat resigned and Marco van Basten became his successor. Ruud van Nistelrooy was together with the Englishman Wayne Rooney with four goals second top scorer of the tournament and together with the Slovenian Ermin Šiljak (who scored all goals in the qualification) with nine goals each top scorer of the overall competition. Portugal was in the final for the first time, but surprisingly lost it as well as the opening game against Greece .

EM 2008

Scene from the opening game against Italy

In qualifying group G for the EM 2008, the Dutch met Romania , Bulgaria , Belarus , Albania , Slovenia and once again Luxembourg. The Dutch lost in Romania and Belarus, whereas the Romanians only lost in Bulgaria and in the end won the group by three points. As runners-up in the group, this time the Dutch qualified directly without playoff games.

At the final, which again took place in two countries, they were drawn into a group of deaths with world champion Italy , runner-up world champion France and group opponent Romania. At the start they achieved their highest win against Italy with a 3-0 win and the highest win against a reigning world champion until 2014. With a 4-1 win against France, they qualified for the quarter-finals and became favorites. Against Romania some regular players were spared, but won 2-0. In the quarter-finals they met Russia , which was coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink . After a goalless first half, the Russians were the first to score a goal that Ruud van Nistelrooy was only able to equalize in the 86th minute. In extra time they then had to concede two goals and were eliminated, whereupon van Basten resigned as previously announced and Bert van Marwijk took over the office of bonds coach. Russia then lost 3-0 to eventual European champions Spain in the semifinals.

EM 2012

Oranje fans at the game against Denmark

Scene from the game against Germany with captain Mark van Bommel (left), Mesut Özil (middle) and Joris Mathijsen (right)

After the defeat in the World Cup final against European champions Spain, they qualified for the EM 2012 as group winners. In a group with Sweden , Hungary , Finland , Moldova and San Marino , nine wins and only the last game in Sweden, after the qualification as group winner had already been determined, was lost. In addition, the 11-0 win against San Marino also achieved the highest international win. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was the top goalscorer of the entire competition with his 12 goals in qualifying.

At the finals, which again took place in two countries, the Dutch were drawn into a death group with third place in the World Cup, Germany, who was the only team to win 10 games in qualifying, Portugal and Denmark. In the opening game, they surprisingly lost 1-0 to Denmark. After a 1: 2 against Germany in the second game, they had to win the last game against Portugal in order to reach the quarter-finals if the Danes lost against Germany. The Germans provided rifle aid and Rafael van der Vaart put the Dutch in the lead against Portugal after just 11 minutes, but Cristiano Ronaldo turned the game around with two goals. The Dutch were eliminated for the first time without a win in the preliminary round. Group winners Germany failed in the semi-finals to Italy, group runners-up Portugal to defending champions Spain. Bondscoach Bert van Marwijk resigned after the European Championship and was succeeded by Louis van Gaal , who only stayed in office until the 2014 World Cup , when the Dutch came third.

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams took part in the European Championship. For the draw of the qualifying groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, the Dutch were placed in pot 1. The Netherlands was drawn into Group A. From the other pots, the following were drawn: the Czech Republic, Turkey , Latvia , Iceland and, for the first time, Kazakhstan .

The first two in the group qualified directly for the European Championship finals, and if the third-placed team had finished third in the group, they would also have qualified directly. The remaining third in the group played four other participants in the playoffs.

The Dutch, initially trained by Guus Hiddink , lost their first game in the Czech Republic and also their third game in Iceland. With wins against Kazakhstan and Latvia and a draw against Turkey, they were in third place after half of the games. Although the last game before the summer break was won against Latvia, Hiddink resigned on June 29, 2015. He was followed by his previous assistant, Danny Blind . In its first two games, Elftal lost 1-0 at home to Iceland and 3-0 in Turkey, so that in the two games that were still open, qualification was no longer possible on their own. With a 2-1 win in Kazakhstan on the penultimate game day, the point gap to the Turks was maintained, but the Elftal was now dependent on the help of Iceland, which had to win on the last game day in Turkey to open the way for the Dutch to the playoffs - if they win their home game against the already qualified Czechs. Since both the Icelanders in Turkey and the Dutch lost outnumbered the Czechs, the Dutch were eliminated in fourth place. After all, Robin van Persie scored his 50th international goal - but he also scored an own goal to make it 3-0.

EM 2021

For the first pan-European European Championship finals, the Dutch had also applied with the Amsterdam Arena to host games and were awarded three group games and one round of 16. Like the other organizers and other applicants, the Dutch had to qualify. After missing the previous European Championship finals, she was also unable to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. In March 2018, former international Ronald Koeman became the new bond coach . Under him, the Dutch were able to prevail in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League against the 2014 and 2018 world champions, Germany and France. Germany were also opponents in the qualification for the EM, which began in March 2019 . Other opponents were Northern Ireland , Belarus and Estonia . The Dutch started with a 4-0 home win against Belarus, but then lost the home game against Germany 2-3. They were already down 2-0 after 34 minutes, but were able to equalize the game in the second half, but then had to accept the third goal in the last minute of the game. But they were able to win the second leg in Hamburg 4-2. This was followed by victories in Estonia (4: 0), against Northern Ireland (3: 1, after 0: 1 deficit and two goals in stoppage time) and in Belarus (2: 1). With a goalless draw in Northern Ireland, the Dutch qualified for the finals on the penultimate matchday. But they gambled away the group victory, as the Germans won both games against Northern Ireland, Estonia and Belarus.

Even before the draw on November 30, 2019, the Dutch, who will play all group matches in Amsterdam, were assigned the Ukraine as their group opponent. Austria and the winner of a playoff way were drawn.

Player with the most appearances in European championships

Edwin van der Sar , Dutch player with the most EM games

Games	player	Year (games)
16	Edwin van der Sar	1996 (4), 2000 (4), 2004 (5), 2008 (3)
13	Dennis Bergkamp	1992 (4), 1996 (4), 2000 (5)
	Phillip Cocu	1996 (3), 2000 (5), 2004 (5)
12	Edgar Davids	1996 (2), 2000 (5), 2004 (5)
11	Giovanni van Bronckhorst	2000 (3), 2004 (5), 2008 (3)
10	Michael Reiziger	1996 (4), 2000 (2), 2004 (4)
	Clarence Seedorf	1996 (4), 2000 (2), 2004 (4)
9	Marco van Basten	1988 (5) 1992 (4)
	Frank de Boer	1992 (2), 2000 (5), 2004 (2)
	Hans van Breukelen	1980 (0) , 1988 (5) 1992 (4)
	Ruud Gullit	1988 (5) 1992 (4)
	Patrick Kluivert	1996 (4) 2000 (5), 2004 (0)
	Ronald Koeman	1988 (5) 1992 (4)
	Frank Rijkaard	1988 (5) 1992 (4)
	Arjen Robben	2004 (4), 2008 (2), 2012 (3)
	Jaap Stam	2000 (4) 2004 (5)
	Adri van Tiggelen	1988 (5) 1992 (4)
	Rafael van der Vaart	2004 (3) 2008 (3), 2012 (3)
	Aron Winter	1988 (0) 1992 (2), 1996 (4), 2000 (3)
	Jan Wouters	1988 (5) 1992 (4)

As of June 28, 2012

Player with the most goals at European championships

Patrick Kluivert (left) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (right), best European championship scorers in the Netherlands

Gates	player	Year (goals)
6th	Patrick Kluivert	1996 (1), 2000 (5), 2004 (0)
	Ruud van Nistelrooy	2004 (4), 2008 (2)
5	Marco van Basten	1988 (5), 1992 (0)
4th	Dennis Bergkamp	1992 (3), 1996 (1), 2000 (0), 1996 (0)
2	09 players
1	15 players

As of July 1, 2012

Players banned from European championships

• In 1976 Johan Neeskens and Wim van Hanegem received the red card in the semi-finals and were banned from the game for third place.
• In 1988 Jan Wouters received the second yellow card in the final , since the tournament was over, it had no effect.
• In 2000 Giovanni van Bronckhorst received the second yellow card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game. In the semifinals, Edgar Davids also received the second yellow card and would have been suspended for the final if the Dutch had better aimed on penalties.
• In 2004 John Heitinga received the yellow-red card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game.
• In 2012 Jetro Willems received a second yellow card in the last group game , as the Dutch were eliminated it had no effect.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

Legionnaires played only a very minor role in the squad until 1996, mostly they were outstanding players who had moved abroad. Then they made up the main contingent.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1976 (2)	3 (in Spain)	Johan Cruyff (1), Johan Neeskens (1), Johnny Rep (1)
1980 (3)	4 (1 in Belgium, 1 in England, 1 in France, 1 in Canada)	Arie Haan (3); Frans Thijssen (2); Johnny Rep (2); Ruud Krol (3)
1988 (5)	5 (2 in Belgium, 2 in Italy, 1 in Spain)	Adri van Tiggelen (5), Erwin Koeman (4); Ruud Gullit (5), Marco van Basten (5); Frank Rijkaard (5)
1992 (3)	6 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Germany, 3 in Italy, 1 in Spain)	Eric Viscaal (1); Jan Wouters (4); Ruud Gullit (4), Frank Rijkaard (4), Marco van Basten (4); Ronald Koeman (4)
1996 (4)	6 (1 in Germany, 1 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Italy, 1 in Spain)	Youri Mulder (1); Dennis Bergkamp (4); Richard Witschge (4); Aron Winter (4); Clarence Seedorf (4); Jordi Cruyff (4)
2000 (5)	16 (5 in England, 3 in Italy, 1 in Scotland, 7 in Spain)	Dennis Bergkamp (5), Ed de Goey (0), Marc Overmars (5), Jaap Stam (4), Sander Westerveld (3); Edgar Davids (5), Edwin van der Sar (4), Clarence Seedorf (2); Arthur Numan (2); Frank de Boer (5), Ronald de Boer (3), Phillip Cocu (5), Patrick Kluivert (5), Roy Makaay (2), Michael Reiziger (2), Boudewijn Zenden (5)
2004 (5)	17 (1 in Germany, 4 in England, 3 in Italy, 1 in Scotland, 7 in Spain, 1 in Turkey)	Roy Makaay (3); Paul Bosvelt (1), Ruud van Nistelrooy (5), Edwin van der Sar (5), Boudewijn Zenden (1); Andy van der Meyde (4), Clarence Seedorf (4), Jaap Stam (5); Frank de Boer (2); Giovanni van Bronckhorst (5), Phillip Cocu (5), Edgar Davids (5), Patrick Kluivert (0); Marc Overmars (3), Michael Reiziger (4), Sander Westerveld (0); Pierre van Hooijdonk (2)
2008 (4)	13 (3 in Germany, 5 in England, 1 in Scotland, 4 in Spain)	Nigel de Jong (3), Joris Mathijsen (3), Rafael van der Vaart (3); Wilfred Bouma (2), Dirk Kuyt (4), Mario Melchiot (1), André Ooijer (3), Robin van Persie (4), Edwin van der Sar (3); Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (1); Khalid Boulahrouz (4), Ruud van Nistelrooy (3), Arjen Robben (2), Wesley Sneijder (3)
2012 (3)	16 (3 in Germany, 7 in England, 3 in Italy, 1 in Portugal, 2 in Spain	Khalid Boulahrouz (0), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (3), Arjen Robben (3); John Heitinga (2), Nigel de Jong (3), Tim Krul (0), Dirk Kuyt (2), Robin van Persie (0), Rafael van der Vaart (3), Michel Vorm (0); Mark van Bommel (2), Wesley Sneijder (3), Maarten Stekelenburg (3); Stijn Schaars (0); Ibrahim Afellay (3), Joris Mathijsen (2)

As of July 1, 2012

Records

Jetro Willems , youngest European Championship player

• The youngest European Championship player is the Dutchman Jetro Willems , who played his first European Championship game in 2012 at the age of 18 years and 71 days.
• The longest winning streak: The Netherlands (1988 to 1992), France (1984) and the Czech Republic (2000 to 2004) achieved 5 victories in a row (excluding penalties). Spain celebrated 6 victories during the European Championship in 2008 (including one win on penalties).
• The most common pairings: Netherlands - Germany (5 games, 1 × in the semifinals, 4 × in the preliminary round), Germany - Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic (5 games, 2 × in the final, 3 × in the preliminary round), Italy - Spain (5 games , 1 × in the final, 1 × in the quarter-finals, 3 × in the preliminary round)
• Biggest win in a quarter-finals: Netherlands 6-1 FR Yugoslavia (2000)
• First own goal: Anton Ondruš on June 16, 1976 in the semi-final match Czechoslovakia - Netherlands at the meanwhile 1-1 (final score 3: 1)
• Most overtime games: Italy and the Netherlands (7 each)
• Most penalty shoot-outs: England, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain (4 each)
• Top scorer:
  • 1988: Marco van Basten 5 goals
  • 1992: Dennis Bergkamp together with three other players, 3 goals each
  • 2000: Patrick Kluivert together with Savo Milošević (Yugoslavia), 5 goals each

• Top scorer in qualification:
  • 2012: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (12 goals)

• The following countries have the highest victories in European championships.
  •  Germany : Preliminary round 1992 - 3: 1 (also a 3: 1 and a 4: 2 in friendly games)
  •  Italy : preliminary round 2008 - 3-0
  •  BR Yugoslavia : quarter-finals 2000 - 6: 1 (highest European Championship victory)
  •  Soviet Union : Final 1988 2-0 (also a 2-0 and 3-1 in friendly games)

• The Dutch team suffered their biggest defeats at European Championship tournaments against the following teams:
  •  Russia : quarter-finals 2008 - 1: 3 aet
  •  Soviet Union : preliminary round 1988 - 0: 1 (also a 1: 2 in a friendly match)

Negative records

• Most sent-offs: 3 in the 1976 semi-final game Czechoslovakia - Netherlands - Jaroslav Pollák (60th), Johan Neeskens (76th), Willem van Hanegem (115th)
• Most lost penalties: England and the Netherlands (3 out of 4 each)

Games

Zagreb (2) Milan Naples (2) Cologne Dusseldorf Gelsenkirchen Munich Hamburg Gothenburg (4) London Birmingham (2) Liverpool Amsterdam (6) Rotterdam (2) Aveiro postage Braga Lisbon Faro / Loulé Bern (3) Basel Kharkiv (3)

Venues (green = positive balance, yellow = balanced balance, red = negative balance, number in brackets = number of games, if> 1)

The Dutch have played 35 European Championship games so far, 17 won, 10 lost and eight ended in a draw. Seven games had to be extended, of which one was won normally and one on penalties, two normally and three lost on penalties. The Dutch took part in the first game of the European Championship in 1976, had five home games and played four times against the hosts (in 1976 in the third place match, in 1988 and 2004 in the semi-finals and in 1996 in the preliminary round).

The Dutch played once (1980 in the preliminary round) against the defending champions and four times (in 1976 and 1992 in the semi-finals, 1980 and 2000 in the preliminary round) against the eventual European champions. They played against the current world champion three times (1992, 2000 and 2008) and won every time.

All EM games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/16/1976	Czechoslovakia	1: 3 a.d.	Semifinals	*	Zagreb ( YUG )
2	06/19/1976	Yugoslavia	3: 2 a.d.	3rd place match	A.	Zagreb ( YUG )	Last international match under Georg Knobel
3	06/11/1980	Greece	1-0	Preliminary round	*	Naples ( ITA )
4th	06/14/1980	FRG	2: 3	Preliminary round	*	Naples ( ITA )
5	06/17/1980	Czechoslovakia (TV)	1: 1	Preliminary round	*	Milan ( ITA )
6th	06/12/1988	Soviet Union	0: 1	Preliminary round	*	Cologne ( FRG )
7th	06/15/1988	England	3: 1	Preliminary round	*	Dusseldorf ( Germany )
8th	06/18/1988	Ireland	1-0	Preliminary round	*	Gelsenkirchen ( Germany )
9	06/21/1988	FRG	2: 1	Semifinals	A.	Hamburg ( FRG )
10	06/25/1988	Soviet Union	2-0	final	*	Munich ( FRG )	First title win, last international match in Rinus Michels' third term
11	06/12/1992	Scotland	1-0	Preliminary round	*	Gothenburg ( SWE )
12	06/15/1992	CIS	0-0	Preliminary round	*	Gothenburg ( SWE )	100th draw by the Netherlands, only game against the CIS
13	06/18/1992	Germany	3: 1	Preliminary round	*	Gothenburg ( SWE )	1000th international goal for the Netherlands by Dennis Bergkamp
14th	06/22/1992	Denmark	2: 2 n.V .; 4: 5 i. E.	Semifinals	*	Gothenburg ( SWE )	Last international game under Rinus Michels
15th	06/10/1996	Scotland	0-0	Preliminary round	*	Birmingham ( ENG )
16	06/13/1996	Switzerland	2-0	Preliminary round	*	Birmingham ( ENG )
17th	06/18/1996	England	1: 4	Preliminary round	A.	London ( ENG )
18th	06/22/1996	France	0: 0 n.V .; 4: 5 i. E.	Quarter finals	*	Liverpool ( ENG )
19th	06/11/2000	Czech Republic	1-0	Preliminary round	H	Amsterdam
20th	06/16/2000	Denmark	3-0	Preliminary round	H	Rotterdam
21st	06/21/2000	France	3: 2	Preliminary round	H	Amsterdam
22nd	06/25/2000	BR Yugoslavia	6: 1	Quarter finals	H	Rotterdam
23	06/29/2000	Italy	0: 0 n.V .; 1: 3 i. E.	Semifinals	H	Amsterdam	Last international game under Frank Rijkaard
24	06/15/2004	Germany	1: 1	Preliminary round	*	Postage ( PRT )
25th	06/19/2004	Czech Republic	2: 3	Preliminary round	*	Aveiro ( PRT )
26th	06/23/2004	Latvia	3-0	Preliminary round	*	Braga ( PRT )	First international match against Latvia
27	06/26/2004	Sweden	0: 0 n.V .; 5: 4 i. E.	Quarter finals	*	Faro / Loulé ( PRT )	First penalty shoot-out won 112th and last international game by Frank de Boer
28	06/30/2004	Portugal	1: 2	Semifinals	A.	Lisbon ( PRT )
29	06/09/2008	Italy	3-0	Preliminary round	*	Bern ( SUI )	Biggest win against Italy
30th	06/13/2008	France	4: 1	Preliminary round	*	Bern ( SUI )
31	06/17/2008	Romania	2-0	Preliminary round	*	Bern ( SUI )
32	06/21/2008	Russia	1: 3 a.d.	Quarter finals	*	Basel ( SUI )	Last international match under Marco van Basten , biggest defeat against Russia
33	06/09/2012	Denmark	0: 1	Preliminary round	*	Kharkiv ( UKR )
34	06/13/2012	Germany	1: 2	Preliminary round	*	Kharkiv ( UKR )
35	06/17/2012	Portugal	1: 2	Preliminary round	*	Kharkiv ( UKR )	First European Championship out as the bottom of the group with 3 defeats. Last international match under Bert van Marwijk
	06/13/2021	Ukraine		Preliminary round	H	Amsterdam
	06/17/2021	Austria		Preliminary round	H	Amsterdam
	June 21, 2021	Playoff winner D / A		Preliminary round	H	Amsterdam

Record against the other European champions at European championships

• Germany: 5 games, 2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 9-8 goals
• Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic: 4 games, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 5-7 goals
• USSR / CIS / Russia: 4 games, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 3: 4 goals
• France: 3 games, 2 wins, 1 defeat, 7-3 goals
• Denmark: 3 games, 1 win, 1 draw (lost on penalties), 1 defeat, 5: 3 goals (4: 5 on pens)
• Italy: 2 games, 1 win, 1 draw (lost on penalties) 3: 0 goals (1: 3 on pens)
• Portugal: 2 games, 2 defeats, 2: 4 goals
• Greece: 1 game, 1 win, 1-0 goals
• Spain: 0 games

See also

• Dutch national football team at world championships
• Dutch national soccer team for women / European championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Incl. four games decided on penalties (1 win, 3 losses)
2. ^ Netherlands 3-1 Switzerland
3. ^ Netherlands 2-2 Hungary
4. ↑ uefa.com: "Happy victory for the Netherlands"
5. ↑ uefa.com: "Netherlands let World Cup trauma be forgotten"
6. ↑ uefa.com: "Russia cheers semi-finals"
7. ↑ Draw for the EURO qualification: Pot 1 in focus. In: uefa.com. UEFA , February 20, 2014, accessed March 11, 2014 . 
8. ↑ fifa.com/SID: "Divorce in Dutch: Hiddink's" inglorious end ""
9. ↑ uefa.com: "Holland is out"
10. ↑ Incl. a player who plays for a Welsh club in the English league.