Before the First World War
The beginnings of international football relations
From the very beginning, international matches between Dutch teams have been characterised by 'brotherly duels' with their Belgian neighbours. Football contacts existed since about 1890. On 30 March of that year, the oldest Belgian club Royal Antwerp, which had been founded by Englishmen and at that time also had almost only English players, came to Concordia in Rotterdam for a match. The following year the "English Belgians" received a selection from the Dutch city. Among them was the later Minister of the Interior and Agriculture Jan Kan, who later recalled:
"When we arrived at the venue at nine in the morning, the beer of honour was already ready, followed by a sumptuous lunch, where the beer flowed again. It wasn't until 3pm that the game started, for which we now only got nine men on the pitch. We managed to get a draw - which was probably only due to the fact that the opposing players had indulged in the barley juice even more than we had."
Other encounters between Dutch and Belgian, but also British teams followed. Sparta Rotterdam in particular did pioneering work in this respect.
As early as 1889, the Dutch Football Association - until 1895 still known as the Football and Athletics Association NVAB (Nederlandsche Voetbal- en Athletische Bond) - had been founded. Five years later, on 6 February 1894, the first international match of the NVAB was held. The selection of players from five clubs - who turned up for the encounter with Felixstowe FC, who had played a match at Sparta the day before, a 1-1 draw, wearing the shirts of their respective clubs - lost 1-0 to the English. English teams were usually the opponents of the Dutch selection in the following years, including village clubs such as Saxmundham, which the NVAB eleven beat 9-2. In the end, however, the English teams were merely development agents that helped Dutch football get on its feet. On 3 December 1900, a Bondselftal with players from Ajax Leiden, HBS Craeyenhout, HVV Den Haag, RAP Amsterdam, Vitesse Arnhem and Victoria Wageningen took on Preussen Berlin in Den Haag - and won 5-1.
First official international matches
In 1904, the NVB was one of the founders of FIFA, and in the same year the Belgian association played its first international match. Reason enough for the NVB to plan an international match as well. Beforehand, the team played a practice match against the English capital club London Caledonians on 21 April 1905, which they lost 3-2. On 30. April 1905 the first official international match of a Dutch, and in this case really Dutch selection, took place, because all players came from the two provinces Noord- and Zuid-Holland: Stom (actually with HFC), Lutjens (HVV) and de Neve (HBS), three players who had been active in Breda at a military school and for the local club Velocitas, were on the pitch, plus goalkeepers Beeuwkes, Lotsy and de Vos from DFC and Spartans de Korver and Boomsma. Haarlem's Stol, Gleenewinkel Kamperdijk of HBS and HVV player Dolf Kessler as captain completed the first eleven. The match in front of 800 spectators in Antwerp ended 4:1 for the Netherlands, but only after an extra time of 30 minutes, because after the regular playing time the score was 1-1. All goals were scored by the Dutch - de Neve scored four times for "Holland", Stom hit his own goal for the Belgians. In this and the next games the team did not yet wear orange jerseys, but white jerseys with red-white-blue stripes borrowed from the flag.
The first was followed by three more matches against the Belgians in 1905 and 1906, before the Dutch played a selection from the football motherland for the first time on 1 April 1907. For the first time, the selection committee of the NVB invited players from the east of the kingdom to this match against the English amateur national team, namely Janssen from the Enschede club Prinses Wilhelmina, van Beek from Quick in Kampen and Blume from Quick in Nijmegen. Janssen replaced playmaker de Korver, who had previously played in all four games, making Ben Stom the first sole record international with his fifth appearance. Stom, goalkeeper Beeuwkes and van der Vinne were joined on the pitch by a total of eight debutants. The English showed the Dutch their limitations, going 2-0 down after just five minutes before Blume reduced the deficit. By half-time, the amateurs from the island had increased the lead to 5-1 and Beeuwkes was forced to make eight saves. For three of the new internationals, including van Beek and Blume, their international careers were over.
After two more defeats against Belgium, de Korver returned to the team for the "revenge match" against the English on 21 December 1907 in Darlington under pressure from the press, and the team was now once again composed only of West players. A new playing outfit had been designed for the England match: orange jerseys with white trim, white shorts, black socks with orange and white trim. Substitute goalkeeper La Chapelle replaced Beeuwkes between the posts and became the Dutch record goalkeeper to concede the most goals to date - the first coming seconds after kick-off, scored by Woodward. Eleven more followed before the final whistle, five of them scored by Stapley. The match ended with 2:12 left, Ruffelse scoring the 1:5 and the last goal of the match. It was the highest defeat by a Dutch side to date and La Chapelle's only international appearance, although he was included in the squad for the following year's Olympic Games.
Development aid by an Englishman
However, the game had the effect of increasing the pressure on the association to train players. The English training system was to serve as a model, and in 1908 Edgar Chadwick, a former professional English player, was hired to coach the national team. Chadwick led the team to a bronze medal at the London Olympics and established them as one of the best teams in mainland Europe. In 1910 and 1912 the Elftal played the team from the German Empire three times, the fifth opponent after Belgium, England's amateurs, France and Sweden. Oranje won the first two encounters, and it was only in the third match that the Germans managed a draw. At the 1912 Olympic Games in Sweden, the team again achieved bronze.
On 24 March 1913, the Chadwick-coached side managed to erase the "disgrace of Darlington - or indeed London 1911: 9-1?". In The Hague, in the only international match played at HBS Craeyenhout's Houtrust Sports Ground, they managed to beat the England amateur side, again led by Woodward, 2-1. From the 1907 eleven, only de Korver was still on the pitch for the Dutch. The double scorer was Huug de Groot, who gave his team an early lead in the fourth minute and, after Woodward had equalised in the interval ("Who else but Woodward?" wrote Johan Derksen; the Chelsea player had scored ten goals in six previous meetings between the two sides, five of them in a 9-1 thrashing of London), also scored the winning goal in the 56th minute. 16,000 spectators were officially in attendance, but there must have been many more, who also watched from trucks outside the perimeter the defensive battle of the final half-hour, in which Vitesse goalkeeper Goebel, according to contemporary accounts, "held like a god" and his "resolute defenders threw their powerful bodies in the way of the ball." The football fans in attendance and the Dutch press celebrated the victory exuberantly:
"Our tribute is to the Eleven as a whole, united in their pursuit, defying mighty Albion, breaking its pride, beating its elite selection."
It was not the true elite team, not the official Football Association first team, but "only" the amateur team, but that did not dampen the euphoria. The match against the home side was Chadwick's penultimate game in charge. For the games up to and including 17 May 1914 in Denmark, the Scotsman Billy Hunter took over. Then the world war forced football to take a five-year break.
1919 to 1930 - From the Olympic podium to mediocrity
The third bronze medal and the "Shame of the Scheldt
Fred Warburton was the next Englishman to be entrusted with the coaching post by the NBI after the war. Warburton led the team to the Olympic Games in neighbouring Belgium, where they won their third Olympic bronze medal. A central player figure of those Games and the next few years was Jan de Natris, described in 1950 as "the best player ever to play for Ajax Amsterdam", who had made his debut for the national team in the spring of 1920. At the Olympic football competition in Brussels and Antwerp, de Natris was initially part of the regular formation in attack for the Dutch team. In the quarter-final against Sweden, he scored in extra time to win 5-4. This was followed by what became known as De Schande van de Schelde ("the shame of the Schelde"). The team had travelled to Antwerp on a ship provided by the Dutch government, the Hollandia. During the matches, the players stayed on the ship anchored on the Schelde, three at a time in small, spartan cabins without electric light or washing facilities - "a disgusting, gloomy chamber where you don't even put prisoners," judged the chronicler of De Sportkroniek - while the officials were allowed to stay in luxurious hotel rooms.
After de Natris complained about the accommodations for the players, the association thought they could appease them with a gramophone and some records. De Natris and others, including mainly his fellow striker Jaap Bulder, then smeared the records with jam and use them for stone skipping on the river. When, after losing the semi-final to eventual Olympic champions (and at the time arch-rivals) Belgium, several players also got heavily drunk in Antwerp's pubs and de Natris, Jaap Bulder and supplementary players Evert van Linge and Henk Tempel did not return to the Hollandia until late at night, the federation took action and excluded these four from the rest of the tournament. Only when their teammates threatened to strike for the "small final" were the "sinners" at least allowed to join the match, but were not used. Without them the team lost the match against Spain, which had become the match for second place, but due to the disqualification of the Czechoslovakians they still won the bronze medal for the third time.
No chance against the Olympic champion
Four years later, at the Olympic Games in France, the Netherlands - still coached by an Englishman, now Bill Townley - won the last 16 6-0 against Romania, with Kees Pijl scoring four goals. After losing the semi-final - against Uruguay with the "black miracle" Andrade - Sweden were again the opponents of the Dutch. The match for third place ended in a 1-1 draw; the Oranje lost the replay 3-1, so that after three bronze medals at the fourth Olympic football tournament only the "ungrateful" fourth place remained.
In 1925 Bob Glendenning took over as coach. He was to remain in office until 1940 and is still in the new millennium the Bondscoach with the most games in a row. However, he was not able to celebrate great successes with his team, although expectations were often high, such as before the 1928 Olympic Games in his own country. Despite mixed results in the test matches before the Olympics - four out of ten games in 1927 and 1928 were won, three lost - the public was euphoric. However, the draw - made by Prince Consort Hendrik - meant that the home team's first opponent was once again the reigning Olympic champions and future world champions Uruguay. A crowd of 40,000 had been eager to see their national team beat the South Americans in the last 16 at the newly-built Olympic Stadium on 30 May, which could actually only hold 31,000 spectators, but Uruguay easily won 2-0. For the Olympic hosts, all that remained was the consolation round organised by FIFA, where the Netherlands conceded the trophy to Chile after a 2-2 draw in the final.
After the 1928 Olympic Games, the team won only one of 13 matches until the end of 1930. In November 1930, they lost 6-3 at Zurich's Letzigrund to the Swiss side, who had been considered equally strong beforehand. The defeat was the final impetus for the KNVB to set up a selection committee to watch league matches throughout the Netherlands and seek out national players. The head of the three-man commission became Karel Lotsy. Their mission: "There must be a Dutch team that wins."
The era of Karel Lotsy
Beb Bakhuys and unexpected defeats at world championships
In 1930, Karel Lotsy took up his first post at the KNVB when he was elected to the main board. This was the beginning of the Lotsy era, and he was to play a key role in shaping the fortunes of Dutch football until 1954. On 25 January 1931 he took up his post as head of the selection committee; just two weeks later the candidates for the national team were brought together for the first time for a joint training session in The Hague. From then on, these meetings took place twice a week on the premises of VUC Den Haag. Every Thursday Lotsy held his patriotic thunder speeches here. Success was initially achieved: In 1931 and 1932 Oranje won six out of ten matches, plus a draw against the German team. Any hopes this raised were not fully realised in the two World Cups that followed. In 1934, the Netherlands lost to Switzerland in the round of 16. Four years later, the team was again eliminated in the round of the last sixteen, this time against Czechoslovakia.
After the interruption caused by the Second World War, from which the Dutch people had also suffered greatly, the national football team played its first international match again on 8 April 1945, in Brussels against neighbouring Belgium. However, only players from the already liberated south of the country could play, as the majority of the Netherlands was still occupied by Germany. It took a long time for the national team to reach a higher European level. Up to and including Mexico 1970, they failed to qualify for any World Cup tournament, while top Dutch clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam had already established a fairly good reputation on the European stage.
The successful 1970s
The flowering of Dutch football began in the early 1970s with the successes of Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord Rotterdam in the European Football Cup. At the 1974 World Cup, the Dutch team led by the brilliant playmaker Johan Cruyff, with its Totaalvoetbal, was considered the best team in terms of play, but lost 2-1 in the final to a strong-playing German side. Two years later, the Netherlands qualified ahead of 1970 runners-up Italy and World Cup bronze medallists Poland for the finals of the 1976 European Championship, where the top four European teams competed against each other. The core of the 1974 eleven was still intact and the Netherlands finished third. Cruyff did not take part in the 1978 World Cup. A brutal kidnapping attempt of his family in 1977 in Barcelona is said to have been the reason that he did not find the nerve to compete again. In 1978, the Netherlands reached the final and lost again to the hosts, this time 1-3 after extra time to Argentina. They managed a shot at the Argentine goal in the 90th minute with the score at 1-1, but it bounced off the post.
The 1980s - the road to the only title
The 1980 European Championship marked the end of the glory years for the Dutch national team, with the stars of the successful generation having ended their careers or passed their peak. A rather old team - the mainstays like captain Ruud Krol and midfielder Arie Haan had already passed the age of 30 or were close to it like René and Willy van de Kerkhof and Johnny Rep, only Romeo Zondervan and John Metgod, who did not play, were born after 1956 - did not find its way back to its former tournament form in Italy, especially in the group match against Germany.
In this match, Willy van de Kerkhof was unable to get a grip on his brilliant direct counterpart, midfielder Bernd Schuster, which proved to be the deciding factor in the game. The 20-year-old Schuster set up two of Klaus Allofs' three goals. Even though the Netherlands came close to 2:3 with an unjustified penalty kick by Rep, caused by substitute 19-year-old Lothar Matthäus, and a goal by Willy van de Kerkhof in the last ten minutes, the German victory was never in danger. In their final group game against the ČSSR, the eleven needed a win to at least make it into the third-place match, but played without inspiration, especially in the first half, and only managed a 1-1 draw in a game that was hard-fought by the Czechs and Slovaks. "My players seem to have been on holiday in their minds," Bonds coach Jan Zwartkruis said after the game.
Zwartkruis' time as coach came to an end with the mini-World Cup in Uruguay at the turn of 1980/81, which was not very successful for the European teams overall. Kees Rijvers took over in the spring of 1981 to lead the team to the 1982 World Cup. However, the Netherlands had to concede the World Cup to France and Belgium and even finished fourth in their group behind Ireland after losing the decisive match 2-0 in Paris.
Two years later, qualifying for the 1984 European Championship came as a shock to Rijvers, his team and the country as a whole: Spain's 12-1 win over Malta in their final Group 7 match meant they had lost out on a place in the European Championship - with the same goal difference only due to two more goals scored. The qualifying campaign for the 1986 World Cup also ended in what Enzo Scifo described as a "very close call" against the Netherlands under coach Leo Beenhakker: they were beaten in two relegation matches by old rivals Belgium, of all teams, on the away goals rule after Georges Grün scored a 2-1 winner in the 85th minute of the second leg in Rotterdam.
It was only under Bonds coach Rinus Michels that the Netherlands returned to the limelight in 1988 with success at the European Championship in Germany and their first footballing title. The cornerstone of the team was the trio of Frank Rijkaard in defence, Ruud Gullit in midfield and top scorer Marco van Basten in attack.
Last years of the 1988 generation (1988-1994)
Since winning the 1988 European Championship, the Netherlands have appeared in every major tournament except the 2002 World Cup, but never made it past the semi-finals for the next 20 years. In qualifying for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the Dutch national team faced Wales, Germany again and Finland. The Netherlands qualified for the finals as group winners ahead of arch-rivals Germany, where the eleven met Egypt, England and Ireland in the group stage. With three draws in all three games, the Dutch eleven qualified for the round of 16, where they were eliminated with a 2-1 loss to arch-rivals Germany. The round of 16 match against West Germany was remembered for Frank Rijkaard's spitting attack on German striker Rudi Völler, with both Rijkaard and Völler seeing red cards. In the following qualification for the 1992 European Championship in Sweden, Oranje played in a group with Portugal, Greece, Malta and Finland. The Netherlands qualified for the tournament as group winners and faced Scotland, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Germany in the group stage and qualified for the semi-finals after a draw against the CIS and two wins against Scotland and Germany, where the Netherlands met Denmark. The Netherlands twice cancelled out goals from Denmark's Henrik Larsen through Dennis Bergkamp and Frank Rijkaard, and after 90 minutes the score remained 2-2 and extra-time failed to produce a decisive goal for either side, a penalty shoot-out was called to decide the outcome in favour of one of the two sides. Marco van Basten missed the penalty and the Netherlands lost 4:5. In the qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the United States, the Netherlands played against Norway, Portugal, Turkey, San Marino and England. The Dutch qualified for the finals in the United States in second place behind the Norwegians and ahead of England. The Netherlands played in a group with Saudi Arabia, Belgium and against Morocco. Equal on points and with the same goal difference as Saudi Arabia and Belgium, the Netherlands qualified as group winners for the round of 16, where the Dutch selection won 2-0 against Ireland. In the quarter-finals they lost 3-2 to eventual world champions Brazil.
Penalty defeats and home European Championship (1994-2001)
In the following qualification for the 1996 European Championship in England, the Dutch national team finished second in a group with Luxembourg, Norway, the Czech Republic, Malta and Belarus. A 1-0 win in the deciding match against Ireland qualified the eleven for the finals in the "motherland of football". The Netherlands were drawn in a group with Scotland, Switzerland and hosts England. A goalless draw was followed by a 2-0 win over Switzerland. Despite a 4-1 loss to England in their final group game, the Netherlands qualified for the round of 16 as group runners-up ahead of the tied Scots and with the same goal difference as Scotland because the Dutch national team scored more goals. In the quarter-finals, the Netherlands were eliminated by France on penalties. The Netherlands then played in the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup in France in a group with Wales, Belgium, San Marino and Turkey. With a one-point lead over their neighbours from Belgium, the Dutch side qualified for the tournament in France and played Belgium again in the group stage, as well as South Korea and Mexico. With one win and two draws, the Dutch qualified for the round of 16, where they beat Yugoslavia 2-1 with a late goal from Edgar Davids. In the quarter-finals, the Netherlands met Argentina and won again 2-1. In the semi-finals, Guus Hiddink's team was eliminated by Brazil on penalties. The Netherlands automatically qualified for the 2000 European Championship as co-hosts. In the group stage, the team now coached by Frank Rijkaard played against the Czech Republic, Denmark and France and won their group with the full score of 9 points. In the quarter-finals, the team beat Yugoslavia 6-1 and were eliminated in the semi-finals on penalties against Italy, with Frank de Boer and Patrick Kluivert each missing a penalty kick in regulation time and de Boer again, Jaap Stam and Paul Bosvelt failing to score in the shoot-out. The Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea after finishing third in a group containing Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Andorra and Estonia. Louis van Gaal then resigned as Bondscoach.
Rise of the generation around van der Vaart, Sneijder and Robben (2001-2008)
A rebuild followed under Dick Advocaat, who had already coached the team until 1994. This included the integration of Rafael van der Vaart into the starting eleven. In the qualifiers for the 2004 European Championship in Portugal, the Dutch side faced Belarus, Austria, the Czech Republic and Moldova. The Netherlands finished second in their group after losing 3-1 to the Czech Republic in their penultimate match, and went on to face Scotland in the play-offs between the group runners-up. A 1-0 first leg win in Glasgow was followed by a 6-1 thumping in the return leg in the Netherlands. The Netherlands were drawn in the group stage with arch-rivals Germany, the Czech Republic and Latvia. In the opening match against runners-up Germany, the Netherlands trailed 1-0 from the 30th minute through a goal by Torsten Frings before Ruud van Nistelrooy equalised, which was the final score. In the second match against the Czech Republic, the Netherlands were 2-0 up before losing 3-2. By beating underdog Latvia 3-0 in the last match and the Germans losing to the Czech Republic in the parallel match, the Netherlands qualified for the quarter-finals, where they beat Sweden on penalties. In the semi-finals, the Netherlands were eliminated by hosts Portugal. Bondscoach Dick Advocaat resigned after the tournament. Under his direction, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, among others, made their debuts for the Dutch national team. In the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Netherlands faced the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Finland, Andorra and Romania, as well as Finland. With just two draws against Macedonia in ten wins, Oranje qualified as group winners for the finals in the country of their arch-rivals and faced Serbia-Montenegro, Ivory Coast and Argentina in the group stage. The Netherlands won the opening game against Serbia-Montenegro 1-0 with a goal from Robben in the 18th minute. In the second game, the eleven won 2-1 against Ivory Coast with goals from Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy. A goalless draw against Argentina saw the Netherlands squander the group win and face Portugal in the round of 16. In the "Battle of Nuremberg", in which several Portuguese and Dutch players saw cards, the Dutch side lost 1-0, with Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst seeing yellow cards. On the Portuguese side, Costinha and Deco were sent off.
Although the eleven only suffered two defeats in 12 games in qualifying for the 2008 European Championship, their rarely convincing performances drew criticism at home. At the European Championship, the Dutch first defeated world champions Italy and runners-up France in the so-called "Group of Death" C, as well as Romania with a "B eleven", and were thus considered favourites for the title. However, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the Russians, who were coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink, in a 3-1 defeat.
Runner-up in 2010 and missed two tournaments (2008-2017).
After the 2008 European Championship, Bert van Marwijk took over as Bonds coach as planned. There were few changes to the squad initially, apart from the retirements of Edwin van der Sars and Ruud van Nistelrooij. Unsurprisingly, Mark van Bommel made his comeback, playing in defensive midfield in his first international match under the guidance of his father-in-law. A 1-1 draw with Russia in Moscow was followed by a 2-1 defeat in the second friendly against Australia in Eindhoven, where Maarten Stekelenburg - van der Sar's successor as number one - was shown the red card, giving Henk Timmer his sixth Oranje appearance. Ryan Babel returned to the team after injury. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar took the place of van Nistelrooij as the top man in the first few games.
In the World Cup qualifiers, there was an opening 2-1 win in Macedonia. In the second match, Oranje defeated Iceland 2-0, with Edwin van der Sar making his comeback in Rotterdam, his 129th appearance for the national team. Van Marwijk had persuaded him to step in for the injured Stekelenburg for two more games in the World Cup qualifiers. Dirk Marcellis was the first rookie of the Van Marwijk era to make his debut for the Elftal, whose defence he also bolstered in the following match in Oslo. A goal from van Bommel gave the Netherlands a 1-0 win over Norway after an unattractive game, keeping them without a point in their third World Cup qualifier. The last friendly in 2008 was a 3-1 win over Sweden, with Michel Vorm making his debut in goal. The goals were scored by van Persie (2) and Kuyt.
The year 2009 began with a 1-1 draw in Tunis against Tunisia. It was only the fourth time the eleven had played on African soil. Van Marwijk made a number of changes to the squad against the FIFA world number 41, leaving Madrid's van der Vaart and Huntelaar, who had not had much match practice, on the bench. It was Huntelaar, however, who scored the opener a quarter of an hour after coming on as a substitute. Debutants in this less than thrilling match were Edson Braafheid, who went on for full time, and in the closing minutes Gregory van der Wiel. The Ajax player was allowed to play the full 90 minutes in the next match, the World Cup qualifier on March 28. Goals from Huntelaar and van Persie before the break and a Kuyt penalty gave Ajax a comfortable 3-0 win over Scotland. The fifth win in as many games, a 4-0 over Macedonia on 1 April - the goals scored by Huntelaar, Kuyt twice and substitute van der Vaart - brought the Dutch very close to a place in the 2010 World Cup. The team made it - and their trip to South Africa - perfect on 6 June with a 2-1 win in Iceland thanks to two goals from de Jong and van Bommel. They also won the match against Norway 2-0 four days later, with Ooijer and Robben scoring.
The first game of the World Cup season saw a 2-2 draw against England after a 2-0 half-time lead. The team - without the injured regulars van Bommel and van Bronckhorst - did not reach the form of before the summer break in this friendly match. A friendly encounter with the Japanese, who also qualified for the 2010 World Cup - the first international against the Asians and the first also in Enschede - saw Oranje win a flattering 3-0. The goals came in the final 20 minutes from van Persie, Sneijder and substitute Huntelaar. With Loovens in defence and Elia and goalkeeper Velthuizen, who came on after half-time, three players made their debut for the national team. Especially because of the performance in the first half, Bonds coach van Marwijk spoke of the "worst game under my management."
The Dutch also won their eighth and final World Cup qualifier with a 1-0 victory in Glasgow four days later. In doing so, they equalled the record set by the West German team in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. The goal against Scotland was scored by substitute Elia.
The first international match in Australia and Oceania was then a 0-0 draw against the Socceroos, and Oranje drew with the Italian side by the same scoreline in Pescara in November in a benefit match for the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake in April that year. In the third consecutive goalless draw, against Paraguay on 18 November 2009, Wout Brama and Otman Bakkal made their debuts with short appearances in Heerenveen. In early March 2010, Bonds coach van Marwijk extended his contract until after Euro 2012, and the first international of the year saw a 2-1 win over the USA, with Ron Vlaar making his Oranje comeback after more than four years. For the World Cup in South Africa, the Netherlands were seeded as one of the group heads based on the FIFA World Ranking, giving them preference over Portugal and France, who had performed better at previous tournaments. There, the Dutch played Denmark, Japan and Cameroon in Group E, against whom they emerged as group winners. They were the only unbeaten side in the tournament apart from New Zealand to face Spain in the final, where their 1-0 win ended the Netherlands' 25-match unbeaten run, which included 14 wins from all competition matches in the tournament, including qualifying.
At the 2012 European Championship, the team under van Marwijk was eliminated as runners-up in the preliminary round after three defeats against Denmark (0:1), Germany (1:2) and Portugal (1:2). It was the worst performance by a Dutch national team in their tournament history to that point. Van Marwijk resigned on 27 June 2012.
Around a week after van Marwijk's resignation, the Dutch FA presented Louis van Gaal as the new head coach. Van Gaal took up his post with assistants Danny Blind and Patrick Kluivert on 1 August 2012. The team kicked off with a 4-2 defeat in their 125th international match against Belgium, with Rafael van der Vaart becoming the fifth Dutchman to play his 100th international match. On 10 September 2013, van Gaal and the Dutch national team became the first European side to qualify for the 2014 World Cup after a 2-0 win in Andorra.
In the Netherlands' first match at the 2014 World Cup, van Gaal and his team beat 2010 final opponents and reigning European and world champions Spain 5-1, won Group B without dropping points with a 3-2 win over Australia and a 2-0 win over Chile, beat Mexico 2-1 in the round of 16 and Costa Rica on penalties in the quarter-finals (0-0 n. V.; 4-3 n. E.). V.; 4:3 n. E.), but failed to reach the final against Argentina, also on penalties (0:0 n. V.; 2:4 n. E.). In the third-place match, the Dutch beat Brazil 3-0, with national coach Louis van Gaal making a first when he substituted second substitute goalkeeper Michel Vorm in the 93rd minute. With this substitution, all 23 players in the Netherlands' World Cup squad had played at least one minute at the tournament in Brazil.
After the tournament, van Gaal resigned as national coach. His successor was Guus Hiddink, who now became Bondscoach for the second time. The first match under his direction was lost 2-0 to Italy in Bari. In the qualifiers for the Euro 2016 finals in France, the Netherlands faced the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia and again Turkey. Hiddink's last game as Bondscoach ended with a win against Latvia in the European Championship qualifiers in June 2015, and he resigned shortly afterwards. He was succeeded by his previous co-coach Danny Blind. His debut was unsuccessful when the European Championship qualifiers against Iceland at home and in Turkey were lost. They won the penultimate game against Kazakhstan. At the end of the qualifying round, the Dutch side finished fourth in their group and missed out on a major tournament for the first time since 2002.
In qualifying for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, the Netherlands faced Sweden, Belarus, runners-up France, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. After the 'Elftal' finished fourth after two defeats, a draw and two wins, Bondscoach Blind was sacked; in the last match under Blind's guidance, the 2-0 defeat in Sofia against Bulgaria, 17-year-old Matthijs de Ligt made his debut for the Dutch national team. Under successor Dick Advocaat, the Netherlands started with a 5-0 win over Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier in Rotterdam, but the following match on 31 August 2017 in Saint-Denis against France ended in a 4-0 defeat. The remaining four matches were all won, but with Sweden beating Luxembourg 8-0 in Solna on the penultimate matchday and despite a 2-0 win over the Scandinavians on the final group matchday, the Netherlands finished fourth on points behind the Swedes due to poor goal difference, missing out on a major tournament for the second year in a row. As a result, coach Dick Advocaat resigned from his post on 8 November 2017.
The failure to qualify for the 2016 European Championship and the 2018 World Cup had the following reasons: On the one hand, the generation of players after van Persie, Robben and Sneijder failed to make the breakthrough, and on the other hand, the Eredivisie lost out in international comparison. Furthermore, the 4-3-3 was considered outdated, while the Dutch talents moved abroad early on, but were unable to gain a regular place at their clubs.
Rebuild under Ronald Koeman and Frank de Boer (2018-).
In February 2018, Ronald Koeman was introduced as the new Bonds coach. In addition, a new sporting director, Nico-Jan Hoogma, was hired. Koeman relied on a three-man or five-man defence. In March 2018, Wesley Sneijder retired from the national team; on 6 September 2018, he celebrated his departure from the national team during a test match in Amsterdam against Peru, with 21-year-old Frenkie de Jong coming on as a substitute midway through the second half. In Group 1 of League A of the newly created UEFA Nations League, the Dutch national team faced reigning world champions France and Germany after failing to qualify for the finals in Russia in the spring. The first leg against the German team in Amsterdam was won 3-0. On the one hand, it was the highest victory against Germany and on the other hand, it was the first win against the German national team in 16 years. This was followed by a 2-0 win over world champions France in Rotterdam on 16 November, goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay giving them their first win over the Bleus in ten years. The German national team was relegated to League B before the final game as a result of the Dutch victory. In the second leg, the Germans took an early lead through goals from Timo Werner and Leroy Sané and allowed few chances in their own half. The equaliser did not come until the 85th minute through Quincy Promes, and the bulky captain and defender Virgil van Dijk, who was ordered up front by coach Koeman, finally scored on the volley in the 91st minute to make the final score 2-2. The team went through to the Final Four as group winners with Switzerland, Portugal and England and reached the latter's final after a 3-1 win over England, which the eleven lost 1-0 to Portugal.
In the qualification for the European Championship 2021 the Netherlands met Germany again. Other opponents were Estonia, Belarus and Northern Ireland. As group runners-up, they qualified directly for the finals after, among other things, a 2:3 and a 4:2 against Germany and a 4:0 and a 5:0 over Estonia. In the period leading up to the end of the European Championship qualifiers, Denzel Dumfries and Donyell Malen, among others, who were signed from PSV Eindhoven, made their debuts for the Elftal. After several months of no international matches being played worldwide after November 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the European Championship having to be postponed until the following year, the team returned to the field in early September 2020 as part of the 2020/21 Nations League. The coach was now the former co-coach Dwight Lodeweges, who succeeded Koeman on an interim basis following his move to FC Barcelona. Under him, Poland were beaten 1-0, while Italy were defeated by the same scoreline. Ahead of the October fixtures, the association unveiled Frank de Boer as the new national coach.
