Netherlands

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 Brazil in 1952.

During the 1970s, the team adopted the Total Football (Dutch: Totaalvoetbal) 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 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. Hanegem had also fallen out with the Dutch coach, Ernst Happel. The squad still had players like Jan Jongbloed, 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.

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. 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.

The team reached the semi-finals in the Euro 1992 in Sweden. They were eliminated by eventual champions Denmark when Peter Schmeichel saved Van Basten's kick in the penalty shootout. 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.

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.

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.