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Dutch national football team

The Dutch national football team represents the Netherlands since 1905 at international football matches. The national team is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Federation (KNVB), which is part of UEFA, and reports to FIFA, the umbrella organization for football in Denmark, Netherlands. Most home games in the Netherlands will be played at Johan Cruyff Arena and Feijenoord Stadium. The team is colloquially referred to as Het Nederlands Elftal (The Dutch Eleven) or Oranje after the house Orange-Nassau. Like the country itself, the team is sometimes (also colloquially) referred to as Holland. The fan club is known as "Het Oranje Legioen".

The Netherlands have participated in ten FIFA World Cups that have won three times (1974, 1978 and 2010). They also appeared at nine UEFA European Championships and won the 1988 tournament in West Germany. In addition, the team won a bronze medal in the Olympic tournaments in 1908, 1912 and 1920. The Netherlands have long-standing football rivalries with their neighbors Belgium football and Germany football.

After the second place in the group of the European Championship 1996 they played in the quarterfinals against France. With the score of zero, the match went on penalties. Clarence Seedorf's fourth-round shot was stopped by French goalkeeper Bernard Lama, but Laurent Blanc's goal eliminated the Netherlands. After claiming first place in the qualifying group, they were drawn in Group E of the 1998 World Cup. With the Dutch team from Dennis Bergkamp, ​​Marc Overmars, Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer and Kluivert they reached the semi-finals, where they lost again on penalties, this time against Brazil. Falling behind at the beginning of the second half before Patrick Kluivert's 87th-minute goal gave Dutch fans hope. They lost on penalties 4-2 and then lost the third place in the playoff against Croatia. Shortly thereafter, manager Guus Hiddink resigned and was replaced by Frank Rijkaard. The Netherlands hosted Euro 2000 with Belgium and won all three games in the group stage, then defeating FR Yugoslavia 6-1 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final, Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo scored two saves on penalties to eliminate the Netherlands. The team was unable to qualify for the 2002 World Cup following crucial defeats by Portugal and the Republic of Ireland, prompting coach Louis van Gaal to step down.

Dick Advocaat became National Coach of the Netherlands for the second time in January 2002. His first game was a 1-1 draw with England football in Rotterdam. The national team took second place in their qualifying group for the 2004 European Championships. After losing to the Czech Republic they had to play in the playoffs and parted in the second leg with a 6-0 success of Scotland football to qualify for the 2004 tournament. During the tournament, the Dutch made it to the semi-finals, where they lost to their hosts in Portugal. Strong criticism of his dealings with the national team caused Advocaat to resign.

The Netherlands have qualified under the new coach Marco van Basten for the 2006 World Cup. They dropped out in the second round after losing 1-0 to Portugal. The game produced 16 yellow cards, which was the World Cup record for the most cautions in a 2002 game, and set a new world record of four red cards, two per side. it was described by the press as the "Battle for Nuremberg". Despite the criticism of his selection policy and the fact that his team could not attack, the KNVB offered Van Basten a two-year contract extension. This allowed him to act as national coach during Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. The Netherlands qualified for the Euro 2008, where they were drawn together with France, Italy and Romania in the "Group of the Dead". They started with a 3-0 win against World Champion Italy in Bern, their first win against the Italians since 1978. They defeated France 4-1 to qualify for the second round and defeated the group with nine points the victory Romania 2: 0 with (mainly) its reserve players. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored an equalizer in the 86th minute to force an extra time, with the Russians scoring twice in the quarter-finals. After the tournament, Van Basten resigned after assuming the role at Ajax.

Guus Hiddink followed Van Gaal as manager for the 2016 European Championship qualifiers. On June 29, 2015, Hiddink resigned and was replaced by assistant Danny Blind. The Netherlands finished fourth in their group after not qualifying for the European Championship for the first time since 1984 and for the first time since the 2002 World Cup missed a big tournament. The poor form of the team continued in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, eventually leading Blind to be sacked after a 2-0 defeat by Bulgaria in March 2017. After the return of Dick Advocaat as coach, the Netherlands could not qualify for the 2018 World Cup and finished third in Group A behind France and Sweden.

In February 2018 Advocaat was replaced by a contract until the summer of 2022 by Ronald Koeman. The Netherlands qualified for league A in the UEFA Nations League, where they made head-to-head records after a draw with Germany on the final day against the last four qualifying France.

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