Netherlands national under-21 football team explained

Netherlands U21
Nickname:Jong Oranje (Young Orange)
Association:Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond
Coach:Michael Reiziger
Captain:Quinten Timber
Most Caps:Arnold Bruggink & Leroy Fer (31)
Top Scorer:Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (18)
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Uefau21champ Apps:9
Uefau21champ First:1988
Uefau21champ Best:Winners (2006, 2007)

The Netherlands national under-21 football team is the national under-21 team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Championship, held every two years.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Dutch Under-21 team was formed. The team did not have a very good record, failing to qualify for nine of the fifteen tournaments. The team did not enter for the 1978 competition, but since then has reached the semi-finals twice, and qualified for the last eight on three other occasions.

Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, the Netherlands' record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown. The first competitive match was in the "Under-23 Challenge", a match which they lost. The team qualified for the last eight of each of the three U-23 tournaments.

In 2006 the Netherlands national under-21 football team of coach Foppe de Haan won the 2006 European Under-21 Championship. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar became top scorer and player of the tournament with four goals, and also broke the all-time goalscoring record of 15 goals previously held by Roy Makaay and Arnold Jan Bruggink, in his last match with the team as he pushed this record to eighteen goals. The following year, Netherlands national under-21 football team successfully defended their title by winning the 2007 European Under-21 Championship in the final against Serbia with 4–1. Maceo Rigters was the top scorer of the competition with four goals and Royston Drenthe was the Player of the Tournament. The win meant that the Netherlands qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team failed to qualify for the 2009 European Under-21 Championship, after losing out to Switzerland in their final qualifying match.

Competitive record

UEFA U-23 Championship record

The Netherlands were randomly chosen to play against Bulgaria for the title in a one-off match in Sofia, which the Netherlands lost.

UEFA U-23 Championship Record

UEFA U-23 Championship RecordQualification record
YearRoundPosition
1972Quarter-finals? 301242421197
1974Quarter-finals? 210144220041
1976Semi finals? 4202354310103
Total 0 titles 3/3 9 3 1 5 11 11 10 7 2 1 23 11

(*) Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

UEFA U-21 Championship RecordQualification record
YearRoundPositionSquad
1978did not enterdid not enter
1980did not qualify401348
1982420244
1984412173
19866411113
1988Semi-finals3rd/4th4301566501125
1990did not qualify612369
1992Quarter-finals5th2101226420204
1994did not qualify103251114
199610622239
1998Fourth place4th310222Squad8611265
2000Group stage6th310235Squad10712219
2002did not qualify105322210
20048143610
2006FinalChampions531195Squad10721217
2007FinalChampions5320105SquadQualified as hosts
2009did not qualify8512103
201110802228
2013Semi-finals3rd420287Squad10811253
2015did not qualify105142613
201784221510
201910532216
2021Semi-finals4th5221116Squad10901465
2023Group stage9th303022Squad10820323
Total 2 titles 9/24 34 16 8 10 52 34 178 104 33 41 391 151

(*) Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

Olympic Games

Summer Olympic record
YearRoundPositionGPWD*LGSGA
1992Did not qualify
1996
2000
2004
2008Quarter-finals7th412144
2012Did not qualify
2016
2020
2024
Total1/70 Medals412144

Results and fixtures 2021–2023

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

See main article: article and 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Qualification

See main article: article and 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group E.

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the matches against on 21 March and on 25 March 2024.

Caps and goals correct as of 21 March 2024, after the match against .

Recent call ups

The following players have previously been called up to the Netherlands under-21 squad in the last year and remain eligible.

INJ Withdrew due to injury.
PRE Preliminary squad.
SEN Accepted call up to senior team.

Notable players from under-21 football team

Individual all-time records

Most capped players

RankPlayerCareerMatchesGoals
valign=center rowspan=21Arnold Bruggink3115
Leroy Fer2009–2013316
3Daniël de Ridder2004–2007301
4Niels Oude Kamphuis1996–2000282
valign=center rowspan=25Roy Makaay1994–19982715
Mark van Bommel1996–2000273
valign=center rowspan=27Kiki Musampa1996–2000258
align=left Arnold Kruiswijk2003–2007250
9Georginio Wijnaldum2009–20132410
valign=center rowspan=510Daley Blind2009–2013230
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar2002–20062318
Bram Nuytinck2010–2013232
Marco van Ginkel2011–2014234
Tonny Vilhena2013–2016234
Last updated: 29 May 2014

Most goals scored

RankPlayerCareerGoalsMatchesAverage
1Klaas-Jan Huntelaar18230.78
valign=center rowspan=22Roy Makaay1994–199815270.56
Arnold Bruggink1995–199915310.48
valign=center rowspan=24Género Zeefuik2011–201210120.83
Georginio Wijnaldum2009–201310240.42
6Brian Brobbey2021–9170.53
valign=center rowspan=27Vincent Janssen2014–20158100.80
Kiki Musampa1996–20008250.32
valign=center rowspan=59Edwin Bakker1984–1985771.00
Ronald de Boer1989–1992790.78
Quincy Promes2013–20147100.70
Joshua Zirkzee2020–7190.37
Jurgen Ekkelenkamp2020–20237220.32
Last updated: 27 June 2023

See also

External links