Netherlands national under-21 football team

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.

Netherlands U21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Jong Oranje (Young Orange)
AssociationKoninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond
Head coachMichael Reiziger
CaptainQuinten Timber
Most capsArnold Bruggink & Leroy Fer (31)
Top scorerKlaas-Jan Huntelaar (18)
First colours
Second colours
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances9 (first in 1988)
Best resultWinners (2006, 2007)

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.

  • 17 April 1968: Bulgaria 3–1 Netherlands.

UEFA U-23 Championship Record

UEFA U-23 Championship Record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D* L GF GA
1972 Quarter-finals ? 3 0 1 2 4 2 4 2 1 1 9 7
1974 Quarter-finals ? 2 1 0 1 4 4 2 2 0 0 4 1
1976 Semi finals ? 4 2 0 2 3 5 4 3 1 0 10 3
Total0 titles3/393151111107212311

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

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

UEFA U-21 Championship Record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad Pld W D* L GF GA
1978 did not enter did not enter
1980 did not qualify 4 0 1 3 4 8
1982 4 2 0 2 4 4
1984 4 1 2 1 7 3
1986 6 4 1 1 11 3
1988 Semi-finals 3rd/4th 4 3 0 1 5 6 6 5 0 1 12 5
1990 did not qualify 6 1 2 3 6 9
1992 Quarter-finals 5th 2 1 0 1 2 2 6 4 2 0 20 4
1994 did not qualify 10 3 2 5 11 14
1996 10 6 2 2 23 9
1998 Fourth place 4th 3 1 0 2 2 2 Squad 8 6 1 1 26 5
2000 Group stage 3 1 0 2 3 5 Squad 10 7 1 2 21 9
2002 did not qualify 10 5 3 2 22 10
2004 8 1 4 3 6 10
2006 Final Champions 5 3 1 1 9 5 Squad 10 7 2 1 21 7
2007 Final Champions 5 3 2 0 10 5 Squad Qualified as hosts
2009 did not qualify 8 5 1 2 10 3
2011 10 8 0 2 22 8
2013 Semi-finals 3rd 4 2 0 2 8 7 Squad 10 8 1 1 25 3
2015 did not qualify 10 5 1 4 26 13
2017 8 4 2 2 15 10
2019 10 5 3 2 21 6
2021 Semi-finals 4th 5 2 2 1 11 6 Squad 10 9 0 1 46 5
2023 Group stage 3 0 3 0 2 2 Squad 10 8 2 0 32 3
Total2 titles9/24341681052341781043341391151

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

Olympic Games

Summer Olympic record
Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
Spain 1992Did not qualify
United States 1996
Australia 2000
Greece 2004
China 2008 Quarter-finals 7th 4 1 2 1 4 4
United Kingdom 2012Did not qualify
Brazil 2016
Japan 2021
France 2024
Total1/70 Medals412144

Results and fixtures 2021–2023

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Netherlands 10 8 2 0 32 3 +29 26 Final tournament 2–0 3–0 5–0 3–1 6–0
2   Switzerland 10 7 2 1 22 6 +16 23 2–2 3–0 5–1 1–0 4–0
3  Moldova 10 3 3 4 7 12 5 12 0–3 1–1 1–0 0–2 1–0
4  Wales 10 3 2 5 15 14 +1 11 0–1 0–1 0–0 1–1 2–0
5  Bulgaria 10 2 4 4 10 11 1 10 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–4 5–0
6  Gibraltar 10 0 1 9 1 41 40 1 0–7 0–4 0–4 0–7 1–1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the matches against Moldova on 8 September and North Macedonia on 12 September.

Caps and goals correct as of 27 June 2023, after the match against Georgia.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Dani van den Heuvel (2003-05-28) 28 May 2003 0 0 England Leeds United
1GK Calvin Raatsie (2002-02-09) 9 February 2002 0 0 Netherlands FC Utrecht
1GK Hugo Wentges (2002-02-11) 11 February 2002 1 0 Netherlands ADO Den Haag

2DF Tyrese Asante (2002-04-09) 9 April 2002 0 0 Netherlands ADO Den Haag
2DF Youri Baas (2003-03-17) 17 March 2003 0 0 Netherlands NEC
2DF Rav van den Berg (2004-07-07) 7 July 2004 0 0 England Middlesbrough
2DF Finn van Breemen (2003-02-25) 25 February 2003 0 0 Switzerland FC Basel
2DF Jorrel Hato (2006-03-07) 7 March 2006 0 0 Netherlands Ajax
2DF Ki-Jana Hoever (2002-01-18) 18 January 2002 5 1 England Stoke City
2DF Devyne Rensch (2003-01-18) 18 January 2003 9 0 Netherlands Ajax
2DF Anass Salah-Eddine (2002-01-18) 18 January 2002 0 0 Netherlands Ajax

3MF Isaac Babadi (2005-04-06) 6 April 2005 0 0 Netherlands PSV
3MF Ryan Gravenberch (2002-05-16) 16 May 2002 11 1 England Liverpool
3MF Dirk Proper (2002-02-24) 24 February 2002 0 0 Netherlands NEC
3MF Youri Regeer (2003-08-18) 18 August 2003 0 0 Netherlands FC Twente
3MF Kenneth Taylor (2002-05-16) 16 May 2002 13 1 Netherlands Ajax
3MF Calvin Twigt (2003-01-30) 30 January 2003 0 0 Netherlands FC Volendam

4FW Ruben van Bommel (2004-08-03) 3 August 2004 0 0 Netherlands AZ
4FW Brian Brobbey (2002-02-01) 1 February 2002 17 9 Netherlands Ajax
4FW Emanuel Emegha (2003-02-03) 3 February 2003 0 0 France RC Strasbourg
4FW Sontje Hansen (2002-05-18) 18 May 2002 0 0 Netherlands NEC
4FW Million Manhoef (2002-01-03) 3 January 2002 0 0 Netherlands Vitesse
4FW Noah Ohio (2003-01-16) 16 January 2003 0 0 Belgium Standard Liège

Recent call ups

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

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up

DF Bjorn Meijer (2003-03-18) 18 March 2003 1 0 Belgium Club Brugge v.  Czech Republic, 27 March 2023


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

Overage players in Olympic Games

Tournament Player 1 Player 2 Player 3
Kew Jaliens (DF) Gerald Sibon (FW) Roy Makaay (FW)

Notable players from under-21 football team

Individual all-time records

  Still active players are highlighted
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