The team is colloquially referred to as Het Nederlands Elftal (The Dutch Eleven) or Oranje, after the House of Orange-Nassau and their distinctive orange jerseys.

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.

[13] After being eliminated in the first round at the 1928 Summer Olympics on home turf,[14] they skipped the first World Cup in 1930 due to the cost of travel from Europe to South America.

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.

[23] In 1978, the Netherlands qualified for the World Cup in Argentina, with the team missing Johan Cruyff due to a kidnapping attempt,[24] and Willem van Hanegem.

[29][30] 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.

[32] The Netherlands was one of the favourites for the 1990 World Cup tournament in Italy,[33] but they scored only two goals in the group stage which featured England, Egypt and the Republic of Ireland.

[34] 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.

[36] 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.

[37] In the World Cup, Van Basten and striker Ruud Gullit were injured;[38] 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.

Clarence Seedorf's shot in the fourth round was stopped by French goalkeeper Bernard Lama, and the penalty by Laurent Blanc eliminated 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.

[51] Despite criticism surrounding his selection policy and the lack of attacking football from his team, Van Basten was offered a two-year extension to his contract by the KNVB.

Netherlands football legend Johan Cruyff criticised the team's star players for poor build up play and sloppy execution of the easy passes.

In the 2014 World Cup UEFA qualifying round, the Netherlands won nine games and drew one, topping the group and earning automatic qualification.

[64] 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 controversial penalty after a foul on Arjen Robben in stoppage time.

[65] In the quarter-finals, where they faced Costa Rica, the Netherlands had many shots on goal but could not score; the match finished in a 0–0 draw after extra time.

This was due in large part to backup goalkeeper Tim Krul who was brought on just before the end of extra time and made two saves.

[66] The semi-finals against Argentina saw the Netherlands having a decent chance to score from Arjen Robben while containing Lionel Messi, as it remained scoreless after extra time.

Van Gaal, who successfully motivated the team after their semi-final elimination,[68] received praise for getting more out of the young and inexperienced Netherlands squad than many expected.

[71] 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.

[75] The Netherlands qualified for UEFA Euro 2020,[76] 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, after a Matthijs de Ligt red card.

[79] 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.

Beginning in 1974, when the Netherlands lost the 1974 World Cup to West Germany in the final, the rivalry between the two nations has become one of the best-known in international football.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following 25 players were included in the squad for 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A matches against Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina on 16 and 19 November 2024, respectively.

This time it was by penalties; Phillip Cocu and Ronald de Boer's shots missed the goal to give Brazil a spot in the final.

In the Round of 16 the Netherlands defeated the United States 3-1, only to lose to eventual champions Argentina in the Quarter Finals in a penalty shootout after 2-2.