Netherlands women's national football team

Netherlands

Nickname(s)	Oranje (Orange) Leeuwinnen (Lionesses)[1]
Association	Royal Dutch Football Association (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Arjan van der Laan[2]
Captain	Mandy van den Berg
Most caps	Annemieke Kiesel (156)[3]
Top scorer	Manon Melis (59)[4]
FIFA code	NED
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	13 1 (25 March 2016)[5]
Highest	11[5] (December 2014)
Lowest	20[5] (June 2008)
First international
France 4–0 Netherlands  (Hazebrouck, France; 17 April 1971)
Biggest win
Netherlands 12–0 Israel  (Zaandam, Netherlands; 22 August 1977)  Netherlands 13–1 Macedonia  (Zwolle, Netherlands; 28 October 2001)
Biggest defeat
Sweden 7–0 Netherlands  (Borås, Sweden; 26 September 1981)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2015)
Best result	Round of 16 (2015)
European Championship
Appearances	2 (First in 2009)
Best result	3rd (2009)

Netherlands women's national football team in May 2014

The Netherlands women's national football team (Dutch: Nederlands vrouwenvoetbalelftal) represents the Netherlands in international women's association football and is directed by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which is a member of UEFA.

In 1971, the team played the first women's international football match recognized by FIFA against France.^[6] They have played at the final tournament of the 2009 and 2013 UEFA Women's Championship and reached third place in 2009. They have also played at the final tournament of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and reached thirteenth place.

The nicknames for the team are Oranje (Orange) and Leeuwinnen (Lionesses).^[1] Arjan van der Laan is the team's coach, after being appointed in October 2015 as successor of Roger Reijners who stepped down.^[2] Since March 2015, the team is ranked number 12 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings.

History

On 17 April 1971, the Dutch team played the first women's international football match recognized by FIFA against France.^[7] The match took place in Hazebrouck, France and resulted in a 4-0 defeat for the Netherlands.

In 1980s and 1990s, the team failed to qualify for the final tournaments of UEFA's European Championship and later also for the FIFA's World Championship. The team qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 and reached third place together with Norway, after England (second place) and Germany (first place). This is the team's best result at an international tournament to date.^[8] The team again qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013, but did not advance after the group stage.

The team qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and reached thirteenth place, after having lost their first match in the knockout stage to Japan. As host country, the Dutch team has automatically qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. Despite of this, the women's team has not been noticed, since the men's was getting famous for 2014 FIFA World Cup's success, but the men's team's disastrous campaign of UEFA Euro 2016, by being eliminated from the qualification, has forced the Netherlands to take more notice on the women's team.

Tournament record

World Cup

On 27 November 2014, the Netherlands women's national football team qualified to the final tournament of the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time.^[9]

Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1991	Did Not Qualify
1995	Did Not Qualify
1999	Did Not Qualify
2003	Did Not Qualify
2007	Did Not Qualify
2011	Did Not Qualify
2015	Round of 16	13th	4	1	1	2	3	4
Total	1/7	-	4	1	1	2	3	4

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

European Championship

Lieke Martens playing against Germany at UEFA Women's Euro 2013

The Netherlands failed to qualify for the final tournament of the UEFA Women's Championship from 1984 to 2005. In 2009, the Dutch women's team qualified and reached third place, which is their best tournament result.^[10] In 2013, they qualified again, but did not advance after the group stage.^[11]

Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws*	Losses	GF	GA
1984**	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1987	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1989	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1991	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1993	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1995	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1997	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
2001	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
2005	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
2009	Third place	5	2	1	2	6	5
2013	Group stage	3	0	1	2	0	2
2017	Qualified
Total	3/12	8	2	2	4	6	7

* Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

** Missing flag indicates no host country.

Current squad

Squad for the 2016 UEFA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.^[12]

Head coach: Arjan van der Laan

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Loes Geurts	12 January 1986	107	0	Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC
	GK	Sari van Veenendaal	3 April 1990	21	0	Arsenal
	GK	Angela Christ	6 March 1989	14	0	PSV/FC Eindhoven
	DF	Mandy van den Berg (c)	26 August 1990	68	4	Liverpool
	DF	Desiree van Lunteren	30 December 1992	31	0	Ajax
	DF	Kika van Es	11 October 1991	22	0	PSV/FC Eindhoven
	DF	Dominique Janssen	17 January 1995	13	0	Arsenal
	DF	Merel van Dongen	11 February 1993	10	1	Ajax
	DF	Danique Kerkdijk	1 May 1996	5	0	FC Twente
	MF	Sherida Spitse	29 May 1990	115	17	LSK Kvinner
	MF	Claudia van den Heiligenberg	25 March 1985	97	8	Jena
	MF	Anouk Dekker	15 November 1986	48	5	Montpellier
	MF	Daniëlle van de Donk	5 August 1991	47	9	Arsenal
	MF	Renée Slegers	5 February 1989	49	14	Linköpings FC
	MF	Tessel Middag	23 December 1992	30	3	Ajax
	MF	Kelly Zeeman	19 November 1993	6	0	Ajax
	MF	Jackie Groenen	17 December 1994	4	0	Frankfurt
	MF	Myrthe Moorrees	12 December 1994	0	0	PSV/FC Eindhoven
	FW	Manon Melis	31 August 1986	135	59	Seattle Reign
	FW	Lieke Martens	16 December 1992	61	25	FC Rosengard
	FW	Vivianne Miedema	15 July 1996	34	23	Bayern Munich
	FW	Shanice van de Sanden	2 October 1992	25	7	Liverpool
	FW	Eshley Bakker	10 February 1993	10	3	Ajax
	FW	Jeslynn Kuijpers	23 June 1995	1	0	PSV/FC Eindhoven

Coaches

• Piet Buter (1987–1989)
• Bert van Lingen (1989–1991)
• Jan Derks (1991–1994)
• Ruud Dokter (1995–2000)
• Frans de Kat (2001–2004)
• Vera Pauw (2004–2010)^[13][14]
• Roger Reijners (2010–2015)^[15][14]
• Sarina Wiegman (2015)^[2]
• Arjan van der Laan (2015–present)^[2]

Overall official record

• All results list the Netherlands goal tally first.
• Goal scorers are sorted alphabetically.

Abbreviation Key table
EC	European Championship (Women's Euro)
WC	World Cup
OG	Olympic Games
QS	Qualification tournament

Competition	Stage	Result	Opponent	Position	Scorers
1984 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.4	2–3, 5–0	Belgium	2 / 4	Camper, Fortuin, de Haan, de Jong-Desaunois, Timisela, Timmer, de Visser
		2–1, 0–2	Denmark		de Bakker, Camper
		2–2, 1–1	West Germany		Camper, de Visser (2)
1987 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.3	1–0, 5–3	France	2 / 4	Allott (4), de Bakker, Camper
		0–2, 2–0	Sweden		de Bakker, Vestjens
		3–1, 3–0	Belgium		Allott (2), de Bakker, Boogerd, Timisela (2)
1989 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.2	0–0, 1–0	Sweden	1 / 4	de Bakker
		4–0, w/o	Scotland		de Bakker (2), Glotzbach-Wiegman, Timisela
		1–0, 2–0	Ireland		de Bakker, Timisela, de Winter
	Quarter-finals	1–2, 0–3	Norway		de Bakker
1991 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.1	2–0, 0–0	Ireland	1 / 3	Vestjens (2)
		6–0, 9–0	Northern Ireland		Baal, de Bakker (6), Geeris, Limbeek (2), Pauw, Timisela (2), Vestjens, van Waarden
	Quarter-finals	0–0, 0–1 (a.e.t.)	Denmark
1993 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.5	3–0, 2–0	Greece	1 / 3	Geeris (3), Limbeek, Timisela
		1–1, 0–0	Romania		van der Ploeg
	Quarter-finals	0–3, 0–3	Norway
1995 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.8	1–2, 0–1	Iceland	2 / 3	Leemans
		2–0, 4–0	Greece		van Dam (2), Keereweer, Limbeek, Noom, Roos
1997 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.2 (Class A)	0–2, 0–2	Iceland	4 / 4
		1–1, 1–0	Russia		Korbmacher, van Waarden
		1–1, 1–2	France		Korbmacher, Migchelsen
	Relegation Play-off	2–1, 1–0	Czech Republic		Glotzbach-Wiegman, Kiesel-Griffioen, Timisela
1999 WC QS	Group Stage: Gr.3 (Class A)	1–6, 0–0	Norway	3 / 4	Roos
		0–1, 2–1	England		Noom (2)
		1–0, 1–2	Germany		Migchelsen, Noom
2001 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.1 (Class A)	1–1, 1–2	France	4 / 4	van Eyk, Smith
		1–1, 1–2	Spain		Kiesel-Griffioen, Smith
		1–1, 0–3	Sweden		Smith
	Relegation Play-Off	3–0, 2–0	Hungary		Kiesel-Griffioen, Muller, Noom, Torny (2)
2003 WC QS	Group Stage: Gr.4 (Class A)	0–0, 1–4	England	3 / 4	Kiesel-Griffioen
		0–3, 0–6	Germany
		1–2, 4–1	Portugal		Burger, Muller, Noom, Ran, Smith
2005 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.2 (Class A)	0–1 0–0	Spain	4 / 5
		0–2, 0–2	Norway
		0–3, 1–5	Denmark		Ran
		3–0, 3–0	Belgium		de Boer, Koster, Melis, Muller, Torny, van Veen
2007 WC QS	Group Stage: Gr.5 (Class A)	1–0, 0–2	France	3 / 5	de Boer
		1–0, 4–0	Austria		Delies, Demarteau, Louwaars, Smit (2)
		0–1, 0–4	England
		5–0, 4–0	Hungary		Delies, Hoogendijk, Louwaars (2), Smit, Smith, Stevens (3)
2009 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.4	1–5, 0–1	Germany	2 / 5	Torny
		2–2, 1–1	Switzerland		van Eijk, Melis (2)
		2–1, 1–0	Wales		Melis (2), Smit
		2–2, 3–0	Belgium		Hoogendijk, Melis (3), Stevens
	Play-Off	2–0, 2–0	Spain		Stevens (3), van de Ven
2009 EC	Group Stage: Gr.A	2–0	Ukraine	2 / 4	Stevens, van de Ven
		1–2	Finland		van de Ven
		2–1	Denmark		Melis, Smit
	Quarter-finals	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	France
	Semifinals	1–2 (a.e.t.)	England		Pieëte
2011 WC QS	Group Stage: Gr.1	0–3, 2–2	Norway	2 / 5	Dekker, Melis
		13–1, 7–0	Macedonia		Hoogendijk, Kiesel-Griffioen (4), Koster, Melis (2), Meulen, Pieëte, de Ridder, Slegers, Smit (7), Spitse
		1–1, 4–0	Belarus		Melis (2), de Ridder, Slegers, van de Ven
		2–0, 1–0	Slovakia		Kiesel-Griffioen, Koster, Smit
2013 EC QS	Group Stage: Gr.6	6–0, 4–0	Serbia	2 / 5	van den Berg, van de Donk, Hoogendijk, Martens, Melis (6)
		3–0, 2–0	Croatia		Melis, de Ridder, Smit, Spitse, van de Ven
		0–0, 0–1	England
		2–0, 3–1	Slovenia		Heuver, Melis, de Ridder, van de Ven (2)
2013 EC	Group Stage: Gr.B	0–0	Germany	4 / 4
		0–1	Norway
		0–1	Iceland
2015 WC QS	Group Stage: Gr.5	4–0, 10–1	Albania	2 / 6	Bakker, van den Heiligenberg, Martens (2), Melis (3), Slegers (6), + 1 o.g.
		7–0, 3–2	Portugal		van den Berg, Dekker, Miedema (6), Slegers (2)
		1–2, 2–0	Norway		Dekker, van de Donk, Miedema
		7–0, 6–0	Greece		Bakker, van den Berg (2), Martens (2), Melis (2), Miedema (4), Middag, Spitse
		1–1, 2–0	Belgium		Miedema (2), Slegers
	Play-Off	2–1, 2–0	Scotland		Martens (2), Melis (2)
	Play-Off Final	1–1, 2–1	Italy		Miedema (3)
2015 WC	Group Stage: Gr.A	1–0	New Zealand	3 / 4	Martens
		0–1	China
		1–1	Canada		van de Ven
	Round of 16	1–2	Japan		van de Ven
2016 OG QS	Single Round-robin	4–3	Switzerland	2 / 4	van den Berg, Melis, Miedema, van de Sanden
		1–4	Norway		Melis
		1–1	Sweden		Miedema

References

1. Women's football in the Netherlands, Royal Dutch Football Association. Retrieved on 1 July 2014.
2. "Van der Laan replaces Reijners as Dutch coach". UEFA. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
3. "Van Praag riddert Kiesel-Griffioen" (in Dutch). onsoranje.nl. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
4. "New Zealand and Netherlands clash for first World Cup win". Reuters. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
5. Netherlands: FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, FIFA. Retrieved on 10 July 2015.
6. "The women's football World Cup is about to start. Here's the lowdown on the Oranje Lionesses - DutchNews.nl". Retrieved 2015-09-03.
7. "The women's football World Cup is about to start. Here's the lowdown on the Oranje Lionesses - DutchNews.nl". Retrieved 2015-09-03.
8. uefa.com. "UEFA Women's EURO 2009 - History - – UEFA.com". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
9. "Italy–Netherlands playoff match". UEFA. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
10. UEFA Women's EURO 2009, UEFA. Retrieved on 1 July 2014.
11. Group B, UEFA. Retrieved on 1 July 2014.
12. "Martens, Van der Gragt not in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament" (in Dutch). onsoranje.nl. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
13. (Dutch) "De loopbaan van Vera Pauw", Intermediair, 2009. Retrieved on 3 July 2014.
14. (Dutch) Hugo Logtenberg, "Roger Reijners nieuwe bondscoach vrouwenelftal", de Volkskrant, 2010. Retrieved on 3 July 2014.
15. (Dutch) Spelers en Staf: Vrouwen A-elftal, Ons Oranje. Retrieved on 2 July 2014.

External links

• Media related to Netherlands women's national association football team at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• FIFA profile