Netherlands national under-21 football team

Netherlands U21

Nickname(s)	Jong Oranje (Young Orange)
Association	Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond
Head coach	Cor Pot
Captain	Bram Nuytinck
Most caps	Arnold Bruggink (31)
Top scorer	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (18)
First colours Second colours
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	6 (First in 1988)
Best result	Winner, 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 18 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.

UEFA U-23 Championship record [edit]

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

• 17 April 1968: Bulgaria 3–1 Netherlands.
• 1972: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1974: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1976: Losing semi-finalists.

UEFA U-21 Championship Record [edit]

Serbia and the Netherlands enter on to the field for the final of the 2007 tournament.

• 1978: Did not enter.
• 1980: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1982: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1984: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1986: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
• 1988: Losing semi-finalists.
• 1990: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group.
• 1992: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1994: Did not qualify. Finished 5th of 6 in qualification group.
• 1996: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group.
• 1998: Fourth.
• 2000: Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group. Joint fifth.
• 2002: Lost in playoff.
• 2004: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 5 in qualification group.
• 2006: Winners
• 2007: Winners
• 2009: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
• 2011: Lost in Playoff against Ukraine.

Notable players [edit]

Current squad [edit]

Preliminary squad for the UEFA U-21 2013 tournament. Caps and goals updated as May 6, 2013.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Jeroen Zoet (1991-01-06) January 6, 1991 (age 22) 16 0 RKC Waalwijk 1GK Marco Bizot (1991-03-10) March 10, 1991 (age 22) 5 0 Groningen 1GK Sergio Padt (1990-06-06) June 6, 1990 (age 22) 4 0 Gent 1GK Warner Hahn (1992-06-15) June 15, 1992 (age 20) 0 0 Dordrecht 1GK Nick Marsman (1990-10-01) October 1, 1990 (age 22) 0 0 Go Ahead Eagles 2DF Daley Blind (1990-03-09) March 9, 1990 (age 23) 19 0 Ajax 2DF Jeffrey Bruma (1991-11-13) November 13, 1991 (age 21) 19 0 Hamburg 2DF Bram Nuytinck (1990-05-04) May 4, 1990 (age 23) 19 2 Anderlecht 2DF Patrick van Aanholt (1990-08-29) August 29, 1990 (age 22) 14 0 Vitesse 2DF Stefan de Vrij (1992-02-05) February 5, 1992 (age 21) 8 0 Feyenoord 2DF Ricardo van Rhijn (1991-06-13) June 13, 1991 (age 21) 5 0 Ajax 2DF Bruno Martins Indi (1992-02-08) February 8, 1992 (age 21) 4 0 Feyenoord 2DF Virgil van Dijk (1991-07-08) July 8, 1991 (age 21) 3 0 Groningen 2DF Mitchell Dijks (1993-02-09) February 9, 1993 (age 20) 2 0 Ajax 2DF Mike van der Hoorn (1992-10-15) October 15, 1992 (age 20) 2 0 Utrecht 2DF Jeffrey Gouweleeuw (1991-07-10) July 10, 1991 (age 21) 2 0 Heerenveen 2DF Miquel Nelom (1990-09-22) September 22, 1990 (age 22) 1 0 Feyenoord 2DF Jetro Willems (1994-03-30) March 30, 1994 (age 19) 1 0 PSV 3MF Leroy Fer (1990-01-05) January 5, 1990 (age 23) 27 3 Twente 3MF Georginio Wijnaldum (1990-11-11) November 11, 1990 (age 22) 18 7 PSV 3MF Kelvin Leerdam (1990-06-24) June 24, 1990 (age 22) 17 0 Feyenoord 3MF Marco van Ginkel (1992-12-01) December 1, 1992 (age 20) 13 3 Vitesse 3MF Jordy Clasie (1991-06-27) June 27, 1991 (age 21) 10 1 Feyenoord 3MF Leandro Bacuna (1991-08-21) August 21, 1991 (age 21) 9 1 Groningen 3MF Ricky van Haaren (1991-06-21) June 21, 1991 (age 21) 9 1 VVV 3MF Kevin Strootman (1990-02-13) February 13, 1990 (age 23) 8 0 PSV 3MF Lerin Duarte (1990-08-11) August 11, 1990 (age 22) 9 1 Heracles Almelo 3MF Adam Maher (1993-07-20) July 20, 1993 (age 19) 6 0 AZ 3MF Thomas Bruns (1992-01-07) January 7, 1992 (age 21) 1 0 Heracles Almelo 3MF Tonny Vilhena (1995-01-03) January 3, 1995 (age 18) 1 1 Feyenoord 4FW Género Zeefuik (1990-04-05) April 5, 1990 (age 23) 11 10 Groningen 4FW Luuk de Jong (1990-08-27) August 27, 1990 (age 22) 13 4 Borussia Mönchengladbach 4FW Yanic Wildschut (1991-11-01) November 1, 1991 (age 21) 10 0 VVV 4FW Ola John (1992-05-19) May 19, 1992 (age 20) 5 0 Benfica 4FW Rajiv van la Parra (1991-06-04) June 4, 1991 (age 21) 5 0 Heerenveen 4FW Florian Jozefzoon (1991-02-09) February 9, 1991 (age 22) 2 0 RKC Waalwijk 4FW Danny Hoesen (1991-01-15) January 15, 1991 (age 22) 1 1 Ajax 4FW Jürgen Locadia (1993-11-07) November 7, 1993 (age 19) 1 1 PSV 4FW Memphis (1994-02-13) February 13, 1994 (age 19) 0 0 PSV 4FW Guus Hupperts (1992-04-25) April 25, 1992 (age 21) 0 0 Roda JC

Recent call-ups [edit]

The following players have been called and remain eligible. Players have to be born after 01.01.1990.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 2DF Ties Evers (1991-03-14) March 14, 1991 (age 22) 4 0 De Graafschap 2DF Kaj Ramsteijn (1990-01-17) January 17, 1990 (age 23) 4 0 VVV 2DF Anthony Bentem (1990-03-19) March 19, 1990 (age 23) 1 0 XerxesDZB 2DF Lorenzo Burnet (1991-01-11) January 11, 1991 (age 22) 1 0 Groningen 3MF Maikel Kieftenbeld (1990-06-26) June 26, 1990 (age 22) 5 0 Groningen 3MF Davy Pröpper (1991-09-02) September 2, 1991 (age 21) 5 1 Vitesse 3MF Steven Berghuis (1991-12-19) December 19, 1991 (age 21) 3 2 AZ 3MF Marko Vejinović (1990-02-03) February 3, 1990 (age 23) 2 0 Heracles Almelo 3MF Navarone Foor (1992-02-04) February 4, 1992 (age 21) 1 0 NEC 3MF Gianluca Nijholt (1990-02-14) February 14, 1990 (age 23) 1 0 Amkar Perm 3MF Ben Rienstra (1990-06-05) June 5, 1990 (age 22) 0 0 Heracles Almelo 4FW Luciano Narsingh (1990-09-13) September 13, 1990 (age 22) 10 1 PSV 4FW Nacer Barazite (1990-05-27) May 27, 1990 (age 22) 9 1 Monaco 4FW Rick ten Voorde (1991-06-20) June 20, 1991 (age 21) 4 1 NEC 4FW Alex Schalk (1992-08-07) August 7, 1992 (age 20) 3 0 NAC Breda 4FW Lorenzo Ebecilio (1991-09-24) September 24, 1991 (age 21) 2 0 Metalurh Donetsk 4FW Charlton Vicento (1991-01-19) January 19, 1991 (age 22) 2 0 ADO Den Haag 4FW Roland Bergkamp (1991-04-03) April 3, 1991 (age 22) 1 0 VVV 4FW Jody Lukoki (1992-11-15) November 15, 1992 (age 20) 0 0 Ajax

See also [edit]

• Netherlands national football team
• Netherlands national under-19 football team
• Netherlands national under-17 football team
• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Sources/External links [edit]

• UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
• Official KNVB U-21 site in Dutch