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

Nickname(s)	Jong Oranje (Young Orange)
Association	Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond
Head coach	Michael Reiziger
Captain	Devyne Rensch
Most caps	Arnold Bruggink & Leroy Fer (31)
Top scorer	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (18)
First colours Second colours
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	10 (first in 1988)
Best result	Winners (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
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 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	6th	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/4th	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	3rd/4th	5	2	2	1	11	6	Squad		10	9	0	1	46	5
2023	Group stage	9th	3	0	3	0	2	2	Squad		10	8	2	0	32	3
2025	Semi-finals	3rd/4th	5	2	1	2	7	6			10	10	0	0	32	3
Total	2 titles	10/25	39	18	9	12	59	40	—		188	114	33	41	423	154

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

Olympic Games

Summer Olympic record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1992	Did not qualify
1996
2000
2004
2008	Quarter-finals	7th	4	1	2	1	4	4
2012	Did not qualify
2016
2020
2024
Total	1/9	0 Medals	4	1	2	1	4	4

Results and fixtures 2021–2023

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group E

Pos	Team v t e	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

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. ^[1]

The following players were named in the squad for a training camp in preparation for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, to be played June 2025.^[2] On 30 May, Dirk Proper and Youri Baas were replaced by Luciano Valente and Wouter Goes due to injuries.^[3][4]

Caps and goals correct as of 25 June 2025, after the match against England.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Dani van den Heuvel	(2003-05-28) 28 May 2003 (age 22)	1	0	Club Brugge
16	1GK	Robin Roefs	(2003-01-17) 17 January 2003 (age 22)	9	0	Sunderland
23	1GK	Calvin Raatsie	(2002-02-09) 9 February 2002 (age 23)	7	0	Excelsior
2	2DF	Devyne Rensch	(2003-01-18) 18 January 2003 (age 22)	20	2	Roma
3	2DF	Ryan Flamingo	(2002-12-31) 31 December 2002 (age 22)	17	0	PSV
4	2DF	Jorrel Hato	(2006-03-07) 7 March 2006 (age 19)	11	0	Ajax
5	2DF	Ian Maatsen	(2002-03-10) 10 March 2002 (age 23)	24	1	Aston Villa
8	2DF	Anass Salah-Eddine	(2002-01-18) 18 January 2002 (age 23)	13	0	Roma
12	2DF	Neraysho Kasanwirjo	(2002-02-18) 18 February 2002 (age 23)	12	0	Feyenoord
13	2DF	Rav van den Berg	(2004-07-07) 7 July 2004 (age 21)	6	1	Middlesbrough
14	2DF	Wouter Goes	(2004-06-10) 10 June 2004 (age 21)	5	0	AZ
15	2DF	Bjorn Meijer	(2003-03-18) 18 March 2003 (age 22)	12	2	Club Brugge
6	3MF	Youri Regeer	(2003-08-18) 18 August 2003 (age 21)	14	2	Ajax
10	3MF	Kenneth Taylor	(2002-05-16) 16 May 2002 (age 23)	26	3	Ajax
18	3MF	Ezechiel Banzuzi	(2005-02-16) 16 February 2005 (age 20)	5	1	OH Leuven
20	3MF	Antoni Milambo	(2005-04-03) 3 April 2005 (age 20)	5	0	Feyenoord
22	3MF	Luciano Valente	(2003-10-04) 4 October 2003 (age 21)	7	3	Groningen
7	4FW	Million Manhoef	(2002-01-03) 3 January 2002 (age 23)	24	6	Stoke City
9	4FW	Noah Ohio	(2003-01-16) 16 January 2003 (age 22)	21	9	Utrecht
11	4FW	Ruben van Bommel	(2004-08-03) 3 August 2004 (age 21)	15	4	AZ
17	4FW	Ernest Poku	(2004-01-28) 28 January 2004 (age 21)	13	2	AZ
19	4FW	Thom van Bergen	(2004-01-06) 6 January 2004 (age 21)	9	3	Groningen
21	4FW	Myron van Brederode	(2003-07-06) 6 July 2003 (age 22)	17	1	Fortuna Düsseldorf

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
GK	Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro	(2004-07-02) 2 July 2004 (age 21)	4	0	AZ	2025 Euro
GK	Niek Schiks	(2004-02-03) 3 February 2004 (age 21)	0	0	PSV	v.  England, 18 November 2024
DF	Lamare Bogarde	(2004-01-05) 5 January 2004 (age 21)	1	0	Aston Villa	v. Italy, 21 March 2025
DF	Maxim Dekker	(2004-04-21) 21 April 2004 (age 21)	2	0	AZ	v. Slovenia, 14 November 2024
MF	Gjivai Zechiël	(2004-06-01) 1 June 2004 (age 21)	6	1	Sparta Rotterdam	v. Romania, 25 March 2025
MF	Isaac Babadi	(2005-04-06) 6 April 2005 (age 20)	2	1	PSV	v.  North Macedonia, 11 September 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
2008	Kew Jaliens (DF)	Gerald Sibon (FW)	Roy Makaay (FW)

Notable players from under-21 football team

• Jo Bonfrere
• Roy Makaay
• Arnold Bruggink
• Wilfred Bouma
• Peter Wisgerhof
• Victor Sikora
• Mark van Bommel
• Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink
• Dirk Kuyt
• Kenneth Vermeer
• Gijs Luirink
• Nicky Hofs
• Stijn Schaars
• Urby Emanuelson
• Romeo Castelen
• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
• Robin van Persie
• Boy Waterman
• Ron Vlaar
• Ryan Donk
• Gianni Zuiverloon
• Hedwiges Maduro
• Otman Bakkal
• Maceo Rigters
• Ryan Babel
• Royston Drenthe
• Tim Krul
• Erik Pieters

Individual all-time records

  Still active players are highlighted

Most capped players

Arnold Bruggink is the most capped player for Jong Orange.

Rank	Player	Career	Matches	Goals
1	Arnold Bruggink	1995–1999	31	15
	Leroy Fer	2009–2013	31	6
3	Daniël de Ridder	2004–2007	30	1
4	Niels Oude Kamphuis	1996–2000	28	2
5	Roy Makaay	1994–1998	27	15
	Mark van Bommel	1996–2000	27	3
7	Kiki Musampa	1996–2000	25	8
	Arnold Kruiswijk	2003–2007	25	0
9	Georginio Wijnaldum	2009–2013	24	10
10	Daley Blind	2009–2013	23	0
	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	2002–2006	23	18
	Bram Nuytinck	2010–2013	23	2
	Marco van Ginkel	2011–2014	23	4
	Tonny Vilhena	2013–2016	23	4

Last updated: 29 May 2014

Most goals scored

Huntelaar was the top scorer and named best player at the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and he is the all-time top scorer for Jong Orange.

Rank	Player	Career	Goals	Matches	Average
1	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	2002–2006	18	23	0.78
2	Roy Makaay	1994–1998	15	27	0.56
	Arnold Bruggink	1995–1999	15	31	0.48
4	Género Zeefuik	2011–2012	10	12	0.83
	Georginio Wijnaldum	2009–2013	10	24	0.42
6	Brian Brobbey	2021–2023	9	17	0.53
7	Vincent Janssen	2014–2015	8	10	0.80
	Kiki Musampa	1996–2000	8	25	0.32
9	Edwin Bakker	1984–1985	7	7	1.00
	Ronald de Boer	1989–1992	7	9	0.78
	Quincy Promes	2013–2014	7	10	0.70
	Joshua Zirkzee	2020–2023	7	19	0.37
	Jurgen Ekkelenkamp	2020–2023	7	22	0.32

Last updated: 27 June 2023

See also

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