Netherlands men's national handball team

The Netherlands national handball team is the national handball team of Netherlands and is controlled by the Netherlands Handball Association.

Netherlands
Information
Nickname	Golden Boys
Association	Netherlands Handball Association
Coach	Staffan Olsson
Assistant coach	Wong Wai
Most caps	Lambert Schuurs (312)
Colours
1st 2nd
Results
World Championship
Appearances	3 (First in 1961)
Best result	11th (1961)
European Championship
Appearances	3 (First in 2020)
Best result	10th (2022)
Last updated on 28th December 2023.

Unlike the very successful women's team, The Netherlands men's team qualified just twice for the World Championships (1961, 2025). For the 2023 World Men's Handball Championship The Netherlands received a wildcard and reached the Main Round finishing 14th overall. The team improved this result in the 2025 event to a 12th place in the final ranking.

The current squad led by starplayers Luc Steins and Kay Smits is steadily closing the gap with the leading European teams by qualifying three consecutive times for the European Championships (2020, 2022 and 2024). In only their second ever appearance at EHF EURO 2022 the Dutch men's team won three matches and drew one. The Dutch did qualify for the Main Round as well and finished as 10th overall.

Competitive record

World Championship

World Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1938	did not qualify
1954
1958
1961	Preliminary round	11	2	0	0	2	18	54
1964	did not qualify
1967
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
/ 2019
2021
/ 2023	Main round	14	6	3	0	3	177	165
// 2025	Main round	12	6	3	1	2	212	200
2027	Future events
/ 2029
// 2031
Total	3/32	–	14	6	1	7	407	419

European Championship

European Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1994	did not qualify
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
// 2020	Preliminary round	17th	3	1	0	2	80	94
/ 2022	Main round	10th	7	3	1	3	200	215
2024	Main round	12th	7	2	1	4	224	222
// 2026	Qualified
// 2028	Future events
Total	4/18	–	17	6	2	9	504	531

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship.^[1][2]

Head coach: Staffan Olsson

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 1 GK Bart Ravensbergen (1993-03-14) 14 March 1993 (age 32) 1.90 m 105 17 Frisch Auf Göppingen 2 GK Rob Goudriaan (2001-02-07) 7 February 2001 (age 24) 1.89 m 2 0 RKHV Volendam 3 CB Ivar Stavast (1998-01-13) 13 January 1998 (age 27) 1.91 m 49 61 HC Elbflorenz 5 LW Rutger ten Velde (1997-03-05) 5 March 1997 (age 28) 1.78 m 71 219 Frisch Auf Göppingen 7 LB Robin Schoenaker (1995-08-23) 23 August 1995 (age 29) 1.96 m 59 8 Sporting Pelt 11 GK Jorick Pol (2004-02-26) 26 February 2004 (age 21) 1.98 m 0 0 HV Hurry-Up 12 GK Matthias Dorgelo (2002-10-31) 31 October 2002 (age 22) 2.00 m 4 1 SønderjyskE Håndbold 15 P Lars Kooij (2000-08-11) 11 August 2000 (age 25) 2.00 m 27 39 RK Vardar 17 LW Kaj Geenen (2003-05-06) 6 May 2003 (age 22) 1.86 m 20 16 VfL Lübeck-Schwartau 20 RB Niels Versteijnen (2000-02-03) 3 February 2000 (age 25) 2.00 m 49 107 TBV Lemgo 21 P Martijn Kleijkers (2001-02-22) 22 February 2001 (age 24) 1.92 m 9 6 Pau Billère Handball 22 CB Luc Steins (1995-03-22) 22 March 1995 (age 30) 1.72 m 111 319 Paris Saint-Germain 23 LB Jorn Smits (1992-09-03) 3 September 1992 (age 32) 1.93 m 75 112 GC Amicitia Zürich 27 RW Alec Smit (1999-05-15) 15 May 1999 (age 26) 1.85 m 60 71 Pfadi Winterthur 31 RB Kay Smits (1997-03-31) 31 March 1997 (age 28) 1.85 m 82 383 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 38 RW Rob Schmeits (1994-06-11) 11 June 1994 (age 31) 1.85 m 4 3 Sporting Pelt 40 RW Robin Nagtegall (1999-01-21) 21 January 1999 (age 26) 1.85 m 2 0 RKHV Volendam 41 LW Jeromy van der Ban (2002-01-14) 14 January 2002 (age 23) 1.91 m 2 2 HV Aalsmeer 77 CB Dani Baijens (1998-05-05) 5 May 1998 (age 27) 1.82 m 84 229 Paris Saint-Germain

Extended team

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 8 P Evert Kooijman (1996-01-28) 28 January 1996 (age 29) 1.96 m 42 36 KRAS/Volendam 12 GK Matthias Dorgelo (2002-10-31) 31 October 2002 (age 22) 1.99 m 2 1 GOG 31 RB Kay Smits (1997-03-31) 31 March 1997 (age 28) 1.85 m 80 368 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 34 RB Tom Jansen (1998-06-08) 8 June 1998 (age 27) 1.99 m 29 49 VfL Gummersbach 38 RW Rob Schmeits (1994-06-11) 11 June 1994 (age 31) 1.85 m 6 6 KEMBIT/LIONS