Netherlands National Football Team (AEWCF)

Medal record
Men's Football

Netherlands
Association	Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond
Confederation	UEFA
FIFA ranking	2
Highest FIFA ranking	1 (1928-1934)
Lowest FIFA ranking	2 (1936-)
First international
	Belgium 1-2 Netherlands; (Brussels, Belgium; December 1, 1904)
FIFA World Cup
Appearances	8 (First in 1906)
Best result	Champions, 1930

The Netherlands national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Netherlands in international competition and is controlled by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond. Netherlands has competed in six FIFA World Cups including the title that they won in 1930 FIFA World Cup after defeating Argentina by two goals.

History

The Start

The Netherlands played in their first match on December 1, 1904 against the Netherlands in Brussels. Before long the team was entered into the first ever World Cup with their group consisted of England and Hungary. After defeating Hungary, they lost to a more familiar opponent in football which was the England. The Netherlands soon tasted success when Great Britain withdrew from the football which opened the field for the Netherlands to take the first of two gold medals in a row. They later defeated Norway at the 1912 Olympics by a score of 6-0. That sucess didn't translate to the FIFA World Cup with a quarter final exit in the next two FIFA World Cup's. Both of them coming against Belgium team.

Success and failure

After the first World War, the national team fortunes started to swing with the success coming in the World Cup. When they hosted in 1922, they made all the way through to the World Cup final before falling down to once again the Belgium team for the third time. After failing in 1924, the team headed to 1926 where they defeated Belgium in the qualifying stage. For the Netherlands they beat Hungary before notching up the biggest victory of World Cup history with a 7-0 demolition of the United States. After winning 2-0 over Yugoslavia and Scotland, they avoided Belgium as they was defeated by Austria in the quarter finals. After beating them, they once again ended up second best when they lost to Uruguay in extra time.

After finishing in 3rd place at their home Olympics, the Netherlands qualified again with Argentina, France and the United States. After finishing on top of their group, they took on Brazil who made it to the previous World Cup. It would come down to Jan van den Broek to score the winning goal and got the team through to the semis where they defeated Switzerland by a single goal. This meant that they once again had to take on Argentina. After a equal first half, the Netherlands struck twice in the space of 10 minutes take home their first World Cup.

After only finishing in 3rd at the 1933 WEFF Championship, hopes was high of defending the title in Italy but they didn't make it out of the Group Stage. This was then followed up by a group stage exit at home in the regional tournament. But they soon regained form by finishing in 3rd place at the 1937 WEFF Championship before heading to Argentina in hope of regaining the title that they won in Uruguay eight years earlier.

The success that they did have was a another final after they defeated Latvia, Hungary and the United States to get to the final against Italy who were the defending champions. But they couldn't do anything with them losing the match 2-0 in the final and having to deal with the runner up for the third time in 16 years.

Rivalries

Main article: Belgium-Netherlands football rivalry

Tournament History

FIFA World Cup

Gold Silver Bronze

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1906	Group Stage	7th	2	1	0	1	1	2
1910	Quarter Finalist	5th	3	1	1	1	3	6
1914	Quarter Finalist	5th	4	3	1	0	11	2
1922	Runner Up	2nd	3	2	0	1	7	2
1926	Runner Up	2nd	6	5	1	0	17	4
1930	Champions	1st	6	5	1	0	14	3
1934	Group Stage	11th	3	1	0	2	4	3
1938	Runner Up	2nd	4	3	0	1	9	5
Total	Champions	8/8	31	21	4	6	66	27