Most caps Annemieke Kiesel (156) FIFA code NED Highest 11 (December 2014) | Current 12 (24 March 2017) Captain Mandy van den Berg | |
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Nickname(s) Oranje (Orange)Leeuwinnen (Lionesses) Association Royal Dutch Football Association | ||
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.
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In 1971, the team played the first women's international football match recognized by FIFA against France. 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). Sarina Wiegman is the team's coach, after being appointed in January 2017 as successor of Arjan van der Laan. 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. 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. 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.
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.
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.European Championship
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. In 2013, they qualified again, but did not advance after the group stage.
* Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.** Missing flag indicates no host country.Current squad
Squad for the 2017 Algarve Cup.
Head coach: Sarina Wiegman