The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

matches. The national team is governed by

Basketball Nederland Basketball Netherlands ( nl, Basketbal Nederland) is the governing body of basketball in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1947, and are headquartered in Nieuwegein. Basketball Nederland operates the Netherlands men's national team and Netherl ...

. The Dutch have reached the European Basketball Championship on 15 occasions. Their best results at the event came in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, where they finished in fourth place. They have also qualified for the FIBA World Cup once, in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

. However, in recent years the national team has struggled to maintain consistency to reach major international tournaments. The team represents itself as the Orange Lions.

History

1946–1991: Early years

The Netherlands were one of the teams that played in the 1946, 1947, 1949 and

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

EuroBasket tournaments. During this period, the 5th place finish in 1949 was the best performance by the national team.

1961–1991: EuroBasket success & World Cup debut

The ''Oranje'' qualified for three European Basketball Championships in the 1960s (

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

). After three consecutive missed tournaments, the Netherlands had another three EuroBasket appearance stretch from

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. During the 1977 EuroBasket, the Netherlands' star player Kees Akerboom shined during the tournament. He finished the competition as the top scorer, and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. At

EuroBasket 1983 The 1983 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1983, was the 23rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 26 May to 4 June 1983 in France. Italy defeated Spain in the final ...

, the Dutch had its biggest success in history under head coach Vladimir Heger. The national team achieved fourth place at the tournament. The Dutch wound up reaching the semi-finals, but eventually fell to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. In the third-place game they would lose again, this time to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Three years after achieving success at the continental level, the Netherlands qualified to the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

for the first time in

. The national team ultimately did not make it out of the group stage though, finishing the tournament with an (2–3) record to place 14th overall.

1991–2012: Long mediocre period

From 1991 until 2012, the Netherlands did not qualify for a EuroBasket tournament. Star player

Francisco Elson Francisco Marinho Robby Elson (born February 28, 1976, in Rotterdam) is a Dutch retired professional basketball player. Elson was the seventh Dutch player to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Elson served as the captain of the ...

, former NBA-champion, represented the team on several occasions but the team never came close to qualifying. During this period, notable Dutch players like

Dan Gadzuric Daniel Gadzuric (born February 2, 1978) is a Dutch-Serbian former professional basketball player. Gadzuric, a center, attended preparatory school at The Governor's Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, before playing college basketball for the Bru ...

were not willing to play for the national team. Home games were usually played at the Topsportcentrum in

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...

and usually had little to no media attention or fan support in the Netherlands.

Rising from the ashes (2012–2015)

In December 2012, it was announced that the Netherlands national team would be dissolved for 2 years, because the national federation NBB was not willing to invest money in to it. After a campaign by Dutch players who played in the Dutch Basketball League, the national team was eventually saved. Sports broadcaster

Sport1 Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuania) * Sport1 (Netherlands) Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuani ...

became the main sponsor and DBL-teams invested in the team, which started playing again. During August 2013, the Netherlands was on its way to qualification for

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...

, but lost two games 20–0 because the team played with two players – Mohamed Kherrazi and Sean Cunningham – who were identified as foreign players by

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

. The NBB believed that both were eligible players, and was upset that the attention came up after the Netherlands already won 2 games.

"Miracle of 2014"

At the start of the second 2015-qualification round, things looked bad for the ''Oranje''. The DBL-teams didn't have any more money to invest in the team and the NBB wasn't ready to take the team back. Head coach

Toon van Helfteren Anton J. J. "Toon" van Helfteren (born 20 February 1951) is a Dutch former basketball player and current coach of Feyenoord Basketball. Van Helfteren played in the Dutch Basketball League from 1971 till 1990. He was the coach of ZZ Leiden from ...

, who worked as a volunteer, still did prepare for the qualifying games. He invited 42 players to play for the national team, but after most (notable) players rejected the offer, he started his first training camp with 7 players. The team eventually shocked the world, by beating heavy favorite

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

to get the second place in their group. On 27 August 2014, the Dutch national team qualified for EuroBasket for the first time in 25 years.

Return to EuroBasket (2015–present)

The national team left the NBB and FEB, from 2015 the team was run by the NMT. Coach Van Helfteren then had his contract with the national team extended. In contrast to the summer of 2014, big name players from foreign leagues applied to play for the national team. In the first game at

, the Dutch beat

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

73–72 behind

Charlon Kloof Charlon Anduele Romano Kloof (born 20 March 1990) is a Dutch-Surinamese basketball player for FC Porto (basketball), FC Porto in the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol, Portuguese Basketball League. Standing at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), Kloof plays the ...

's 22 and

Worthy de Jong Worthy Donovan Rafael de Jong (born 14 March 1988) is a Dutch 3x3 basketball player and former professional 5x5 player. Standing at 6 ft 4.3 in (1.94 m), De Jong plays the shooting guard or the small forward position. He played 13 seasons ...

's 16 points. The Netherlands remaining four games though were all loses, but only by single digits to power houses such as

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. On 22 July 2019, Italian coach Maurizio Buscaglia signed on to become head coach of the Netherlands, replacing Toon van Helfteren who stepped down. After a disappointing

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, in which the Netherlands went winless, Buscaglia was sacked. On 6 October 2022,

Radenko Varagić Radenko Varagić (born 23 September 1973) is a Serbian-Dutch basketball coach. He currently serves as a head coach for BAL Weert of the BNXT League. Coaching career Born in Serbia, Varagić started his coaching career in 2015 with Ribnica ...

was appointed as interim head coach for the remaining World Cup qualifying campaign.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Results and fixtures

2021

2022

2023

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches on 11 and 14 November 2022 against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Depth chart

List of head coaches

Past rosters

1946 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 10 teams 3 Chris van Laar, 4 Joop Koper, 5 Henk Mik, 6 Wim van Someren, 7 Freek Brandt, 8 Jan Aldenberg, 9 Henk Koper, 13 Chris Kugelein, 14 Wim Kunnen, 15 Ben Gerritsma (Coach: Dick Schmüll) ---- 1947 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 14 teams 3 Joop Koper, 4 Chris van Laar, 5 Freek Brandt, 6 Jaap van Veen, 7 Wim van Someren, 8 B Winkel, 9 Tan Eng Hau, 10 Henk Koper, 20 Visser (Coach: Dick Schmüll) ---- 1949 EuroBasket: finished 5th among 7 teams 3 Jaap van Veen, 4 Jaap van Veen, 5 Tom Losekoot, 6 Tan Eng Hau, 7 Henk Koper, 8 Joop Koper, 9 Wim van Someren, 10 Henk van de Broek, 11 Jan Hille, 20 Freek Brandt (Coach: Dick Schmüll) ---- 1951 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 17 teams 3 Tim de Jong, 4 Johan de Hoop, 5 Bob van der Valk, 6 Ab Gootjes, 7 Jaap van Veen, 8 Henk van de Broek, 9 Vok Alberda, 10 Kees van der Schuijt, 11 Jan Hille, 12 Piet Ouderland, 13 Ton Koemans, 14 Rinus van Eijkeren (Coach: Dick Schmüll) ---- 1961 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 19 teams 4 Henny Braun, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Bruin, 7 Jan Driehuis, 8 Dolf Pouw, 9 Wim Franke, 10 Maarten Sleeswijk, 11 Gerrit Kok, 12 Peter de Jong, 13 Gunter van de Berg, 14 Franciscus de Haan, 15 Hans Perrier (Coach: Jan Janbroers) ---- 1963 EuroBasket: finished 16th among 16 teams 4 Jos Pelk, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Bruin, 7 Jan Driehuis, 8 Simon Schagen, 9 Bob Grosmann, 10 Wim Franke, 11 Gerrit Kok, 12 Roelof Tuinstra, 13 Jan Schappert, 14 Franciscus de Haan, 15 Frederik Witte (Coach: Jan Janbroers) ----

1967 EuroBasket The 1967 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1967, was the fifteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues First round Group A – Helsinki Group B – Tampere Knockout ...

: finished 16th among 16 teams 4 Petrus Rijsewik, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Bruin, 7 Frank Kales, 8 Antonius van der Kroon, 9 Karel Pastor, 10 Karel Vrolijk, 11 Erik Jager, 12 Roelof Tuinstra, 13 Erik van Woerkom, 14 Franciscus de Haan, 15 Frederik Witte (Coach: Egon Steuer) ----

1975 EuroBasket The 1975 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1975, was the nineteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues First round Group A – Split Group B – Karlovac Group ...

: finished 10th among 12 teams 4 Jan Dekker, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Sikking, 7 Hugo Harrewijn, 8 Herman Pluim, 9 Walter Ombre, 10 John van Vliet, 11 Kees Akerboom, 12 Dan Cramer, 13

, 14 Pieter van Tuyll, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Bill Sheridan) ----

1977 EuroBasket The 1977 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1977, was the twentieth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues Group stage Group A – Liège Group B – Ostend ...

: finished 7th among 12 teams 4 Al Faber, 5 Jan Dekker, 6 Jimmy Woudstra, 7 Cees Limmen, 8 Emill Hagens, 9 Bert Kragtwijk, 10 Cock van de Lagemaat, 11 Dan Cramer, 12 Kees Akerboom, 13 Jan Loorbach, 14 Renso Zwiers, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Jan Janbroers) ---- 1979 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 12 teams 4 Bert Kragtwijk, 5 Jan Dekker, 6 Dan Cramer, 7

Mitchell Plaat Mitchell Plaat (born January 3, 1954) is an American-Dutch former professional basketball player. In international competition, he played for the Netherlands men's national basketball team. During his professional career, he played in the Netherla ...

, 8 Emill Hagens, 9 Al Faber, 10 Sid Bruinsma, 11 Jimmy Woudstra, 12 Kees Akerboom, 13

, 14 Pieter van Tuyll, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Tom Quinn) ---- 1983 EuroBasket: finished 4th among 12 teams 4 René Ridderhof, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Randy Wiel, 7

, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Al Faber, 10 Jos Kuipers, 11 Dan Cramer, 12 Cock van de Lagemaat, 13 Henk Pieterse, 14 Roland van den Bergh, 15 Rob van Essen (Coach: Vladimír Heger) ---- 1985 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 12 teams 4 Martin Esajas, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Martin de Vries, 7 Marco de Waard, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Ron van der Schaaf, 10 John Franken, 11 Cock van de Lagemaat, 12 Jos Kuipers, 13 Peter van Noord, 14 Hans Heijdeman, 15 Rob van Essen (Coach: Vladimír Heger) ---- 1986 FIBA World Cup: finished 14th among 24 teams 4

Rik Smits Rik Smits (born 23 August 1966), nicknamed "the Dunking Dutchman" is a Dutch former professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The center was drafted by the ...

, 5 Jelle Esveldt, 6 Ronald Schilp, 7 Cock van de Lagemaat, 8 Raymond Bottse, 9 Rene Ebeltjes, 10 Chris van Dinten, 11 Hans Heijdeman, 12 Erik Griekspoor, 13 Emill Hagens, 14 Marco de Waard, 15 Peter van Noord (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn) ----

1987 EuroBasket The 1987 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1987, was the 25th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Greece between 3 and 14 June 1987. Twelve national teams entered the ev ...

: finished 10th among 12 teams 4 John Emanuels, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Marco de Waard, 7 Cees van Rootselaar, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Okke te Velde, 10

, 11 Chris van Dinten, 12 Peter van Noord, 13

, 14 Henk Pieterse, 15 Jos Kuipers (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn) ----

1989 EuroBasket The 1989 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1989, was the 26th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Yugoslavia between 20 and 25 June 1989. Eight national teams entered th ...

: finished 8th among 8 teams 4 Raymond Bottse, 5 John Emanuels, 6 Marco de Waard, 7 Cees van Rootselaar, 8 Rolf Franke, 9 Okke te Velde, 10 Richard van Poelgeest, 11 Frans Houben, 12 Milko Lieverst, 13 Paul Vrind, 14 Peter Dam, 15 Jos Kuipers (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn) ---- 2015 EuroBasket: finished 21st among 24 teams 0

Yannick Franke Yannick Ayrton Franke (born May 21, 1996) is a Dutch professional basketball player for PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek Basket League. He also represents the Netherlands national basketball team in international competition. Franke mainly plays a ...

, 5 Leon Williams, 6

, 7

, 9 Mohamed Kherrazi, 10 Ralf de Pagter, 12 Kees Akerboom, Jr., 13 Roeland Schaftenaar, 18 Nicolas de Jong, 21 Robin Smeulders, 23

Henk Norel Henk Norel (born 17 September 1987) is a Dutch retired basketball player. He currently is a performance coach for the Heroes Den Bosch of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). He was drafted with the 47th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Min ...

, 44 Arvin Slagter (C) (Coach:

) ---- 2022 EuroBasket: finished 22nd among 24 teams 0

, 1 Keye van der Vuurst de Vries, 5 Leon Williams, 6

(C), 9 Mohamed Kherrazi, 11 Shane Hammink,
13 Roeland Schaftenaar, 14 Jesse Edwards, 30 Olaf Schaftenaar, 32 Matt Haarms, 33 Jito Kok, 90

(Coach: Maurizio Buscaglia)

References

External links

*
Netherlands FIBA profile

Dutch National Team – Men
at Eurobasket.com

at FIBA Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Netherlands National Basketball Team Men's national basketball teams

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

1946 establishments in the Netherlands