The Netherlands men's national basketball team () represents the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

matches. The national team is governed by

Basketball Nederland Basketball Netherlands () 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 basketball team, Netherlands men's national ...

. The Dutch have reached the European Basketball Championship on 16 occasions. Their best results at the event came in

1983 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 of the ...

, where they finished in fourth place. They have also qualified for the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

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 en ...

. 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 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

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 Uni ...

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 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

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 Cove ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

). 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 – 1977 Moscow bombings, 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 (no ...

, 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 song ...

. 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, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. 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 name is ...

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 28 February 1976) is a Dutch former professional basketball player. Elson was the seventh Dutch player to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Elson served as the captain of the Netherlands nation ...

, former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

-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 2 February 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 ...

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

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

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 Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

, the national team was eventually saved. Sports broadcaster

Sport1 Sport1 is a German free-to-air television channel centred towards sports programming, as well as teleshopping. It was launched on 1 January 1993 as DSF (''Deutsches Sportfernsehen''), replacing the television channel Tele 5 which had become th ...

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 Sept ...

, 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 language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

. 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. Van Helfteren played in the Dutch Basketball League from 1971 till 1990. He was the coach of ZZ Leiden from 2008 till 2014. He also w ...

, 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_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

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 South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

73–72 behind

Charlon Kloof Charlon Anduele Romano Kloof (born 20 March 1990) is a Dutch-Surinamese basketball player for Heroes Den Bosch of the BNXT League. Standing at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), Kloof plays the point guard position and is a current member of the Netherlands ...

's 22 and

Worthy de Jong Worthy Donovan Rafael de Jong (born 14 March 1988) is a Dutch 3x3 basketball Olympic Gold medal winning player and former professional 5x5 player. Standing at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), De Jong plays the shooting guard or the small forward position ...

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

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. On 22 July 2019, Italian coach

Maurizio Buscaglia Maurizio Buscaglia (born 9 April 1969) is an Italian professional basketball coach. He was most recently the head coach of Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Coaching career After spending years coaching the youth ...

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 and ...

was appointed as interim head coach for the remaining World Cup qualifying campaign. On 23 May 2023, the Netherlands named Israeli coach Arik Shivek, as head coach of the national team. He previously led at national team level for five years with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

from 2009 to 2014.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Results and fixtures

2024

2025

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 21 and 24 February 2025 against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

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 The 1951 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1951, was the seventh FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Eighteen national teams affiliated with FIBA ...

: 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: 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 C � ...

: 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: 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, 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 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 ...

: finished 4th among 12 teams 4 René Ridderhof, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Randy Wiel, 7 Mitchell Plaat, 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 The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Czec ...

: 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 The 1986 FIBA World Championship was the 10th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Spain and was held from 5 to 20 July 1986. The final phase of the tournament was held ...

: 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: 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: 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 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 Sept ...

: finished 21st among 24 teams 0

Yannick Franke Yannick Ayrton Franke (born 21 May 1996) is a Dutch professional basketball player for Büyükçekmece Basketbol, ONVO Büyükçekmece of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He also represents the Netherlands national basketball team in internationa ...

, 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 ...

, 44

Arvin Slagter Arvin Slagter (born 19 September 1985) is a Dutch basketball player who plays for the Netherlands men's national 3x3 team. Slagter became an Olympic champion in Paris 2024 with the Netherlands. Slagter also played for several other Dutch 5vs5 ...

) ----

2022 EuroBasket 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 ...

: finished 22nd among 24 teams 0

, 1

Keye van der Vuurst de Vries Keye van der Vuurst de Vries (born 29 December 2001) is a Dutch basketball player for Club Joventut Badalona, Joventut Badalona of the Spanish Liga ACB. He is the youngest player to ever play in the Netherlands national basketball team, as he made ...