De Boer Twins

The twin pair of Frank and Ronald de Boer played together for the Dutch national team in its penaltyphobia era: together they were involved in all 4 penalty shootout eliminations in the last decade of the twentieth century (Frank played in the semifinals of the European Championships in 1992 and 2000 and in the semifinal of the 1998 World Cup, all lost in a penalty shootout, and Ronald in the 1996 European championship quarterfinal as well as in the 1998 World Cup semifinal, both lost on penalties). Frank later managed to be part of a penalty shootout winning Oranje at the 2004 European championship. Both have a fifty percent shoot-out record: Ronald scored in 1996 but missed in 1998 while Frank scored in 1998 but missed in 2000. In all, they were in the Dutch squad together at three major tournaments (the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and the 2000 European championship; Frank was not at the 1996 European championship and Ronald not at its 2004 edition), one short of the Van de Kerkhof twins who made the squad at 2 World Cups and 2 European championships. They both played in 11 matches at major tournaments (8 World Cup and 3 European championship matches), equal to the Van de Kerkhof record (7 World Cup matches, all in 1978, and 4 in European championships). Those 8 World Cup matches in which both played is a world record for a brother pair (the Charlton brothers and the Van de Kerkhof twins follow with 7).

Together the twins obtained 179 Dutch caps (Frank 112, Ronald 67), scoring 26 goals (both 13). Their accumulated caps total is a European record for a pair of twins; their accumulated goals total possibly as well. (The world record in both categories (and for any pair of brothers) is held by Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan, who combined for 308 caps (Hossam 177, Ibrahim 131) and 83 goals (Hossam 69, Ibrahim 14) for Egypt.)

Below we list all matches of the Dutch national team in which both twin brothers played. It is interesting to note that the Dutch team had a better average performance in matches in which both played than in matches in which only one of the two (regardless whether Frank or Ronald) made an appearance.

Cap  Goals	Date	Venue   	Opponent       Score	Competition
     FB RB  T
 1       1  1 24- 3-93  Utrecht         San Marino      6-0     World Cup Qualifier
 2       1  2 22- 9-93  Bologna         San Marino      7-0     World Cup Qualifier
 3            13-10-93  Rotterdam       England         2-0     World Cup Qualifier
 4       1  3 17-11-93  Poznan          Poland          3-1     World Cup Qualifier
 5            19- 1-94  Tunis           Tunisia         2-2 
 6            20- 4-94  Tilburg         Ireland         0-1
 7            27- 5-94  Utrecht         Scotland        3-1
 8             1- 6-94  Eindhoven       Hungary         7-1
 9            12- 6-94  Toronto         Canada          3-0
10            20- 6-94  Washington      Saudi Arabia    2-1     World Cup
11            25- 6-94  Orlando         Belgium         0-1     World Cup
12       2  5  7- 9-94  Luxembourg      Luxembourg      4-0     European Champ. Qual.
13            12-10-94  Oslo            Norway          1-1     European Champ. Qual.
14       1  6 14-12-94  Rotterdam       Luxembourg      5-0     European Champ. Qual.
15            29- 3-95  Rotterdam       Malta           4-0     European Champ. Qual.
16            26- 4-95  Praha           Czech Republic  1-3     European Champ. Qual.
17             6- 9-95  Rotterdam       Belarus         1-0     European Champ. Qual.
18            11-10-95  Rabat Ta'Qali   Malta           4-0     European Champ. Qual.
19            15-11-95  Rotterdam       Norway          3-0     European Champ. Qual.
20       1  7 31- 8-96  Amsterdam       Brazil          2-2
21       1  8  5-10-96  Cardiff         Wales           3-1     World Cup Qualifier
22    1  1 10  9-11-96  Eindhoven       Wales           7-1     World Cup Qualifier
23            14-12-96  Brussel         Belgium         3-0     World Cup Qualifier
24            26- 2-97  Paris           France          1-2
25             2- 4-97  Bursa           Turkey          0-1     World Cup Qualifier
26    1    11 30- 4-97  Serravalle      San Marino      6-0     World Cup Qualifier
27             6- 9-97  Rotterdam       Belgium         3-1     World Cup Qualifier
28       1 12 21- 2-98  Miami           United States   2-0
29            24- 2-98  Miami           Mexico          3-2
30            27- 5-98  Arnhem          Cameroon        0-0
31    1    13  1- 6-98  Eindhoven       Paraguay        5-1
32             5- 6-98  Amsterdam       Nigeria         5-1
33            13- 6-98  Paris           Belgium         0-0     World Cup
34       1 14 20- 6-98  Marseille       South Korea     5-0     World Cup
35       1 15 25- 6-98  Saint-Etienne   Mexico          2-2     World Cup
36            29- 6-98  Toulouse        Yugoslavia      2-1     World Cup
37             4- 7-98  Marseille       Argentina       2-1     World Cup
38             7- 7-98  Marseille       Brazil          1-1 [1] World Cup
39            10-10-98  Eindhoven       Peru            2-0 
40            13-10-98  Arnhem          Ghana           0-0
41            10- 2-99  Paris           Portugal        0-0
42             5- 6-99  Salvador        Brazil          2-2
43             8- 6-99  Goiânia         Brazil          1-3
44            18- 8-99  København       Denmark         0-0 
45             4- 9-99  Rotterdam       Belgium         5-5
46            13-11-99  Eindhoven       Czech Republic  1-1
47    1    16  4- 6-00  Lausanne        Poland          3-1
48    1    17 11- 6-00  Amsterdam       Czech Republic  1-0     European Championship
49       1 18 16- 6-00  Rotterdam       Denmark         3-0     European Championship
50            25- 6-00  Rotterdam       Yugoslavia      6-1     European Championship
51             2- 9-00  Amsterdam       Ireland         2-2     World Cup Qualifier
52             7-10-00  Lefkosia        Cyprus          4-0     World Cup Qualifier
53            10-11-01  København       Denmark         1-1
54            13- 2-02  Amsterdam       England         1-1
55            16-10-02  Wien            Austria         3-0     European Champ. Qual.
56             2- 4-03  Tiraspol        Moldova         2-1     European Champ. Qual.

[1] Netherlands lost 2-4 on penalties

Total Record
 
    GP    GW   GD   GL   GF  GA     Pts  Percentage
    56    34   16    6  147- 47      84      75.00
 

Types of Matches and Goals

                      Goals Matches Goals by Player
Friendlies        	 4   23     (Ronald  2, Frank  2)
World Cup                2    8     (Ronald  2)
World Cup Qualifier	 7   12     (Ronald  5, Frank  2)
European Championship    2    3     (Ronald  1, Frank  1) 
European Champ. Qual.    3   10     (Ronald  3)  

Total                	18   56     (Ronald 13, Frank  5)

Brothers in Oranje

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Karel Stokkermans (karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 18 Mar 2024