Unlike the matches against Belgium
and Germany, or even
England, Dutch matches against
France never evoked any great emotions on the Dutch side (nor on the
French). Before the second World War, France hardly counted as
serious opponents (Oranje won 5 of the 7 matches,
outscoring les bleus 33-14 in the process; the overall
record would have been even more lopsided had the French teams
not withdrawn from the consolation tournament
at the 1908 London
Olympics, in which France would have met the Netherlands to decide
third place but declined to play any further matches after
embarrassing losses (0-9 and 1-17) to Denmark), and afterwards
meetings were few and far between for a long time.
That changed towards the end of the twentieth century; meanwhile the two
have met four times at European Championships and in numerous qualifiers.
And while the Dutch are still unbeaten against the French in final tournaments
(apart from the penalty shoot-out loss in 1996, in a quarter-final in which
the Dutch were denied a last minute penalty), they lost seven of the last
nine matches and thereby the lead in the overall count, in spite of having
scored more goals.
Nevertheless, one match involving the French national team had a major impact on Dutch footballing history, and it doesn't even show in the official records. France had introduced professional football before the second World War, whereas Dutch football remained staunchly amateur until the mid-fifties. Directly after the war, many of the best Dutch players (such as Appel, De Harder, Rijvers and Timmermans) went to play professional football in France (Wilkes, the best Dutch player apart from Lenstra, who never left the country, made it to Spain and Italy). When the North Sea Flood (watersnoodramp) struck the southwestern part of the Netherlands in the night from 31 January to 1 February 1953, with more than 1800 people dying in the floods in the Netherlands (there were further casualties in England and Belgium, totalling more than 300, and over 200 on the sea itself), a relief match was organised in Paris between the French national team and a selection of Dutch professionals. (Contrary to popular belief, the Dutch FA (K.N.V.B.) played a decisive role in the organisation of this match, as documented by [Kol 09], pp. 272 ff.) This match, played on 12 March 1953 at the Parc des Princes, resulted in a sensational 2-1 victory for the Dutch professionals and was attended by five to ten thousand Dutch fans who had travelled from the Netherlands. The obvious gap in quality between the Dutch professionals and the official Dutch national team (which five days earlier had played an official benefit match in Rotterdam, losing 1-2 to Denmark) triggered the advent of professional football in the Netherlands one year later.
All matches listed are friendlies unless otherwise stated.
Game Date Venue Result Remark 1. 10- 5-1908 Rotterdam Netherlands 4-1 France -. 24-10-1908 London Netherlands w/o France [Olympic Games (Consolation Tournament)] 2. 13-11-1921 Paris France 0-5 Netherlands 3. 2- 4-1923 Amsterdam Netherlands 8-1 France 4. 29-11-1931 Paris France 3-4 Netherlands 5. 10- 5-1934 Amsterdam Netherlands 4-5 France 6. 12- 1-1936 Paris France 1-6 Netherlands 7. 31-10-1937 Amsterdam Netherlands 2-3 France 8. 26- 5-1947 Paris France 4-0 Netherlands 9. 23- 4-1949 Rotterdam Netherlands 4-1 France 10. 10-12-1950 Paris France 5-2 Netherlands -. 12- 3-1953 Paris France 1-2 "Pros" Hollandais 11. 17- 4-1963 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-0 France 12. 26- 3-1980 Paris France 0-0 Netherlands 13. 25- 3-1981 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-0 France [World Cup Qualifier] 14. 18-11-1981 Paris France 2-0 Netherlands [World Cup Qualifier] 15. 10-11-1982 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-2 France 16. 5- 6-1992 Lens France 1-1 Netherlands 17. 10- 1-1995 Utrecht Netherlands 0-1 France 18. 22- 6-1996 Liverpool France 0-0 Netherlands [European Champ., asdet, 5-4 pen] 19. 26- 2-1997 Paris France 2-1 Netherlands 20. 21- 6-2000 Amsterdam Netherlands 3-2 France [European Champ.] 21. 31- 3-2004 Rotterdam Netherlands 0-0 France 22. 13- 6-2008 Bern Netherlands 4-1 France [European Champ.] 23. 5- 3-2014 Paris France 2-0 Netherlands 24. 25- 3-2016 Amsterdam Netherlands 2-3 France 25. 10-10-2016 Amsterdam Netherlands 0-1 France [World Cup Qualifier] 26. 31- 8-2017 Paris France 4-0 Netherlands [World Cup Qualifier] 27. 9- 9-2018 Paris France 2-1 Netherlands [European Nations League] 28. 16-11-2018 Rotterdam Netherlands 2-0 France [European Nations League] 29. 24- 3-2023 Paris France 4-0 Netherlands [European Champ. Qual.] 30. 13-10-2023 Amsterdam Netherlands 1-2 France [European Champ. Qual.] 31. 21- 6-2024 Leipzig Netherlands 0-0 France [European Champ.]
NB: do not include Dutch walkover win at the 1908 Olympic consolation tournament.
Total record:
France 31 15 5 11 53- 57 35
Netherlands 31 11 5 15 57- 53 27
Some more stats:
Pd F D N FG- NG
In France: 13 8 2 3 30- 20
In the Netherlands: 15 7 1 7 22- 33
Elsewhere: 3 0 2 1 1- 4
Parc des Princes, Paris, 12 March 1953
France 1-2 "Pros" Hollandais
France: Ruminski (Lille); Marche (Reims), Jonquet (Reims), Gianessi
(Roubaix-Tourcoing); Gaulon (Stade Français), Penverne (Reims);
Deladerrière (Nancy), Gardien (Sochaux), Saunier (Le Havre),
Ujlaki (Nîmes), Kopa (Reims); trainer: Pibarot;
"Pros" Hollandais: De Munck (Köln); Vreeken (Nantes), Van der Hart
(Lille), De Vroet (Rouen); Schaap (Racing Paris),
De Kubber (Bordeaux), Appel (Reims), Timmermans
(Nîmes), Van Geen (Nantes), Rijvers (Saint-Etienne),
De Harder (Bordeaux); trainer: Delfour (Stade Français);
subs: Van Lent (Lens), Röhrig (Roubaix-Tourcoing);
referee: Elschen (Luxembourg).
Goals: 34' Saunier 1-0; 58' De Harder 1-1; 81' Appel 1-2.
Attendance: 32,000
NB: thanks to this match, 110,000 Dutch guilders were collected for
the relief fund for the victims of the 1953 Flood; it also triggered
the advent of professional football in the Netherlands in 1954.
France - List of International Matches
Netherlands - List of International Matches
Thanks to Roberto Di Maggio
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 22 Jun 2024
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 1996/2024
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.