Against the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands have a quite peculiar record. At home, Oranje just managed to square the series, while in Dublin the Dutch have a winning record. The overall record is clearly positive thanks to the six matches played at neutral venues: 5 Dutch wins and 1 draw (which qualified both teams to the round of 16 at the 1990 World Cup). Fortunately for the Dutch, those neutral venues usually correspond to final tournaments (two Olympic Games, matches which are not official for Ireland, two World Cups, one European Championship, and one play-off match to qualify for Euro 1996).
Perhaps the two most memorable encounters were in the eighties. In 1983, on a very windy October evening at Dalymount Park, the Irish scored twice to take a 2-0 half-time lead. But in the second half, the Dutch enjoyed wind advantage and thanks to two goals by Gullit and one by Van Basten managed a 3-2 win to keep the Netherlands in with a chance to qualify for the 1984 European championship (eventually lost to Spain who scored nine second half goals on Malta in their final match). Four years later, both Ireland and the Netherlands had qualified for Euro 1988 and they met in the final group match, with Ireland just needing a draw to qualify for the semifinals. With 8 minutes left Ireland were hanging on to a goalless draw, when a rather desperate shot by Ronald Koeman was deflected and Kieft managed to get his head under it to fluke the only goal; Van Basten was offside but (correctly) judged not to be interfering with play (an obvious decision nowadays but highly contentious in 1988) and Oranje were on their way to their only ever international title to date.
All matches listed are friendlies unless otherwise stated.
Game Date Venue Result Remark A 1. 2- 6-1924 Paris Netherlands 2-1 Ireland Am. [aet] [Olympic Games] 1. 8- 5-1932 Amsterdam Netherlands 0-2 Ireland 2. 8- 4-1934 Amsterdam Netherlands 5-2 Ireland [World Cup Qualifier] 3. 8-12-1935 Dublin Ireland 3-5 Netherlands A 2. 26- 7-1948 Portsmouth Netherlands 3-1 Ireland Am. [Olympic Games] 4. 1- 5-1955 Dublin Ireland 1-0 Netherlands 5. 10- 5-1956 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-4 Ireland 6. 10- 9-1980 Dublin Ireland 2-1 Netherlands [World Cup Qualifier] 7. 9- 9-1981 Rotterdam Netherlands 2-2 Ireland [World Cup Qualifier] 8. 22- 9-1982 Rotterdam Netherlands 2-1 Ireland [European Champ. Qual.] 9. 12-10-1983 Dublin Ireland 2-3 Netherlands [European Champ. Qual.] 10. 18- 6-1988 Gelsenkirchen Netherlands 1-0 Ireland [European Championship] 11. 21- 6-1990 Palermo Ireland 1-1 Netherlands [World Cup] 12. 20- 4-1994 Tilburg Netherlands 0-1 Ireland 13. 4- 7-1994 Orlando Netherlands 2-0 Ireland [World Cup] 14. 13-12-1995 Liverpool Ireland 0-2 Netherlands [European Champ. Qual.] 15. 4- 6-1996 Rotterdam Netherlands 3-1 Ireland 16. 2- 9-2000 Amsterdam Netherlands 2-2 Ireland [World Cup Qualifier] 17. 1- 9-2001 Dublin Ireland 1-0 Netherlands [World Cup Qualifier] 18. 5- 6-2004 Amsterdam Netherlands 0-1 Ireland 19. 16- 8-2006 Dublin Ireland 0-4 Netherlands 20. 27- 5-2016 Dublin Ireland 1-1 Netherlands 21. 10- 9-2023 Dublin Ireland 1-2 Netherlands [European Champ. Qual.] 22. 18-11-2023 Amsterdam Netherlands 1-0 Ireland [European Champ. Qual.]
Total record:
Ireland 22 7 4 11 28- 38 18
Ireland Amateur 2 0 0 2 2- 5 0
Netherlands 24 13 4 7 43- 30 30
Some more stats:
Pd I D N IG- NG
In Ireland: 8 3 1 4 11- 16
In the Netherlands: 10 4 2 4 16- 16
Elsewhere: 6 0 1 5 3- 11 [includes both Ireland Amateur matches]
Ireland - List of International Matches
Netherlands - List of International Matches
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 28 Nov 2023
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2010/23
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