Sport in The Netherlands
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to The Netherlands, or Holland as it is sometimes known. The Kingdom of The Netherlands is made up of the countries of the Netherlands, Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. The Dutch people love to play and watch sports. The most popular sport in The Netherlands is football (soccer), though a large range of sports are played and watched.
the Netherlands hockey team at the London 2012 OlympicsThrough the influence of western culture, the Netherlands became known for its love of sports. There are various types of competitive sports that one can see in this country but there are two popular sports that people love to both play and watch. These sports are football and. Football became popular mainly due to the field hockey influence of western culture, since their sports organization began in the early 19th and 20th century, football’s popularity also grew alongside it. The largest football federation in the Netherlands is the Royal Dutch Football Association and they became a member of FIFA in 1904. Their national football team has competed in the Olympic Games many times and has brought home some medals and pride numerous times.
Field hockey is the second most popular sport in the Netherlands. Their national women's team became one of the most successful teams in World Cup history and their male counterparts won the World Cup three times and they brought home quite a number of gold medals.
Volleyball and basketball are also popular in the Netherlands and because of those sports the country has been quite successful in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as well as other international competitions.
Popular sports of The Netherlands (see more)
Traditional or Regional Sports
- Korfball — a mixed-gender ball sport which is similar to netball and basketball, developed in The Netherlands.
- Fierljeppen (Polsstokverspringen) — contestants using a long pole, vault across a canal. Also called Canal Jumping.
- Kaatsen (Frisian Handball) — a traditional sport from the Netherlands in which players attempt to land a ball at the end of a long rectangular field.
- Klootschieten — German sport in which participants throw a ball as far as they can.
- Kolf / Kolven — an indoor sport from the Netherlands, the aim is to get a ball as close to a pole as possible with rings marked on the ground around the target used to determine the score.
- Beugelen — a very old ball sport a little like croquet
The Netherlands Sporting Success
- Champions Trophy (field hockey) winners - 1981, 1982, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006
Great athletes from The Netherlands
- Francina "Fanny" Blankers-Koen — winner of four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
- Pieter van den Hoogenband - three Olympic golds in swimming.
- Johan Cruyff - possibly Holland's greatest ever footballer
- Sven Kramer - long track speed skater.
- Max Verstappen - F1 driver
The Netherlands Sports trivia
-
The sport of Korfball was developed in the Netherlands in the early 1900’s
- The Dutch hold the record for playing the most FIFA World Cup finals without ever winning the tournament (3 times)
- The Amsterdam Olympic Games in 1928 was the first where the Olympic Flame was introduced.
- At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, the Dutch dominated the Speed Skating competition, winning 23 of the 36 medals awarded.
The Netherlands at major events
- The Netherlands at the Summer Olympics
- The Netherlands at the Winter Olympics
- The Netherlands at the FIFA World Cup
- The Netherlands at the Cricket ODI World Cup
- The Netherlands at the Cricket T20 World Cup
- The Netherlands women's football team at the FIFA Women's World Cup
- The Netherlands at the Baseball World Classic
- The Netherlands at the UEFA Euros
Past sporting events events hosted in The Netherlands
- 1928 Olympic Games summer hosts Amsterdam
- 1955 World Table Tennis Championships in Utrecht
- 1980 Paralympic Games in Arnhem
- 1999 World Table Tennis Championships in Eindhoven
- 2000 UEFA European (Euro) Football Championship (co-hosted with Belgium)
- 2022 Invictus Games, The Hague.
- 2022 World Police and Fire Games, Rotterdam
- 2022 Hockey Women's World Cup in Amstelveen, Netherlands (co-hosted with Terrassa, Spain)
Upcoming sporting events in The Netherlands
- 2026 Hockey World Cup in Amstelveen (co-hosted with Wavre, Belgium)
Annual sporting events held in The Netherlands
- Nijmegen Four Days Marches - the biggest walking event in the world and also biggest sports event in the Netherlands
Sporting Facilities in The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Institute of Sport
- Amsterdam Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Other
- Kingdom Games — a multi-sport event held every two years between the youth of the countries that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Sports videos about 'The Netherlands'
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