Netherlands men's national handball team
| Netherlands | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Information | |||
| Nickname | Golden Boys | ||
| Association | Netherlands Handball Association | ||
| Coach | Staffan Olsson | ||
| Assistant coach | Gerrie Eijlers Wong Wai | ||
| Most caps | Lambert Schuurs (312) | ||
| Colours | |||
| |||
| Results | |||
| World Championship | |||
| Appearances | 3 (First in 1961) | ||
| Best result | 11th (1961) | ||
| European Championship | |||
| Appearances | 4 (First in 2020) | ||
| Best result | 10th (2022) | ||
| Last updated on 28 December 2023. | |||
The Netherlands national handball team is the national handball team of Netherlands and is controlled by the Netherlands Handball Association.
Unlike the very successful women's team, The Netherlands men's team qualified just twice for the World Championships (1961, 2025). For the 2023 World Men's Handball Championship The Netherlands received a wildcard and reached the Main Round finishing 14th overall. The team improved this result in the 2025 event to a 12th place in the final ranking.
The current squad led by starplayers Luc Steins and Kay Smits is steadily closing the gap with the leading European teams by qualifying three consecutive times for the European Championships (2020, 2022 and 2024). In only their second ever appearance at EHF EURO 2022 the Dutch men's team won three matches and drew one. The Dutch did qualify for the Main Round as well and finished as 10th overall.
Competitive record
World Championship
| World Championship record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
| 1938 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 1954 | ||||||||
| 1958 | ||||||||
| 1961 | Preliminary round | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 54 |
| 1964 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 1967 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1974 | ||||||||
| 1978 | ||||||||
| 1982 | ||||||||
| 1986 | ||||||||
| 1990 | ||||||||
| 1993 | ||||||||
| 1995 | ||||||||
| 1997 | ||||||||
| 1999 | ||||||||
| 2001 | ||||||||
| 2003 | ||||||||
| 2005 | ||||||||
| 2007 | ||||||||
| 2009 | ||||||||
| 2011 | ||||||||
| 2013 | ||||||||
| 2015 | ||||||||
| 2017 | ||||||||
| / 2019 | ||||||||
| 2021 | ||||||||
| / 2023 | Main round | 14 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 177 | 165 |
| // 2025 | Main round | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 212 | 200 |
| 2027 | Future events | |||||||
| / 2029 | ||||||||
| // 2031 | ||||||||
| Total | 3/32 | – | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 407 | 419 |
European Championship
| European Championship record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 1994 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 1996 | ||||||||
| 1998 | ||||||||
| 2000 | ||||||||
| 2002 | ||||||||
| 2004 | ||||||||
| 2006 | ||||||||
| 2008 | ||||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2012 | ||||||||
| 2014 | ||||||||
| 2016 | ||||||||
| 2018 | ||||||||
| // 2020 | Preliminary round | 17th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 80 | 94 |
| / 2022 | Main round | 10th | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 200 | 215 |
| 2024 | Main round | 12th | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 224 | 222 |
| // 2026 | Main round | 15th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 91 | 97 |
| // 2028 | Future events | |||||||
| 2030 | ||||||||
| 2032 | ||||||||
| Total | 4/20 | – | 20 | 7 | 2 | 11 | 595 | 628 |
Team
Current squad
Squad for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship.[1][2]
Head coach: Staffan Olsson
|
References
- ^ "Selectie TeamNL Handbalheren voor EK 2026 bekend". handbal.nl. 15 January 2026. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
- ^ "Team roster: Netherlands". ehf.eu. Retrieved 15 January 2026.