France-Netherlands matches (original) (raw)

France-Netherlands matches 1907-2024

Introduction
Official Matches
Overviews
Watersnoodwedstrĳd

Introduction

Unlike the matches against Belgiumand Germany, or evenEngland, 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les bleus 33-14 in the process; the overall record would have been even more lopsided had the French teams not withdrawn from the consolation tournamentat the 1908 London Olympics, in which France would have met the Netherlands to decide third place but declined to play any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.

Official Matches

All matches listed are friendlies unless otherwise stated.

Game Date Venue Result Remark

10- 5-1908 Rotterdam Netherlands 4-1 France -. 24-10-1908 London Netherlands w/o France [Olympic Games (Consolation Tournament)]
13-11-1921 Paris France 0-5 Netherlands
2- 4-1923 Amsterdam Netherlands 8-1 France
29-11-1931 Paris France 3-4 Netherlands
10- 5-1934 Amsterdam Netherlands 4-5 France
12- 1-1936 Paris France 1-6 Netherlands
31-10-1937 Amsterdam Netherlands 2-3 France
26- 5-1947 Paris France 4-0 Netherlands
23- 4-1949 Rotterdam Netherlands 4-1 France
10-12-1950 Paris France 5-2 Netherlands -. 12- 3-1953 Paris France 1-2 "Pros" Hollandais
17- 4-1963 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-0 France
26- 3-1980 Paris France 0-0 Netherlands
25- 3-1981 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-0 France [World Cup Qualifier]
18-11-1981 Paris France 2-0 Netherlands [World Cup Qualifier]
10-11-1982 Rotterdam Netherlands 1-2 France
5- 6-1992 Lens France 1-1 Netherlands
10- 1-1995 Utrecht Netherlands 0-1 France
22- 6-1996 Liverpool France 0-0 Netherlands [European Champ., asdet, 5-4 pen]
26- 2-1997 Paris France 2-1 Netherlands
21- 6-2000 Amsterdam Netherlands 3-2 France [European Champ.]
31- 3-2004 Rotterdam Netherlands 0-0 France
13- 6-2008 Bern Netherlands 4-1 France [European Champ.]
5- 3-2014 Paris France 2-0 Netherlands
25- 3-2016 Amsterdam Netherlands 2-3 France
10-10-2016 Amsterdam Netherlands 0-1 France [World Cup Qualifier]
31- 8-2017 Paris France 4-0 Netherlands [World Cup Qualifier]
9- 9-2018 Paris France 2-1 Netherlands [European Nations League]
16-11-2018 Rotterdam Netherlands 2-0 France [European Nations League]
24- 3-2023 Paris France 4-0 Netherlands [European Champ. Qual.]
13-10-2023 Amsterdam Netherlands 1-2 France [European Champ. Qual.]
21- 6-2024 Leipzig Netherlands 0-0 France [European Champ.]

Overviews

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

Watersnoodwedstrĳd

Parc des Princes, Paris, 12 March 1953

France 1-2 "Pros" Hollandais

France: Ruminski (Lille); Marche (Reims), Jonquet (Reims), Gianessi (Roubaix-Tourcoing); Gaulon (Stade Fran�ais), Penverne (Reims); Deladerri�re (Nancy), Gardien (Sochaux), Saunier (Le Havre), Ujlaki (N�mes), Kopa (Reims); trainer: Pibarot; "Pros" Hollandais: De Munck (K�ln); Vreeken (Nantes), Van der Hart (Lille), De Vroet (Rouen); Schaap (Racing Paris), De Kubber (Bordeaux), Appel (Reims), Timmermans (N�mes), Van Geen (Nantes), Rĳvers (Saint-Etienne), De Harder (Bordeaux); trainer: Delfour (Stade Fran�ais); subs: Van Lent (Lens), R�hrig (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

About this document

Thanks to Roberto Di Maggio

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

Author: Karel Stokkermans Last updated: 22 Jun 2024