| FIBA ranking | 54 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| JoinedFIBA | 1946 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Europe | ||
| National federation | Basketball Nederland | ||
| Coach | Johan Roijakkers | ||
| Nickname | Oranje (Orange) | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 (1986) | ||
| Medals | None | ||
| EuroBasket | |||
| Appearances | 16 | ||
| Medals | None | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
(Geneva, Switzerland; 30 April 1946) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
(Hagen, West Germany; 15 May 1975) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
(Prague, Czechoslovakia; 27 April 1947) | |||
TheNetherlands men's national basketball team (Dutch:Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents theNetherlands in internationalbasketball matches. The national team is governed byBasketball Nederland.
The Dutch have reached theEuropean Basketball Championship on 16 occasions. Their best results at the event came in1983, where they finished in fourth place. They have also qualified for theFIBA World Cup once, in1986. However, in recent years the national team has struggled to maintain consistency to reach major international tournaments.
The team represents itself as theOrange Lions.

The Netherlands were one of the teams that played in the1946,1947,1949 and1951 EuroBasket tournaments. During this period, the 5th place finish in 1949 was the best performance by the national team.
TheOranje qualified for threeEuropean Basketball Championships in the 1960s (1961,1963,1967). After three consecutive missed tournaments, the Netherlands had another three EuroBasket appearance stretch from1975,1977, and1979. During the 1977 EuroBasket, the Netherlands' star playerKees Akerboom shined during the tournament. He finished the competition as the top scorer, and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
AtEuroBasket 1983, the Dutch had its biggest success in history under head coach Vladimir Heger. The national team achieved fourth place at the tournament. The Dutch wound up reaching the semi-finals, but eventually fell toItaly. In the third-place game they would lose again, this time to theSoviet Union.
Three years after achieving success at the continental level, the Netherlands qualified to theWorld Cup for the first time in1986. The national team ultimately did not make it out of the group stage though, finishing the tournament with an (2–3) record to place 14th overall.

From 1991 until 2012, the Netherlands did not qualify for a EuroBasket tournament. Star playerFrancisco Elson, formerNBA-champion, represented the team on several occasions but the team never came close to qualifying. During this period, notable Dutch players likeDan Gadzuric were not willing to play for the national team. Home games were usually played at theTopsportcentrum inAlmere and usually had little to no media attention or fan support in the Netherlands.

In December 2012, it was announced that the Netherlands national team would be dissolved for 2 years, because the national federation NBB {Netherlands Basketball Bond} was not willing to invest money in to it. After a campaign by Dutch players who played in theDutch Basketball League, the national team was eventually saved. Sports broadcasterSport1 became the main sponsor and DBL-teams invested in the team, which started playing again.[2]
During August 2013, the Netherlands was on its way to qualification forEuroBasket 2015, but lost two games 20–0 because the team played with two players –Mohamed Kherrazi andSean Cunningham – who were identified as foreign players byFIBA.[3] The NBB believed that both were eligible players, and was upset that the attention came up after the Netherlands already won 2 games.[4]

At the start of the second 2015-qualification round, things looked bad for theOranje. The DBL-teams didn't have any more money to invest in the team and the NBB wasn't ready to take the team back. Head coachToon van Helfteren, who worked as a volunteer, still did prepare for the qualifying games. He invited 42 players to play for the national team,[5] but after most (notable) players rejected the offer, he started his first training camp with 7 players. The team eventually shocked the world, by beating heavy favoriteMontenegro to get the second place in their group. On 27 August 2014, the Dutch national team qualified for EuroBasket for the first time in 25 years.[6]
The national team left the NBB and FEB, from 2015 the team was run by the NMT. Coach Van Helfteren then had his contract with the national team extended. In contrast to the summer of 2014, big name players from foreign leagues applied to play for the national team.
In the first game atEuroBasket 2015, the Dutch beatGeorgia 73–72 behindCharlon Kloof's 22 andWorthy de Jong's 16 points.[7] The Netherlands remaining four games though were all loses, but only by single digits to power houses such asCroatia andGreece.
On 22 July 2019, Italian coachMaurizio Buscaglia signed on to become head coach of the Netherlands, replacing Toon van Helfteren who stepped down.[8] After a disappointingEuroBasket 2022, in which the Netherlands went winless, Buscaglia was sacked.[9] On 6 October 2022,Radenko Varagić was appointed as interim head coach for the remaining World Cup qualifying campaign.[10]
On 23 May 2023, the Netherlands named Israeli coachArik Shivek, as head coach of the national team.[11] He previously led at national team level for five years withIsrael from 2009 to 2014. Two years later, after the Netherlands failed toqualify forEuroBasket 2025, Shivek was replaced as national team head coach with Dutch coachJohan Roijakkers.[12]
FIBA World Cup[edit]
Olympic Games[edit]
| EuroBasket[edit]
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Win Loss
| 21 November 2024 | Czech Republic | 96–74 | Pardubice, Czech Republic | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00CET (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 21–21,25–24,30–16,20–13 | ||||
| Pts:Bohačík 18 Rebs:Balvín 9 Asts:Peterka,Sehnal 6 | Boxscore | Pts:Van der Vuurst de Vries 20 Rebs:Franke 5 Asts:three players 4 | Arena:Enteria arena Attendance: 4,076 Referees: Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Alexandre Deman (FRA), Blaž Zupančič (SVN) | ||
| 24 November 2024 | Netherlands | 77–70 | The Hague, Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:00CET (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter:25–10, 12–17,17–14, 23–29 | ||||
| Pts:Kraag, Van der Vuurst de Vries 13 Rebs:Edwards 6 Asts:Van der Vuurst de Vries 7 | Boxscore | Pts:Kyzlink 19 Rebs:Balvín 13 Asts:Balvín,Sehnal 6 | Arena:Sportcampus Zuiderpark Attendance: 3,479 Referees: Ariadna Chueca (ESP), Gintaras Mačiulis (LTU), Valentin Oliot (FRA) | ||
| 21 February 2025 | Netherlands | 69–73 | The Hague, Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:30CET (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 14–20,15–11,21–18, 19–24 | ||||
| Pts:Franke 22 Rebs:Kraag 9 Asts:Van der Vuurst 7 | Boxscore | Pts:Olaseni 18 Rebs:Olaseni 14 Asts:Ellis 4 | Arena:Sportcampus Zuiderpark Attendance: 3,748 Referees: Lorenzo Baldini (ITA), Petar Pešić (SRB), Viola Györgyi (NOR) | ||
| 24 February 2025 | Greece | 63–53 | Patras, Greece | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:30EET (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 18–18,16–5, 14–16,15–14 | ||||
| Pts:Larentzakis 14 Rebs:Zougris 9 Asts:Kalaitzakis 4 | Boxscore | Pts:Kraag 14 Rebs:Kraag 8 Asts:Van der Vuurst 7 | Arena:Dimitris Tofalos Arena Attendance: 4,050 Referees: Luis Castillo (ESP), Michał Proc (POL), Siniša Prpa (SRB) | ||
| 2 August 2025 | Netherlands | 65–64 | The Hague, Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:30CEST (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter:21–12, 13–23,18–14, 13–15 | ||||
| Pts:Enaruna 11 Rebs:Enaruna 7 Asts:Van der Vuurst, Ververs 4 | Boxscore | Pts:Pöltl 16 Rebs:Pöltl 11 Asts:Güttl 3 | Arena:Sportcampus Zuiderpark Attendance: 2,555 Referees: Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Julio Anaya (PAN), Ilias Kounellis (CYP) | ||
| 9 August 2025 | Bulgaria | 70–81 | Samokov, Bulgaria | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00EEST (UTC+3) | Scoring by quarter: 15–22, 17–22,21–18, 17–19 | ||||
| Pts:Stoimenov 18 Rebs:Minchev 6 Asts:Dimitrov 4 | Boxscore | Pts:D. N'Guessan 24 Rebs:D. N'Guessan 11 Asts:Van der Vuurst 6 | Arena:Arena Samokov Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Marius Ciulin (ROU), Yener Yılmaz (TUR), Dariusz Zapolski (POL) | ||
| 13 August 2025 | Austria | 83–70 | Schwechat, Austria | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:20CEST (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter:19–10, 20–21,30–17, 14–22 | ||||
| Pts:Landesberg 14 Rebs:Pöltl 6 Asts:Friedrich 7 | Boxscore | Pts:Leons 15 Rebs:Leons 8 Asts:Ververs 6 | Arena:Multiversum Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Ademir Zurapović (BIH), Paulo Marques (POR), Igor Mitrovski (MKD) | ||
| 20 August 2025 | Netherlands | 97–70 | Almere, Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:30CEST (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 25–29,26–12,16–14,30–15 | ||||
| Pts:Van der Vuurst 22 Rebs:L. N'Guessan 9 Asts:Van der Vuurst 13 | Boxscore | Pts:Alipiev 15 Rebs:Stoilov 6 Asts:Alipiev 4 | Arena:Topsportcentrum Attendance: 1,598 Referees: Luis Castillo (ESP), Carsten Straube (GER), Viola Györgyi (NOR) | ||
| 28 November 2025 | Latvia | vs. | Latvia | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:--EET (UTC+2) | |||||
| Boxscore | |||||
| 1 December 2025 | Netherlands | vs. | Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:--CET (UTC+1) | |||||
| Boxscore | |||||
| 27 February 2026 | Austria | vs. | Austria | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:--CET (UTC+1) | |||||
| Boxscore | |||||
| 1 March 2026 | Netherlands | vs. | Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:--CET (UTC+1) | |||||
| Boxscore | |||||
| 3 July 2026 | Netherlands | vs. | Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:--CEST (UTC+2) | |||||
| Boxscore | |||||
| 6 July 2026 | Poland | vs. | Poland | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:--CEST (UTC+2) | |||||
| Boxscore | |||||
Roster for the2027 FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifiers matches in August 2025 againstAustria andBulgaria.[13][14]
| Netherlands men's national basketball team roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Lucas N'Guessan | Jesse Edwards | |||
| PF | Malevy Leons | David N'Guessan | |||
| SF | Tristan Enaruna | Lucas Kruithof | Jacobus Stolk | ||
| SG | Marijn Ververs | Sander Hollanders | Kjeld Zuidema | ||
| PG | Jamie Bergens | Keye van der Vuurst | Roel van Overbeek |
| No. | Name | Nationality | From | To | Games coached | Wins | Losses | Winning percentage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dick Schmüll | 31 March 1946 | 1 May 1951 | 39 | 15 | 24 | .385 | ||
| 2 | Freek Brandt | 1 March 1952 | 1 April 1952 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | ||
| 3 | Gerrit den Boef | 1 November 1952 | 1 April 1953 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | ||
| 4 | Wim van Someren | 1 September 1953 | 1 September 1955 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | ||
| 5 | Joop Koper | 1 March 1955 | 31 January 1957 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | ||
| 6 | Tan Eng Hau | 27 October 1956 | 27 October 1956 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Interim replacement. | |
| 7 | Nico van Pelt | 1 November 1957 | 1 November 1957 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | Interim replacement. | |
| 8 | Henk Aldenberg | 1 March 1959 | 1 May 1959 | 10 | 2 | 8 | .200 | ||
| 9 | Cees Burgert | 5 March 1960 | 2 October 1965 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | ||
| 10 | Jan Janbroers | 1 April 1960 | 1 November 1965 | ||||||
| 11 | Egon Steuer | 1 September 1966 | 1 July 1970 | 54 | 18 | 36 | .333 | Steuer was the first ever foreign coach. | |
| 12 | Harry Kippers | 1 October 1970 | 1 May 1971 | 10 | 4 | 6 | .400 | ||
| 13 | René Mol | 1 May 1971 | 1 May 1973 | 31 | 17 | 14 | .548 | ||
| 14 | Jan Bruin | 1 May 1974 | 1 May 1974 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | ||
| 15 | Bill Sheridan | 1 October 1974 | 1 July 1976 | 56 | 33 | 23 | .589 | ||
| 16 | Jan Janbroers | 1 January 1977 | 1 September 1977 | ||||||
| 17 | Tom Quinn | 1 May 1978 | 1 June 1979 | 30 | 20 | 10 | .667 | ||
| 18 | Jan Sikking | 1 April 1980 | 1 May 1980 | 11 | 3 | 8 | .273 | ||
| 19 | Ton Boot | 1 February 1981 | 1 May 1981 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | ||
| 20 | Ruud Harrewijn | 1 July 1982 | 1 August 1982 | ||||||
| 21 | Vladimir Heger | 1 April 1982 | 1 June 1986 | 82 | 44 | 38 | .537 | ||
| 22 | Ruud Harrewijn | 1 June 1986 | 30 June 1991 | ||||||
| 23 | Randy Wiel | 1 June 1991 | 1 June 1993 | 26 | 9 | 17 | .346 | ||
| 24 | Toon van Helfteren | 1 September 1993 | 1 June 1997 | 44 | 24 | 20 | .545 | ||
| 25 | Lucien Van Kersschaever | 1 June 1997 | 1 May 1999 | 26 | 7 | 19 | .269 | ||
| 26 | Bob Gonnen | 1 September 1999 | 1 February 2000 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | ||
| 27 | Maarten van Gent | 4 August 2000 | 1 January 2003 | 21 | 5 | 16 | .238 | ||
| 28 | Glenn Pinas | 1 January 2004 | 14 April 2006 | 26 | 5 | 21 | .192 | ||
| 29 | Marco van den Berg | 24 May 2006 | 4 February 2008 | 13 | 8 | 5 | .615 | ||
| 30 | Gadi Kedar | 13 May 2008 | 20 April 2012 | 43 | 25 | 18 | .581 | ||
| 31 | Jan Willem Jansen | 25 June 2012 | 2013 | 15 | 6 | 9 | .400 | ||
| 32 | Toon van Helfteren | 6 March 2013 | 25 February 2019 | 87 | 28 | 59 | .322 | Coached atEuroBasket 2015. | |
| 33 | Maurizio Buscaglia | 22 July 2019 | 10 September 2022 | 25 | 3 | 22 | .120 | Coached atEuroBasket 2022. | |
| 34 | Radenko Varagić | 6 October 2022 | 26 February 2023 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | Interim replacement. | |
| 35 | Arik Shivek | 23 May 2023 | 24 February 2025 | 17 | 6 | 11 | .353 | ||
| 36 | Johan Roijakkers | 10 June 2025 | present | 8 | 4 | 4 | .500 |
1946 EuroBasket: finished6th among 10 teams
3 Chris van Laar, 4 Joop Koper, 5 Henk Mik, 6 Wim van Someren, 7 Freek Brandt, 8 Jan Aldenberg, 9 Henk Koper, 13 Chris Kugelein, 14 Wim Kunnen, 15 Ben Gerritsma (Coach: Dick Schmüll)
1947 EuroBasket: finished11th among 14 teams
3 Joop Koper, 4 Chris van Laar, 5 Freek Brandt, 6 Jaap van Veen, 7 Wim van Someren, 8 B Winkel, 9 Tan Eng Hau, 10 Henk Koper, 20 Visser (Coach: Dick Schmüll)
1949 EuroBasket: finished5th among 7 teams
3 Jaap van Veen, 4 Jaap van Veen, 5 Tom Losekoot, 6 Tan Eng Hau, 7 Henk Koper, 8 Joop Koper, 9 Wim van Someren, 10 Henk van de Broek, 11 Jan Hille, 20 Freek Brandt (Coach: Dick Schmüll)
1951 EuroBasket: finished10th among 17 teams
3 Tim de Jong, 4 Johan de Hoop, 5 Bob van der Valk, 6 Ab Gootjes, 7 Jaap van Veen, 8 Henk van de Broek, 9 Vok Alberda, 10 Kees van der Schuijt, 11 Jan Hille, 12Piet Ouderland, 13 Ton Koemans, 14 Rinus van Eijkeren (Coach: Dick Schmüll)
1961 EuroBasket: finished15th among 19 teams
4 Henny Braun, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Bruin, 7 Jan Driehuis, 8 Dolf Pouw, 9 Wim Franke, 10 Maarten Sleeswijk, 11 Gerrit Kok, 12 Peter de Jong, 13 Gunter van de Berg, 14 Franciscus de Haan, 15 Hans Perrier (Coach: Jan Janbroers)
1963 EuroBasket: finished16th among 16 teams
4 Jos Pelk, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Bruin, 7 Jan Driehuis, 8 Simon Schagen, 9 Bob Grosmann, 10 Wim Franke, 11 Gerrit Kok, 12 Roelof Tuinstra, 13 Jan Schappert, 14 Franciscus de Haan, 15 Frederik Witte (Coach: Jan Janbroers)
1967 EuroBasket: finished16th among 16 teams
4 Petrus Rijsewik, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Bruin, 7 Frank Kales, 8 Antonius van der Kroon, 9 Karel Pastor, 10 Karel Vrolijk, 11 Erik Jager, 12 Roelof Tuinstra, 13 Erik van Woerkom, 14 Franciscus de Haan, 15 Frederik Witte (Coach:Egon Steuer)
1975 EuroBasket: finished10th among 12 teams
4 Jan Dekker, 5 Antonie Boot, 6 Jan Sikking, 7 Hugo Harrewijn, 8 Herman Pluim, 9 Walter Ombre, 10 John van Vliet, 11Kees Akerboom, 12Dan Cramer, 13Toon van Helfteren, 14 Pieter van Tuyll, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Bill Sheridan)
1977 EuroBasket: finished7th among 12 teams
4 Al Faber, 5 Jan Dekker, 6 Jimmy Woudstra, 7 Cees Limmen, 8 Emill Hagens, 9 Bert Kragtwijk, 10 Cock van de Lagemaat, 11Dan Cramer, 12Kees Akerboom, 13 Jan Loorbach, 14 Renso Zwiers, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Jan Janbroers)
1979 EuroBasket: finished10th among 12 teams
4 Bert Kragtwijk, 5 Jan Dekker, 6Dan Cramer, 7Mitchell Plaat, 8 Emill Hagens, 9 Al Faber, 10 Sid Bruinsma, 11 Jimmy Woudstra, 12Kees Akerboom, 13Toon van Helfteren, 14 Pieter van Tuyll, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Tom Quinn)
1983 EuroBasket: finished4th among 12 teams
4 René Ridderhof, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Randy Wiel, 7Mitchell Plaat, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Al Faber, 10 Jos Kuipers, 11Dan Cramer, 12 Cock van de Lagemaat, 13 Henk Pieterse, 14 Roland van den Bergh, 15 Rob van Essen (Coach: Vladimír Heger)
1985 EuroBasket: finished12th among 12 teams
4 Martin Esajas, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6Martin de Vries, 7 Marco de Waard, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Ron van der Schaaf, 10 John Franken, 11 Cock van de Lagemaat, 12 Jos Kuipers, 13 Peter van Noord, 14 Hans Heijdeman, 15 Rob van Essen (Coach: Vladimír Heger)
1986 FIBA World Cup: finished14th among 24 teams
4Rik Smits, 5 Jelle Esveldt, 6 Ronald Schilp, 7 Cock van de Lagemaat, 8 Raymond Bottse, 9 Rene Ebeltjes, 10 Chris van Dinten, 11 Hans Heijdeman, 12 Erik Griekspoor, 13 Emill Hagens, 14 Marco de Waard, 15 Peter van Noord (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn)
1987 EuroBasket: finished10th among 12 teams
4 John Emanuels, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Marco de Waard, 7 Cees van Rootselaar, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Okke te Velde, 10Rik Smits, 11 Chris van Dinten, 12 Peter van Noord, 13Toon van Helfteren, 14 Henk Pieterse, 15 Jos Kuipers (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn)
1989 EuroBasket: finished8th among 8 teams
4 Raymond Bottse, 5 John Emanuels, 6 Marco de Waard, 7 Cees van Rootselaar, 8 Rolf Franke, 9 Okke te Velde, 10 Richard van Poelgeest, 11 Frans Houben, 12 Milko Lieverst, 13 Paul Vrind, 14 Peter Dam, 15 Jos Kuipers (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn)
2015 EuroBasket: finished21st among 24 teams[15]
0Yannick Franke, 5Leon Williams, 6Worthy de Jong, 7Charlon Kloof, 9Mohamed Kherrazi, 10Ralf de Pagter, 12Kees Akerboom, Jr., 13Roeland Schaftenaar, 18Nicolas de Jong, 21Robin Smeulders, 23Henk Norel, 44Arvin Slagter(C) (Coach:Toon van Helfteren)
2022 EuroBasket: finished22nd among 24 teams[16]
0Yannick Franke, 1Keye van der Vuurst de Vries, 5Leon Williams, 6Worthy de Jong(C), 9Mohamed Kherrazi, 11Shane Hammink,
13Roeland Schaftenaar, 14Jesse Edwards, 30Olaf Schaftenaar, 32Matt Haarms, 33Jito Kok, 90Charlon Kloof
(Coach:Maurizio Buscaglia)