Netherlands national under-21 football team

The Netherlands national under-21 football team is the national under-21 team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Championship, held every two years.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Dutch Under-21 team was formed. The team did not have a very good record, failing to qualify for nine of the fifteen tournaments. The team did not enter for the 1978 competition, but since then has reached the semi-finals twice, and qualified for the last eight on three other occasions.

Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, the Netherlands' record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown. The first competitive match was in the "Under-23 Challenge", a match which they lost. The team qualified for the last eight of each of the three U-23 tournaments.

In 2006 the Netherlands national under-21 football team of coach Foppe de Haan won the 2006 European Under-21 Championship. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar became top scorer and player of the tournament with four goals, and also broke the all-time goalscoring record of 15 goals previously held by Roy Makaay and Arnold Jan Bruggink, in his last match with the team as he pushed this record to eighteen goals. The following year, Netherlands national under-21 football team successfully defended their title by winning the 2007 European Under-21 Championship in the final against Serbia with 4–1. Maceo Rigters was the top scorer of the competition with four goals and Royston Drenthe was the Player of the Tournament. The win meant that the Netherlands qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team failed to qualify for the 2009 European Under-21 Championship, after losing out to Switzerland in their final qualifying match.

Individual all-time records

Most capped players

Rank	Player	Career	Matches	Goals
1	Arnold Bruggink	1995–1999	31	15
Leroy Fer	2009–2013	31	6
3	Daniël de Ridder	2004–2007	30	1
4	Niels Oude Kamphuis	1996–2000	28	2
5	Roy Makaay	1994–1998	27	15
Mark van Bommel	1996–2000	27	3
7	Kiki Musampa	1996–2000	25	8
Arnold Kruiswijk	2003–2007	25	0
9	Georginio Wijnaldum	2009–2013	24	10
10	Daley Blind	2009–2013	23	0
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	2002–2006	23	18
Bram Nuytinck	2010–2013	23	2
Marco van Ginkel	2011–2014	23	4
Tonny Vilhena	2013–2016	23	4

Most goals scored

Rank	Player	Career	Goals	Matches	Average
1	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	2002–2006	18	23	0.78
2	Roy Makaay	1994–1998	15	27	0.56
Arnold Bruggink	1995–1999	15	31	0.48
4	Género Zeefuik	2011–2012	10	12	0.83
Georginio Wijnaldum	2009–2013	10	24	0.42
6	Brian Brobbey	2021–2023	9	17	0.53
7	Vincent Janssen	2014–2015	8	10	0.80
Kiki Musampa	1996–2000	8	25	0.32
9	Edwin Bakker	1984–1985	7	7	1.00
Ronald de Boer	1989–1992	7	9	0.78
Quincy Promes	2013–2014	7	10	0.70
Joshua Zirkzee	2020–2023	7	19	0.37
Jurgen Ekkelenkamp	2020–2023	7	22	0.32