FRANCE98 – Holland Team Page

18th qualifier
UEFA (Europe)

Land area: 34 000 km²

Population: 15 000 000

Capital: Amsterdam

Main cities: Rotterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague

System of government: Constitutional Monarchy

Head of state: Beatrix
Prime Minister: Wim Kok

Currency: Gulden

Time difference: None

5 October 96 Wales – Holland 1-3

9 November 96 Holland – Wales 7-1

14 December 96 Belgium – Holland 0-3

29 March 97 Holland – San Marin 4-0

2 April 97 Turkey – Holland 1-0

30 April 97 San Marin – Holland 0-6

6 September 97 Holland – Belgium 3-0

11 October 97 Holland – Turkey 0-0

19 points
26 goals scored
4 goals conceded

Goalkeeper: VAN DER SAR (age 27, 21 caps)

Defenders: REIZIGER (age 24, 22 caps) F. DE BOER (age 27, 50 caps) STAM (10 caps)

BOGARDE (age 27, 10 caps)

Mid-field: R. DE BOER (age 27, 36 caps) SEEDORF (age 21, 26 caps) JONK (39 caps)

COCU (age 27, 15 caps)

Striker: BERGKAMP (age 28, 57 caps)
KLUIVERT (age 21, 15 caps)

Number of players used during the qualifying rounds: 23

National team colours: orange and white

FIFA ranking (on 16 October 1997): 8th

World Cup: 5 participations (1934, 1974, 1978, 1990 and 1994). Finalist in 1974 and 1978

European Championship: 6 participations. Winner in 1988

Guus HIDDINK
In Valencia 3 seasons ago, where Guus Hiddink was the coach, he had a racist banner removed from the ground before a game began. It was an act praised by the entire Spanish “Liga”, and, as it happens, typical of Hiddink, who sent Edgar Davids back home in the middle of Euro 96 after a quarrel! Clearly managing a team of stars holds no terrors for him. An ex-PSV Eindhoven player and coach (3 times Dutch champions and European Cup winners in 1988), he also managed Fenerbahçe and Valencia. Hiddink, who is a close friend of Johan Cruyff, advocates attractive football and relies on the right blend of his country’s Italian and Spanish exiles to make up the body of the national team. Even though they were beaten by Brazil in the 1994 quarter-finals in the U.S.A and by France in Euro 96, the Dutchmen will still be hoping to cut a swathe in FRANCE.