Netherlands national football team: the full squad and key players Xavi has inherited
Xavi Hernandez took over the Netherlands in August and names his first squad this month. Here is the group he inherits, with caps, goals and current clubs, and why twelve of the 26 play their football in England.
Sep 5, 2026
The Netherlands have a new manager and an old squad. Xavi Hernandez took the job on 12 August 2026, replacing Ronald Koeman, and has not yet named a group of his own. So the 26 players below are the ones Koeman took to the World Cup, updated for the clubs they actually play for now. The Dutch sit ninth in the FIFA rankings as of 20 July 2026, and Xavi’s first squad lands ahead of a home game against Germany on 24 September.
Netherlands national football team: the full squad
Caps and goals are as they stood on 29 June 2026, after the Morocco game. Ages are current.
Goalkeepers
| Player | Age | Caps | Goals | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bart Verbruggen | 24 | 33 | 0 | Brighton |
| Mark Flekken | 33 | 12 | 0 | Bayer Leverkusen |
| Robin Roefs | 23 | 1 | 0 | Sunderland |
Defenders
| Player | Age | Caps | Goals | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgil van Dijk (captain) | 35 | 96 | 13 | Liverpool |
| Denzel Dumfries | 30 | 76 | 11 | Real Madrid |
| Nathan Ake | 31 | 62 | 5 | Fenerbahce |
| Micky van de Ven | 25 | 24 | 1 | Tottenham |
| Lutsharel Geertruida | 26 | 21 | 0 | PSV (on loan) |
| Jan Paul van Hecke | 26 | 16 | 1 | Tottenham |
| Mats Wieffer | 26 | 15 | 1 | Brighton |
| Jorrel Hato | 20 | 9 | 0 | Chelsea |
Midfielders and forwards
| Player | Age | Caps | Goals | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis Depay | 32 | 112 | 55 | Corinthians |
| Frenkie de Jong | 29 | 70 | 2 | Barcelona |
| Donyell Malen | 27 | 56 | 13 | Roma |
| Cody Gakpo | 27 | 54 | 24 | Liverpool |
| Wout Weghorst | 34 | 53 | 14 | Twente |
| Marten de Roon | 35 | 44 | 1 | Roma |
| Tijjani Reijnders | 28 | 35 | 7 | Al-Qadsiah |
| Teun Koopmeiners | 28 | 32 | 3 | Juventus |
| Ryan Gravenberch | 24 | 31 | 1 | Liverpool |
| Noa Lang | 27 | 17 | 3 | Napoli |
| Brian Brobbey | 24 | 16 | 4 | Sunderland |
| Justin Kluivert | 27 | 14 | 0 | Bournemouth |
| Quinten Timber | 25 | 13 | 1 | Crystal Palace |
| Guus Til | 28 | 8 | 1 | PSV |
| Crysencio Summerville | 24 | 6 | 2 | Al-Hilal |
This is a Premier League squad wearing orange
Count the clubs and the pattern is hard to miss. Twelve of the 26 play in England. Liverpool supply three of them, Tottenham, Brighton and Sunderland two each, and Chelsea, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace one apiece. Only three are still in the Eredivisie: Geertruida and Til at PSV, Weghorst at Twente.
Two of the squad now play in Saudi Arabia, which is more than play in Germany. Reijnders left for Al-Qadsiah and Summerville for Al-Hilal, while Flekken at Leverkusen is the only man in the Bundesliga. Italy has four, Spain two, and Depay is on his own in Brazil at Corinthians.
For a country that produced Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, a national team with three home-based players is a striking number. It also tells Xavi something about his job: he will be building a side out of players he mostly has to watch on English television.
Xavi has the job, and his first game is against Klopp
Koeman resigned after the World Cup. The KNVB confirmed Xavi on 12 August on a contract that runs to the 2030 World Cup, covering Euro 2028 along the way. He is the first non-Dutch manager of the men’s national team since 1978, a 48-year run of home appointments, and he has been out of work since leaving Barcelona in May 2024.
His first match is the sort of fixture you do not usually get in game one. The Netherlands host Germany in the Nations League at the Johan Cruijff ArenA on Thursday 24 September, kick-off 20:45 local time, which is 12:15am IST on the Friday. Germany will be managed by Jurgen Klopp, appointed in July after Julian Nagelsmann resigned in the wake of a round-of-32 shootout defeat to Paraguay. Two new coaches, both of them famous, in the fixture that has carried more history than any other in Europe.
The Netherlands’ key players
Memphis Depay is the country’s record scorer with 55 goals in 112 games, having passed Robin van Persie’s 50. He has scored roughly a third of all the international goals in this squad on his own, which says as much about the rest of the attack as it does about him. He is 32 and playing in Brazil.
Virgil van Dijk captains the side and is on 96 caps, four short of 100. He is 35, so Xavi has a decision to make about him that Koeman never had to.
Cody Gakpo has 24 goals in 54 games, the second-highest total in this squad behind Depay. He scored twice in the 5-1 win over Sweden and got the goal against Morocco that should have sent the Netherlands through.
Frenkie de Jong has 70 caps and two goals, a ratio that tells you exactly what he does. He played 84 games under Xavi at Barcelona, so he is the one man here who already knows what the manager wants without being told.
Jorrel Hato is 20 and already has nine caps. Chelsea paid Ajax an initial £35.5m for him in 2025 on a contract to 2032, and he is the piece of this squad most likely to still be in it in 2034.
The World Cup that cost Koeman his job
The Netherlands topped Group F with seven points. They drew 2-2 with Japan in the opener, then beat Sweden 5-1 with braces from Brobbey and Gakpo, and finished with a 3-1 win over Tunisia in Kansas City. Ten goals in three games.
Then it stopped. Morocco held them 1-1 in Monterrey in the round of 32, Gakpo scoring in the second half and Issa Diop equalising in the first minute of stoppage time. Yassine Bounou saved from Summerville in the shootout and Ismael Saibari scored the winning kick for a 3-2 result. The Netherlands went home on 29 June with the tournament’s Fair Play trophy and a manager who did not survive the summer.
Who is missing
Xavi Simons was the biggest absence. He ruptured a cruciate ligament playing for Tottenham against Wolves on 25 April, after a season in which he scored 16 goals, and had been expected to be the attacking centre of Koeman’s plans. Jurrien Timber, twin brother of Quinten and an Arsenal defender, pulled out with a groin injury on 8 June, days before the opener, and Geertruida was called up in his place.
What the Netherlands have won
| Competition | Best result | Years |
|---|---|---|
| European Championship | Winners | 1988 |
| World Cup | Runners-up | 1974, 1978, 2010 |
| World Cup | Third place | 2014 |
| Nations League | Runners-up | 2019 |
Three World Cup finals and no trophy is the line that follows this team everywhere. The 1988 European Championship, won in West Germany with Marco van Basten’s volley in the final, remains the only senior title the country has.
Quick answers
Who is the manager of the Netherlands? Xavi Hernandez, appointed on 12 August 2026 on a deal to 2030. He is the first foreign coach of the Dutch men’s team since 1978.
Who is the captain of the Netherlands? Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool, who is on 96 caps.
Who is the Netherlands’ all-time top scorer? Memphis Depay, with 55 goals in 112 appearances, ahead of Robin van Persie on 50.
Who is the Netherlands’ most capped player? Wesley Sneijder, with 134 caps between 2003 and 2018. Edwin van der Sar is second on 130 and Depay is joint-third on 112.
Have the Netherlands ever won the World Cup? No. They have lost three finals, in 1974, 1978 and 2010, and finished third in 2014.
When do the Netherlands play next? Germany, at home in Amsterdam, on 24 September 2026 in the Nations League. It is Xavi’s first match in charge.
Squad guides in the same format: the Japan squad, the Belgium squad, the France squad and the India squad.