Netherlands men's national basketball team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Netherlands women's national basketball team.

Netherlands

FIBA ranking	51 2 (15 August 2024) [1]
Joined FIBA	1946
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	Basketball Nederland
Coach	Arik Shivek
Nickname(s)	Oranje (Orange)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	1 (1986)
Medals	None
EuroBasket
Appearances	16
Medals	None
Home Away
First international
Netherlands 48–27 England   (Geneva, Switzerland; 30 April 1946)
Biggest win
Netherlands 134–54 Morocco   (Hagen, West Germany; 15 May 1975)
Biggest defeat
Czechoslovakia 93–19 Netherlands   (Prague, Czechoslovakia; 27 April 1947)

The Netherlands men's national basketball team (Dutch : Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland.

The Dutch have reached the European Basketball Championship on 16 occasions. Their best results at the event came in 1983, where they finished in fourth place. They have also qualified for the FIBA World Cup once, in 1986. However, in recent years the national team has struggled to maintain consistency to reach major international tournaments.

The team represents itself as the Orange Lions.

History

1946–1991: Early years

The Netherlands playing a match against Luxembourg in 1959

The Netherlands were one of the teams that played in the 1946, 1947, 1949 and 1951 EuroBasket tournaments. During this period, the 5th place finish in 1949 was the best performance by the national team.

1961–1991: EuroBasket success & World Cup debut

The Oranje qualified for three European Basketball Championships in the 1960s (1961, 1963, 1967). After three consecutive missed tournaments, the Netherlands had another three EuroBasket appearance stretch from 1975, 1977, and 1979. During the 1977 EuroBasket, the Netherlands' star player Kees Akerboom shined during the tournament. He finished the competition as the top scorer, and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

At EuroBasket 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 to Italy. In the third-place game they would lose again, this time to the Soviet Union.

Three years after achieving success at the continental level, the Netherlands qualified to the World Cup for the first time in 1986. 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.

1991–2012: Long mediocre period

Francisco Elson was the face of the team for a long time

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

Rising from the ashes (2012–2015)

Toon van Helfteren coached the national team to its first EuroBasket tournament in 26 years

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 the Dutch Basketball League, the national team was eventually saved. Sports broadcaster Sport1 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 for EuroBasket 2015, but lost two games 20–0 because the team played with two players – Mohamed Kherrazi and Sean Cunningham – who were identified as foreign players by FIBA. ^[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]

"Miracle of 2014"

Logo used from 2012 to 2019

At the start of the second 2015-qualification round, things looked bad for the Oranje. 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 coach Toon 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 favorite Montenegro 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]

Return to EuroBasket (2015–present)

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 at EuroBasket 2015, the Dutch beat Georgia 73–72 behind Charlon Kloof's 22 and Worthy de Jong's 16 points. ^[7] The Netherlands remaining four games though were all loses, but only by single digits to power houses such as Croatia and Greece.

On 22 July 2019, Italian coach Maurizio Buscaglia signed on to become head coach of the Netherlands, replacing Toon van Helfteren who stepped down. ^[8] After a disappointing EuroBasket 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 coach Arik Shivek, as head coach of the national team. ^[11] He previously led at national team level for five years with Israel from 2009 to 2014.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup World Cup Qualification Year Position Pld W L Pld W L 1950 Did not qualify 5 1 4 1954 Did not enter Did not enter 1959 1963 Did not qualify EuroBasket served as qualifiers 1967 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 14th 5 2 3 6 4 2 1990 Did not qualify EuroBasket served as qualifiers 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2019 16 6 10 2023 10 0 10 2027 To be determined To be determined Total 1/19 5 2 3 37 11 26 Olympic Games Olympic Games Qualifying Year Position Pld W L Pld W L 1948 Did not enter 1952 1956 1960 Did not qualify 7 5 2 1964 8 2 6 1968 8 1 7 1972 9 5 4 1976 9 4 5 1980 3 1 2 1984 3 1 2 1988 4 2 2 1992 5 2 3 1996 Did not qualify 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 3 1 2 Total 0/20 59 24 35

EuroBasket EuroBasket Qualification Year Position Pld W L Pld W L 1946 6th 3 1 2 1947 11th 6 2 4 1949 5th 6 2 4 1951 10th 9 6 3 1953 Did not enter 1955 1957 1959 1961 15th 6 3 3 1963 16th 9 1 8 1 1 0 1965 Did not qualify 3 1 2 1967 16th 9 0 9 3 3 0 1969 Did not qualify 4 2 2 1971 3 0 3 1973 6 4 2 1975 10th 7 2 5 9 7 2 1977 7th 7 3 4 8 7 1 1979 10th 7 3 4 Directly qualified 1981 Did not qualify 8 4 4 1983 4th 7 3 4 9 9 0 1985 12th 7 1 6 Directly qualified 1987 10th 7 2 5 9 6 3 1989 8th 5 0 5 10 7 3 1991 Did not qualify 6 2 4 1993 6 2 4 1995 5 3 2 1997 15 7 8 1999 13 6 7 2001 13 7 6 2003 10 0 10 2005 12 2 10 2007 Division B 8 5 3 2009 Division B 8 5 3 2011 Division B 6 4 2 2013 Did not qualify 8 2 6 2015 21st 5 1 4 9 5 4 2017 Did not qualify 6 4 2 2022 22nd 5 0 5 6 3 3 2025 To be determined To be determined Total 16/38 105 30 75 204 108 96

Results and fixtures

  Win  Loss

2024

Great Britain   v   Netherlands

23 February 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Great Britain	98–94	Netherlands	Newcastle, England
19:30 (UTC±0)	Scoring by quarter:28–23, 27–18, 16–25, 27–28
	Pts: Hesson 23 Rebs: Wheatle 6 Asts: Nelson 12	Boxscore	Pts: Van der Vuurst de Vries 23 Rebs: Nzekwesi 5 Asts: Van der Vuurst de Vries 9	Arena: Vertu Motors Arena Attendance: 2,213 Referees: Fernando Calatrava (ESP), Can Mavisu (TUR), Sergio Rodríguez (ESP)

Netherlands   v   Greece

26 February 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Netherlands	72–74	Greece	The Hague, Netherlands
19:30 CET (UTC+1)	Scoring by quarter: 12–16, 27–16, 19–30, 14–12
	Pts: Schaftenaar 13 Rebs: Van der Vuurst de Vries 6 Asts: Van der Vuurst de Vries 6	Boxscore	Pts: Toliopoulos 26 Rebs: Kouzeloglou 5 Asts: Toliopoulos 8	Arena: Sportcampus Zuiderpark Attendance: 3,600 Referees: Manuel Mazzoni (ITA), Péter Praksch (HUN), Igor Mitrovski (MKD)

Czech Republic   v   Netherlands

21 November 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Czech Republic	vs.	Netherlands	Czech Republic
		Boxscore

Netherlands   v   Czech Republic

24 November 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Netherlands	vs.	Czech Republic	Netherlands
		Boxscore

2025

Netherlands   v   Great Britain

21 February 2025 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Netherlands	vs.	Great Britain	Netherlands
		Boxscore

Greece   v   Netherlands

24 February 2025 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Greece	vs.	Netherlands	Greece
		Boxscore

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 23 and 26 February 2024 against Great Britain and Greece. ^[12]

Netherlands men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. SG 0 Yannick Franke 27 – (1996-05-21)21 May 1996 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Palencia PG 1 Keye van der Vuurst de Vries 22 – (2001-12-29)29 December 2001 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Palencia G 5 Leon Williams 32 – (1991-07-25)25 July 1991 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Libertas Livorno SF 7 Dylan van Eyck 25 – (1998-05-19)19 May 1998 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) Svendborg F/C 10 Roeland Schaftenaar 35 – (1988-07-29)29 July 1988 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Leiden G/F 12 Yannick Kraag 21 – (2002-10-16)16 October 2002 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Joventut PF 15 Emmanuel Nzekwesi 26 – (1997-09-05)5 September 1997 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Cholet G 17 Marijn Ververs 25 – (1998-09-17)17 September 1998 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Leiden PF 18 Luuk van Bree 27 – (1996-02-24)24 February 1996 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Leiden C 21 Menno Dijkstra 27 – (1997-01-11)11 January 1997 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Pärnu C 32 Matt Haarms 26 – (1997-04-22)22 April 1997 2.21 m (7 ft 3 in) Palencia PG 90 Charlon Kloof 33 – (1990-03-20)20 March 1990 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Porto	Head coach Arik Shivek Assistant coach(es) / Daniel Gutt Koen van Gerwen Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 23 February 2024

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Matt Haarms	Menno Dijkstra	Roeland Schaftenaar
PF	Emmanuel Nzekwesi	Luuk van Bree
SF	Yannick Kraag	Dylan van Eyck
SG	Yannick Franke	Leon Williams	Marijn Ververs
PG	Keye van der Vuurst de Vries	Charlon Kloof

List of head coaches

As of 26 February 2024

No.	Name	Nationality	From	To	Games coached	Wins	Losses	Winning percentage	Notes
1	Dick Schmüll	Netherlands	31 March 1946	1 May 1951	39	15	24	.385
2	Freek Brandt	Netherlands	1 March 1952	1 April 1952	3	1	2	.333
3	Gerrit den Boef	Netherlands	1 November 1952	1 April 1953	3	1	2	.333
4	Wim van Someren	Netherlands	1 September 1953	1 September 1955	3	0	3	.000
5	Joop Koper	Netherlands	1 March 1955	31 January 1957	3	0	3	.000
6	Tan Eng Hau	Netherlands	27 October 1956	27 October 1956	1	0	1	.000	Interim replacement.
7	Nico van Pelt	Netherlands	1 November 1957	1 November 1957	1	0	1	1.000	Interim replacement.
8	Henk Aldenberg	Netherlands	1 March 1959	1 May 1959	10	2	8	.200
9	Cees Burgert	Netherlands	5 March 1960	2 October 1965	5	1	4	.200
10	Jan Janbroers	Netherlands	1 April 1960	1 November 1965
11	Egon Steuer	Czechoslovakia	1 September 1966	1 July 1970	54	18	36	.333	Steuer was the first ever foreign coach.
12	Harry Kippers	Netherlands	1 October 1970	1 May 1971	10	4	6	.400
13	René Mol	Belgium	1 May 1971	1 May 1973	31	17	14	.548
14	Jan Bruin	Netherlands	1 May 1974	1 May 1974	1	1	0	1.000
15	Bill Sheridan	United States	1 October 1974	1 July 1976	56	33	23	.589
16	Jan Janbroers	Netherlands	1 January 1977	1 September 1977
17	Tom Quinn	United States	1 May 1978	1 June 1979	30	20	10	.667
18	Jan Sikking	Netherlands	1 April 1980	1 May 1980	11	3	8	.273
19	Ton Boot	Netherlands	1 February 1981	1 May 1981	10	5	5	.500
20	Ruud Harrewijn	Netherlands	1 July 1982	1 August 1982
21	Vladimir Heger	Czechoslovakia	1 April 1982	1 June 1986	82	44	38	.537
22	Ruud Harrewijn	Netherlands	1 June 1986	30 June 1991
23	Randy Wiel	Territory of Curaçao	1 June 1991	1 June 1993	26	9	17	.346
24	Toon van Helfteren	Netherlands	1 September 1993	1 June 1997	44	24	20	.545
25	Lucien Van Kersschaever	Belgium	1 June 1997	1 May 1999	26	7	19	.269
26	Bob Gonnen	United States	1 September 1999	1 February 2000	5	1	4	.200
27	Maarten van Gent	Netherlands	4 August 2000	1 January 2003	21	5	16	.238
28	Glenn Pinas	Suriname	1 January 2004	14 April 2006	26	5	21	.192
29	Marco van den Berg	Netherlands	24 May 2006	4 February 2008	13	8	5	.615
30	Gadi Kedar	Israel	13 May 2008	20 April 2012	43	25	18	.581
31	Jan Willem Jansen	Netherlands	25 June 2012	2013	15	6	9	.400
32	Toon van Helfteren	Netherlands	6 March 2013	25 February 2019	87	28	59	.322	Coached at EuroBasket 2015.
33	Maurizio Buscaglia	Italy	22 July 2019	10 September 2022	25	3	22	.120	Coached at EuroBasket 2022.
34	Radenko Varagić	Serbia	6 October 2022	26 February 2023	4	0	4	.000	Interim replacement.
35	Arik Shivek	Israel	23 May 2023	present	5	1	4	.200

Past rosters

1946 EuroBasket: finished 6th 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: finished 11th 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: finished 5th 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: finished 10th 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, 12 Piet Ouderland, 13 Ton Koemans, 14 Rinus van Eijkeren (Coach: Dick Schmüll)

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1961 EuroBasket: finished 15th 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)

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1963 EuroBasket: finished 16th 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)

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1967 EuroBasket: finished 16th 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)

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1975 EuroBasket: finished 10th 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, 11 Kees Akerboom, 12 Dan Cramer, 13 Toon van Helfteren, 14 Pieter van Tuyll, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Bill Sheridan)

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1977 EuroBasket: finished 7th 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, 11 Dan Cramer, 12 Kees Akerboom, 13 Jan Loorbach, 14 Renso Zwiers, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Jan Janbroers)

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1979 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 12 teams

4 Bert Kragtwijk, 5 Jan Dekker, 6 Dan Cramer, 7 Mitchell Plaat, 8 Emill Hagens, 9 Al Faber, 10 Sid Bruinsma, 11 Jimmy Woudstra, 12 Kees Akerboom, 13 Toon van Helfteren, 14 Pieter van Tuyll, 15 Harry Kip (Coach: Tom Quinn)

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1983 EuroBasket: finished 4th among 12 teams

4 René Ridderhof, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Randy Wiel, 7 Mitchell Plaat, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Al Faber, 10 Jos Kuipers, 11 Dan Cramer, 12 Cock van de Lagemaat, 13 Henk Pieterse, 14 Roland van den Bergh, 15 Rob van Essen (Coach: Vladimír Heger)

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1985 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 12 teams

4 Martin Esajas, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Martin 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)

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1986 FIBA World Cup: finished 14th among 24 teams

4 Rik 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)

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1987 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 12 teams

4 John Emanuels, 5 Ronald Schilp, 6 Marco de Waard, 7 Cees van Rootselaar, 8 Jelle Esveldt, 9 Okke te Velde, 10 Rik Smits, 11 Chris van Dinten, 12 Peter van Noord, 13 Toon van Helfteren, 14 Henk Pieterse, 15 Jos Kuipers (Coach: Ruud Harrewijn)

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1989 EuroBasket: finished 8th 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)

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2015 EuroBasket: finished 21st among 24 teams

0 Yannick Franke, 5 Leon Williams, 6 Worthy de Jong, 7 Charlon Kloof, 9 Mohamed Kherrazi, 10 Ralf de Pagter, 12 Kees Akerboom, Jr., 13 Roeland Schaftenaar, 18 Nicolas de Jong, 21 Robin Smeulders, 23 Henk Norel, 44 Arvin Slagter (C) (Coach: Toon van Helfteren)

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2022 EuroBasket: finished 22nd among 24 teams ^[13]

0 Yannick Franke, 1 Keye van der Vuurst de Vries, 5 Leon Williams, 6 Worthy de Jong (C), 9 Mohamed Kherrazi, 11 Shane Hammink,
13 Roeland Schaftenaar, 14 Jesse Edwards, 30 Olaf Schaftenaar, 32 Matt Haarms, 33 Jito Kok, 90 Charlon Kloof
(Coach: Maurizio Buscaglia)

See also

• Sports portal
• Netherlands portal

• Sport in the Netherlands
• Netherlands women's national basketball team
• Netherlands men's national under-20 basketball team
• Netherlands men's national under-18 basketball team
• Netherlands men's national under-16 basketball team

References

1. "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
2. "Nederlandse basketballers gered door Sport1". Volkskrant.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 15 June 2014.
3. "Netherlands Incur Penalty". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
4. "NBB niet eens met straf". NOS. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
5. "Eredivisie basketbal Nederland". Basketballleague.nl. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
6. "Basketballers na 25 jaar naar EK". Nos.nl. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
7. "Dutch Win On Return". Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
8. "Italiaan Buscaglia nieuwe basketballcoach Nederlands mannenteam". oranjebasketball.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 July 2019.
9. "Buscaglia na teleurstellend EK ontslagen als bondscoach van basketballers". nu.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 September 2022.
10. "Radenko Varagic aangesteld als interim-bondscoach van de Nederlandse basketballers". basketball.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 October 2022.
11. "Orange Lions slaan nieuwe weg in met Arik Shivek als nieuwe bondscoach". basketball.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2023.
12. "Netherlands during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024" . Retrieved 23 February 2024.
13. "Netherlands at the EuroBasket 2022" . Retrieved 8 September 2022.

External links

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Netherlands FIBA profile
• Dutch National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
• Netherlands Basketball Records at FIBA Archive