For those of us of a certain age, the Netherlands will always be Holland. It used to be routine for broadcasters and everyday conversation to refer to them that way – so what changed?
The simple explanation is that Holland is not the formal name of the country as we know it today, but is simply a region of the country that has for centuries been used as a shorthand for the country as a whole. More specifically, ‘Holland’ is made up of North Holland and South Holland, which are just two of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands.
That happened because Holland was historically the area of the Netherlands that had the most contact with the rest of the world in centuries gone by, whether through global trade or international warfare.
Calling the Netherlands 'Holland' is actually OK when you're talking about football
The country as a whole was briefly known as the King of Holland in the early 19th century, when it was under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, but reverted to the Netherlands after the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Calling the Netherlands ‘Holland’ is thus a bit like calling England ‘Yorkshire’ – or calling the UK ‘England’, with similarly objectionable overtones to many Dutch people who live outside the area, as you would get from the Welsh, Scots or Northern Irish people who were subjected to the same.
However, the Dutch are well aware that they have been referred to as ‘Holland’ over the years, and have enthusiastically adopted the nickname specifically to refer to the national football team.
That means that despite it being something of a misnomer, you will often hear the Dutch fans chanting ‘Holland’ when the Oranje are in action – including at this summer’s Euro 2024.
Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands will take on Poland, Austria and France in group D at this year’s tournament.
