Great Dutch Players in Europe Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chelsea

Chelsea started competing in 1905 and has since become one of the most popular football clubs in England. Legends of the sport such as Peter Osgood, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Lampard (among many others) have played for Chelsea throughout its history, and the team has obtained several league and cup titles.

Jerrel "Jimmy" Hasselbaink was born in Suriname and started playing football from a very young age. He had brief stints in Dutch and Portuguese clubs before arriving in England in 1997 to play for Leeds United. He briefly played for Spain's Atletico de Madrid before returning to the Premier League to play for Chelsea. He would spend four years playing for the London club, more time than in any other team Hasselbaink played for. He retired in 2008 and soon began a career as a manager.

Winston Bogarde began his career as a forward, but he later decided to play as a defender. Bogarde played for four Dutch clubs, including Ajax, until 1997. He then played briefly for Milan and Barcelona and was finally signed by Chelsea, where he would stay until the end of his career in 2004. Bogarde retired following failed salary agreements between the club and him. He won a few titles with Ajax and Barcelona, but none with Chelsea.

Answer: Rapid Wien

The Netherlands, which shares a land border with Germany, has sent many of its players to the country also known as Deutschland. In 2001, many Dutch players were competing in the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league.

Youri Mulder was playing for Schalke 04, where he retired in 2002 after nine years with the club. Nico-Jan Hoogma and Erik Meijer were teammates in Hamburger SV, which turned out to be the penultimate team each player belonged to. Hoogma returned home to play for Heracles for two years before retiring, while Meijer moved to the German team Alemannia Aachen before his retirement in 2006. Finally, Dick van Burik played for Hertha BSC between 1997 and 2007, when he retired after being dismissed from the club.

None of those players ever belonged to Rapid Wien, a football club in Austria that was founded in 1899 and has had players like Hugo Maradona (Diego's brother), Brazilian midfielder Joelinton, and German striker Carsten Jancker.

Answer: Phillip Cocu

Louis van Gaal managed Barcelona between 1997 and 2000, and between 2002 and 2003. While he was there, he made sure to feel at home by bringing a large number of Dutch players to the Catalonian squad. In addition to Zenden and Cocu, Barcelona's roster also included Patrick Kluivert, Michael Reiziger, and the de Boer brothers.

Phillip Cocu's youth career started at De Graafschap and AZ Alkmaar. He soon attracted the attention of Vitesse, which had recently been promoted to the Eredivisie. In 1995, Cocu had offers from many different top European clubs, and he decided to sign for Barcelona. He won one league title with the "Blaugranas" and scored more than 30 goals. Cocu retired in the United Arab Emirates with Al Jazira, after which he began his career as a manager.

Answer: Alaves

Jordi Cruyff began his professional career in Barcelona B in 1992, when his father managed Barcelona's first division team. In 1994, Jordi was promoted to the main team, where he played for two years and scored 11 goals. The rest of his career was spent in other Spanish clubs, England, Ukraine, and Malta. Arguably, his biggest accomplishment with Alaves was reaching the UEFA Cup final, which the Spanish club lost in extra time against Liverpool. Cruyff continued working in managerial roles after retiring and has worked in Israel, Ecuador, and China as either manager or sports director.

Alaves had a relatively good couple of seasons in the early 2000s, but then spend most of the decade in Spanish inferior divisions following their relegation.

Answer: Free kicks

Pierre van Hooijdonk started his career with two Dutch teams before signing with the Scottish club Celtic. His debut there in 1995 couldn't have gone better, as he scored a fantastic goal after successfully shaking off three defenders. After some time with Nottingham Forest and Vitesse, van Hooijdonk played for the Portuguese side Benfica.

His time in Portugal didn't last long and he soon found himself back home, now playing for Feyenoord between 2001 and 2003. There, his extraordinary talent for free kicks became popular.

He was able to score from pretty much anywhere by making the ball impossible to stop for the goalkeeper. Though he played for some other teams between 2003 and 2006, van Hooijdonk returned to Feyenoord and retired in 2007. Throughout his career, he managed to be the league top-scorer in Scotland, England, and the Netherlands.

Answer: Scotland

When Dutch manager Dick Advocaat took over as the first non-Scottish manager of the team, he brought several players from his home country to build his squad. For Ronald de Boer, Rangers was the last European team where he played (after playing for Ajax, Twente, and Barcelona) before ending his career in Qatar. It was also Arthur Numan's last team, since he retired in 2003 after spending most of his career in the Eredivisie. Rangers was also the only non-Dutch club where Bert Konterman played, and he won a Scottish Premier League and two Scottish League Cups while he was there. Finally, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was the odd one out because Rangers was only the beginning for him: he would then play for Arsenal and Barcelona for six years, before retiring back home playing for Feyenoord. In November 2021, van Bronckhorst brought things full-circle when he became the manager of the Scottish club.

Rangers are one of Scotland's most popular football teams, next to Celtic and Aberdeen. Outside of Scotland, they are commonly known as Glasgow Rangers, alluding to the city where they are from. They have won the local league multiple times, and frequently compete in international tournaments like UEFA's Europa League (previously known as the UEFA Cup).

At the beginning of the 2000s, the Scottish league had a number of Dutch players playing in it. In addition to those above, other great players like Michel Doesburg and Marinus Dijkhuizen were playing in Scotland, both of them with Dunfermline Athletic.

Answer: Dennis Bergkamp

A life-long football fan, Dennis Bergkamp started his career playing for Ajax, where he played for seven years and scored more than 100 goals. Bergkamp then spent two years playing for the Italian club Inter Milan, before finally consolidating himself as a world-class player by joining Arsenal in 1995. Under manager Arsene Wenger, Bergkamp solidified his offensive style of play and helped the Gunners win three league titles and four FA Cup trophies.

Bergkamp's fear of flying was publicly known and had an important impact on his professional career. He has confirmed that the phobia developed as a result of an engine failure while he was on board a plane. Though he would sometimes travel to matches via train or car, he was not always able to meet the team on time, giving rise to his nickname.

Answer: Goalkeeper

John Karelse started his career and played the overwhelming majority of his matches at NAC Breda. He signed with Newcastle United in 1999 and stayed there until 2003, although he barely participated with the starting eleven, playing a mere total of three matches with the club. Karelse spent the last year of his career at AGOVV Apeldoorn and then retired. He later embarked on a career as a manager, working for NAC Breda as an interim in 2006 and then as head coach between 2011 and 2012.

Sander Westerveld's career was similar in length to Karelse's, but he was in a greater number of clubs and had some appearances with the Dutch national team. Westerveld played for teams in the Netherlands, England, Spain, Italy, and South Africa. During his two-year period with Liverpool, the team won an FA Cup, the UEFA Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup.

Answer: Roy Makaay

Roy Makaay was a lethal Dutch striker who accumulated more than 200 goals in his career. He started and ended his career in the Netherlands, first playing for Vitesse between 1993 and 1997 and finishing at Feyenoord in 2010. In between those squads, Makaay played for the Spanish clubs Tenerife and Deportivo La Coruņa, and then played for Bayern Munich. That period was arguably the most successful of his career since he won a Pichichi award for being the top scorer in the Spanish league (with Deportivo) and won two Bundesliga trophies with Bayern. Makaay also established a new record in 2007 by scoring a goal in a Champions League match against Real Madrid in 10 seconds, the fastest anyone had scored in that competition.

Answer: City

Gerard Wiekens and Robert Molenaar were two versatile Dutch athletes that could play as defenders or occasionally as midfielders. Wiekens started his career playing for the Veendam, a club that was dissolved in 2013. Still in his 20s, he moved to Manchester City and played there for seven years, during which he received the distinction of Manchester City Player of the Year from their Official Supporters Club. He went back to Veendam in 2004 and retired in 2009.

Robert Molenaar had a similar pattern in that he also started and ended his career in the Netherlands, with two English clubs sandwiched in between. Following his debut with FC Volendam, Molenaar played for Leeds United and then Bradford City. The latter club has spent most of its modern history in the lower tiers of the English football system, although they have played in the Premier League (for example, between 1999 and 2001). Molenaar joined Bradford City in 2000 precisely to help fight relegation and left in 2003. He retired at RBC Roosendaal in 2007.