Boston Celtics in the 60s? Chicago Red Bulls? The All Blacks? The raft of ‘who is the most dominant team in international sport ever?’ lists seem to neglect one outfit: the fearsome Netherlands women’s hockey team over the last 20 years.
Since the Oranje women won silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens (their best result at the Games), the Dutch won back-to-back gold, silver in Rio and reclaimed their Olympic title in Tokyo, the latter two under former coach Alyson Annan. Maddie Hinch, in 2016, stopped a Dutch golden stranglehold.
Nevertheless, with these results at the pinnacle of the sport, the stats make for eye-opening reading over the last two decades.
Dutch women’s Olympics record between Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2020:
Matches: 354
Wins: 275
Draws: 50
Defeats: 29
Goals scored: 1140
Goals conceded: 303
If we dig deeper and look at the Netherlands’ record since they were beaten to gold by Team GB at Rio 2016 — during Rio they reached 100 matches played with only three defeats — the numbers make for even better reading, less so for their distant rivals. (Stats before Paris 2024)
Played 166 | Won 147 | Drawn 13 | Lost 6
Since that shoot-out defeat in Brazil eight years ago, the Dutch have been undefeated in over 96% of all their matches played. In that time, they have accrued 79 clean sheets and nearly 40 wins with a margin of five or more goals.
Let’s now refine their recent record, spooling back to their performances since lifting the 2022 World Cup:
– 39 matches (all under national coach Paul van Ass)
– 37 wins
– 1 draw (vs Australia in the Pro League 3-3, defeat after shoot-outs)
– 1 defeat (vs Belgium in the Pro League 1-2)
165 goals scored | 31 goals conceded | 16 clean sheets | 15 matches with 5+ goals scored
Ramon Min, stats guru at hockey.nl who supplied the data of the all-conquering team, says that the Dutch women’s hockey squad tops any other international sports team.
“I think their performances and sport dominance are unmatched,” he believes. “They even top the great Australia women’s team [hockey] from the 80s and 90s.”
If we look at overall tournaments played since 2004, the Dutch women have won four out of five World Cups played – losing to Argentina in raucous Rosario in 2010 – six of 12 Champions Trophies played until 2018 when the Pro League was formed. Oranje have won four of five global Pro League titles since then.
In Paris, Frederique Matla will look towards another milestone, with the Dutch great currently on 95 goals in 131 internationals.
Van Ass’ side will also head to Paris on the back of more record-breaking feats.
Their 13-1 warm-up Test win over Japan last week was the biggest for the Oranje under Van Ass and on home soil.
So, do these stats make the Dutch the best sports team ever? Have your say below…
A bit bizarre not to even mention the Indian men’s record of 7 gold medals out of 8 between 1928 and 1964. The winners weren’t of course a ‘team’ in that the player selections obviously changed over the years, as is the same for the Dutch women.
The Dutch record is extraordinary but also reflects, unfortunately, the generally low standard of women’s hockey around the world.
No surprise, look at girls in The Netherlands, think 90% playing hockey at a young age, all member of a local club. No hockey at schools. Even for the men, its football or hockey.