Virgil van Dijk has become the most-capped Netherlands captain in the storied history of his international team, savouring a memorable moment amid a season of strife back at Liverpool.
The towering Dutchman has been unusually ruffled, both on and off the pitch. Whether it’s failing to track runners or getting baited into slanging matches with Wayne Rooney, the normally phlegmatic Van Dijk has been knocked off his stride.
The 34-year-old’s season was crystallised by the final nine minutes of the first half of Liverpool’s clash with Manchester City last time out. Van Dijk went from celebrating an equaliser to inadvertently deflecting his team into a 2–0 deficit as a combination of VAR and Nico González wreaked havoc.
This month’s international break has afforded Van Dijk some much-needed respite. Playing for his country has so often been a safe haven. The skipper hasn’t lost a match for his country in 90 minutes since the semifinal of Euro 2024, and oversaw a comfortable clean sheet against Lithuania on Monday evening to bring up an impressive landmark.
On Van Dijk’s 88th international appearance, he captained the Netherlands for the 72nd time, overtaking Frank de Boer’s high watermark. No other player in the history of the men’s team has ever hit half a century of appearances as the national team captain.
Player
Total Caps
Caps as Captain
Virgil van Dijk
88
72
Frank de Boer
112
71
Ruud Krol
83
45
Ruud Gullit
66
41
Harry Dénis
56
37
Edwin van der Sar
130
36
Johan Cruyff
48
34
Ronald Koeman
78
33
“I’m very proud to have the record now, but I’m even more proud to lead this group of guys for such a long time,” Van Dijk told . “When I was a little boy, I never dreamed this. The national team was already very far [away], let alone taking over the record of Frank de Boer.”
Van Dijk didn’t earn his first cap until he moved to the Premier League with Southampton in 2015, when he was already 24. Stepping into a side that was at a low ebb after missing out on qualification for Euro 2016, the commanding centre back promptly became a fixture of the backline.
Shortly after Van Dijk joined Liverpool at the start of 2018, he took over from Arjen Robben as Netherlands captain, leading the out for the first time against England in Amsterdam.
