Our Dutch writer Roos Schelen gives us a view as to what it’s like to be a fan of Netherlands at EURO 2025. Roos went to watch Netherlands versus England in Zurich yesterday and she talks us through her day.
The pictures are all taken by Roos herself, on her retro digital camera and on her phone. That is aside from the one from Getty Images that features our very own Roos Schelen. So here it is, a Dutch report that we hope will be therapy to some of our Oranje leeuwinnen leaning readers and a fascinating insight for the rest of you.
A Netherlands fan at EURO 2025
The only time I witnessed the Oranje Leeuwinnen play at a big tournament was in England in 2022. I won a trip to Sheffield for the final group stage match against Switzerland. We flew out at 6am in the morning, were dropped at our hotel and because of that early start, had no energy to engage in any fan zones nor fan walks. We went straight to the match and straight to our hotel after. I wanted to do things differently this time around so I booked a trip to Switzerland with my friends, and one of the expected highlights was the match against England.
Not only is it an exciting match between two top nations, two nations who have won the previous two editions of the Women’s EUROs. It is also a coaches derby, with current England coach Sarina Wiegman having coached the Netherlands before and current England assistant coach Arjan Veurink about to take on the Netherlands job after this EUROs.
We arrived in Bern the late in the evening before the match and my group wanted to settle down first before travelling over to Zurich. In the end, I decided to go by myself and catch up with the fan walk that had already started 15 minutes before my train arrived in Zurich. Thanks to one of my friend’s WhatsApp live locations, I was able to find the walk albeit out of breath and sweaty. But it was totally worth it. We links rechts’ed, and sang along to party classics and whatnot, in a big sea of orange. With Zürich residents onlooking from their windows and balconies, my excitement for the match grew more and more.
Once at the stadium I met up with Adam Salter, one of my fellow writers at The Halfway Line and friend. Normally on the same side as Arsenal fans, we were now on opposing ends. He bought me a very expensive drink (thanks again Adam!) and we walked around the stadium before going our separate ways. I guess one of the nicest things of women’s football for me is having made so many friends that are interested in the same things as I am. Adam is one of them, and so are the friends I sat with during the match.
My seat could probably not have been worse view-wise. We were sat right behind the goal on the second row. And mind you, Letzigrund stadium has an athletics track surrounding the pitch. But whatever, I was sat with friends and fellow Oranje fans. Or…? Closer to kick off, more and more England fans started appearing in our end. Turns out they bought their tickets on UEFA’s resale platform and had missed instructions for England fans to buy in their own end. Similarly, dots of orange started to appear in the England end on the opposite side of the stadium. Luckily, it’s women’s football and we can all still get along. Some England fans happily posed for a picture to come along with this piece.
The stadium crew did an excellent job in hyping up the Orange crowd, playing Links Rechts and some good old André Hazes. Strikingly, no equivalents of English crowd pleasers were played. All good, I thought, it could only help us. When the line ups were announced almost everyone in the Oranje end boo’ed Sarina Wiegman. Vibes. I was ready for it and genuinely thought we had a chance, but was also realistic and knew England had a point to prove.
For obvious reasons I will not talk about the actual match too much. But I will say this: Lauren James, what a player. England absolutely deserved to win. Spirits were getting lower and lower and were at their lowest at full time. I don’t think I must have had a very pleasant look on my face. What almost annoyed me even more was the following: I am all for different fan groups getting along, but Oranje fans singing along to Sweet Caroline at full time? Bridge too far, my friends.
All in all, I did have a good day but this loss will remain with me for a very long time, unfortunately. Highlights of my day? Seeing so many nice people I know and getting a selfie with the legend that is Kaasmevrouw (Cheese lady).
We now go again on Sunday against France, but will have to beat them by four goals or more. I think we can safely say we won’t make it to the quarters this time. I hope Arjan Veurink can give the team some new life, because clearly, we need it.
