Holland Women

On 17 April 1971, the Dutch team played the first women's international football match recognized by FIFA against France. The match took place in Hazebrouck, France and resulted in a 4–0 defeat for the Netherlands, with Jocelyne Ratignier and Marie-Claire Caron-Harant scoring for France.

In 1980s and 1990s, the team failed to qualify for the final tournaments of UEFA Championship and later the FIFA World Cup. The Royal Dutch Football Association began major investments into women's football in the 2000s, culminating in the establishment of the women's Eredivisie in 2007 (which merged with the Belgian league for two seasons starting in 2012). This resulted in the team qualifying for a major tournament for the first time at the UEFA Women's Euro 2009. They finished in third place, together with Norway, behind second placed England and winners Germany (first place). The team again qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013, but did not advance after the group stage.

The team qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and reached thirteenth place, losing their first match in the knockout stage to Japan.

In 2017, the Netherlands won their first major women's trophy, ending Germany's seemingly unbeatable reign over the UEFA Women's Championship and winning the tournament on home soil, beating Denmark 4–2 in the final. The successful campaign in which the Oranje managed to win all of their matches highly contributed to the popularity of women's football in the Netherlands.

In 2018, the Netherlands finished second in their UEFA Qualifying group behind Norway. Therefore, they had to go through the UEFA play-off to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. Switzerland, Belgium, and Denmark were the other teams in the play-off. The Netherlands beat Denmark 4–1 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals and repeated that result against Switzerland over two legs in the play-off final to qualify. In the 2019 World Cup, the Netherlands had another strong performance, reaching the final before losing 2–0 to the United States.

They qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics thanks to their position at the 2019 World Cup where they finished among the three best European teams. The Netherlands passed the 1st round at their first Olympic participation, finishing at the top of their group thanks to two large victories (10–3 against Zambia and 8–2 against China) and a draw (3–3 against Brazil), displaying an attractive offensive game but a certain defensive frailty, conceding 8 goals in the group stage. However, their journey ended in the quarter-finals against the United States, an opponent who had already played the role of tormentor of the Oranje in the final of the World Cup two years earlier, losing in penalty kicks (2–2, 2 pts to 4). Lieke Martens missed a decisive penalty in the 81st minute of the game when the score was tied 2–2.

Coach Sarina Wiegman left the team after the Olympics and was replaced by Englishman Mark Parsons. The Netherlands reached UEFA Women's Euro 2022 in England with a perfect record of ten victories in qualification. In England, the Netherlands passed the group stage thanks to victories over Switzerland and Portugal. A draw against Sweden however meant the team had to face France in the quarterfinals. Although they only lost in extra time, they were thoroughly outplayed, and it was decided to part ways with Parsons.

Andries Jonker took over coaching responsibilities and was immediately faced with a must-win game against Iceland to avoid the play-offs for the 2023 World Cup. In a tense game, Esmee Brugts scored the desperately needed goal only in stoppage time and the Netherlands qualified for their third World Cup.

At the 2023 World Cup, Netherlands were in Group E along with the U.S., Portugal, and Vietnam. It started with a 1–0 win over Portugal, followed this with a 1–1 draw with the U.S., and finished with a 7–0 victory over Vietnam to top the group. After defeating South Africa in the first knockout match, the team lost to eventual champion Spain in the Round of 16.

In April 2025, the KNVB announced that Arjan Veurink will succeed Jonker as coach after the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 tournament. Jonker's final team performed poorly, losing to England and France and failing to advance from its group.