VIRGIL VAN DIJK

He’s our centre-half, he’s our number four. Watch him defend, and we watch him score. He’ll pass the ball, calm as you like. He’s Virgil van Dijk…and he’s also the captain of Liverpool Football Club. Arguably the greatest centre-back in LFC history, Virgil was born in Breda - a southern city in the Netherlands - and worked as a kitchen hand in the Oncle Jean restaurant there before making it as a footballer with FC Groningen. After spells with Celtic FC and Southampton FC, Virgil became a Red in January 2018 and has since won lots of silverware. Liverpool FC’s Carabao Cup success in February was the first trophy that van Dijk lifted as Reds skipper and he also captains the Netherlands, who played at Anfield during…

EURO ‘96

Managed by Guus Hiddink, the Dutch qualified for the 1996 European Championship in England by winning a play-off game at Anfield. They faced a Republic of Ireland side that had ex-Red John Aldridge leading the line and Liverpool FC centre-back Phil Babb at the back while Jason McAteer also came on, but two Patrick Kluivert goals earned the Netherlands a 2-0 victory. After getting through their Euro ‘96 group, despite losing 4-1 to England, they returned to Anfield for a quarter-final against France, but were beaten on penalties after a 0-0 draw. In the Holland side that day was Jordi Cruyff, son of Johan, who played for CD Alaves against Liverpool in the 2001 UEFA Cup final and scored in the Reds’ epic 5-4 win against fellow Dutchman…

SANDER WESTERVELD

Signed by Gérard Houllier from SBV Vitesse, Sander Westerveld was the first of two Dutch players to be signed in the summer of 1999 - striker Erik Meijer the other - and was immediately installed as Liverpool’s number one goalkeeper. Westerveld kept 15 clean sheets in his first season and then 27 shutouts in 61 appearances during season 2000/01 as the Redmen won a unique treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup. The Dutchman’s two saves in the League Cup final penalty shoot-out win against Birmingham City FC proved to be decisive and he added the FA Charity Shield and UEFA Super Cup to his medal collection the following season when the Reds beat Manchester United FC and Bayern Munich FC, the former club of…

RYAN GRAVENBERCH

The third Dutch Liverpool FC player to be born in Amsterdam after Ryan Babel and Ki-Jana Hoever, Ryan Gravenberch made his Reds debut in a 3-1 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in September 2023 and scored his first goal for the Redmen during a 2-0 UEFA Europa League victory against Royal Union Saint-Gilloise at Anfield the following month. Gravenberch began his career at AFC Ajax, where he made history as the club's youngest ever Eredivisie player, aged 16 years and 130 days, when brought on as a substitute during a 3-0 defeat at PSV Eindhoven. Ryan opened the scoring when AFC Ajax beat SBV Vitesse 2-1 in the 2021 KNVB Cup final and did the same against PSV in the 2022 KNVB Cup final, but this time he lost 2-1 with the winning goal scored by…

CODY GAKPO

The 2022 Dutch Footballer of the Year, Cody was only eight-years-old when he started training with PSV Eindhoven and worked his way through the ranks to make his first-team debut in 2018. Such was his impact, he was called up by the Netherlands for UEFA Euro 2020 having never previously played at international level and made his debut during the group stage against North Macedonia. Gakpo scored in all three of Holland’s FIFA World Cup 2022 group stage matches before joining Liverpool FC in January 2023 and netted his first Reds’ goal at Anfield in a 2-0 Merseyside derby win against Everton FC. He also struck twice in a 7-0 Anfield triumph against Manchester United FC to become the first Dutch player to score a double for LFC against the Red Devils since a Premier League hat-trick by…

DIRK KUYT

A hard-working forward who also played on the right of midfield, Dirk Kuyt scored 71 goals for the Reds in 285 games with his only hat-trick coming in that 3-1 home victory against the Mancunians in March 2011. Kuyt won the League Cup with LFC in 2012 and also scored in the 2007 UEFA Champions League final defeat to AC Milan in Athens having converted the penalty shoot-out winner against Chelsea FC in the semi-final with fellow Dutchman Bolo Zenden also scoring from the spot. Dirk’s five goals against Everton FC included two penalties during a controversial 2-1 win at Goodison Park while his 13 assists for Fernando Torres is the same tally as Steven Gerrard, but goes under the radar somewhat. Dirk won the Dutch Eredivisie title with Feyenoord in 2017 before retiring having lifted his first piece of silverware - the KNVB Cup - in 2003 while at FC Utrecht, also a former club of…

SHANICE VAN DE SANDEN

Like Kuyt did, Shanice van de Sanden can play both upfront and out wide. The Dutch international recently completed her second stint at Liverpool FC Women - scoring once in 14 games last season - after a hugely successful spell at Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, where she won three UEFA Women's Champions Leagues, three French titles and two French cups. Shanice subsequently spent two years in Germany at VfL Wolfsburg before returning to Liverpool FC in the summer of 2022 and last year became a mum for the first time after her partner gave birth. “It’s been a crazy week, becoming a mum and scoring for my baby girl,” she said after netting in a 4-0 win against Brighton & Hove Albion Women FC. “It’s one of the best things to ever have happened to me.” Van de Sanden first joined the Reds in 2016, the same year that the men’s team signed…

GINI WIJNALDUM

Der-der, der-der, der-der, Gini Wijnaldum! The former Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven midfielder had one of the catchiest Kop chants of the Jürgen Klopp era and after arriving from Newcastle United FC was a huge success at Anfield. Versatile, powerful and consistent, Wijandlum missed just 11 Premier League games out of a possible 190 during five seasons with LFC and his 22 goals included a winner against Manchester City FC and two in the amazing UEFA Champions League semi-final comeback against FC Barcelona. Gini won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 followed by the Premier League in 2020 and was born in Rotterdam, the home city of Feyenoord, who since 2021 were managed by...

ARNE SLOT

Born in the village of Bergentheim in the east of the Netherlands, Arend Martijn ‘Arne’ Slot was a central midfielder who spent much of his career in the Dutch second tier, playing for FC Zwolle, NAC Breda, Sparta Rotterdam and PEC Zwolle. When he retired in 2013 at the age of 34, Slot became an Academy coach at PEC Zwolle before spending three years as assistant coach with SC Cambuur, where in 2017 he had a spell as interim head coach. He moved on to AZ Alkmaar as assistant manager and was appointed as their head coach in December 2018. When the 2019/20 Eredivisie season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AZ were second to Ajax on goal difference. Arne took charge of Feyenoord at the start of season 2021/22 and led them to the UEFA Europa Conference League final. They lost 1-0 to AS Roma, but the following season Slot guided Feyenoord to their first league title since 2017 and was named Eredivisie Manager of the Year for a second consecutive year. In April 2024, Feyenoord added a KNVB Cup to Slot’s managerial achievements at De Kuip and on 1st June he officially became the new head coach of Liverpool FC, who as you know are captained by…

VIRGIL VAN DIJK

He has been named as PFA Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Year, UEFA Defender of the Year and UEFA Player of the Year. He finished as runner-up to Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or. He has won seven major trophies as a Liverpool FC player. And he is one of just three non-UK born Liverpool FC captains to lift a trophy, but there’s a record that Virgil van Dijk is particularly proud of. After signing for the Reds in 2018, Virgil went a Premier League record 70 games at Anfield without defeat over a period of almost five years. “I hope all the fans will appreciate that as well because it is not normal to go 70 games without defeat,” he said in Virgil van Dijk: Calm As You Like, part of the LFC Icons magazine series. “Eventually people will maybe speak of it a little more than now, but it is something I am really proud of because we should take into account that Anfield is our home.” It has also been home to other Dutch players including 2006 FA Cup winner Jan Kromkamp and current defender Sepp van den Berg plus recently departed assistant manager Pep Lijnders and goalkeeping coach John Achterberg, but when you add all the silverware up Virgil van Dijk is LFC’s most successful Netherlands import. Hopefully there are more medals to come under a Dutch head coach, too…