Hockey in Netherlands

Dutch hockey is unique in the world thanks to the strength of the Tulp Hoofdklasse, the weekly engine driving national success. Unlike many competitors that depend on centralised programmes, Dutch players are challenged at the very highest level every Sunday in a club competition widely regarded as the best on the planet. A top player trains four to five times a week at her club, supplemented by centralised training days with the national team.

The foundation of this dominance is the principle of coopetition: players are loyal teammates with the national team, but bitter rivals at their clubs. SCHC put together an unbeaten run of thirty-two league matches across 2025 and 2026. The intense Euro Hockey League final between Den Bosch and SCHC in April 2026 illustrates the level. The KNHB steers this system tightly through close coordination between club coaches and the national head coach on physical load and rest.

The synergy between club and federation is so effective that the Netherlands has built up enormous export value in coaching. Alyson Annan leads China, Janneke Schopman has been Germany's head coach since 2024, Raoul Ehren himself made the move from Belgium to the Netherlands, and Sjoerd Marijne returned in January 2026 as India's head coach. Five of the sixteen World Cup participants have a Dutch signature in their coaching staff. This export power is the direct result of decades of KNHB investment in professionalisation, often well before the same happened on the men's side.