Netherlands Before Johan Cruyff "BC"

1934 World Cup Finals

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Netherlands All-Time Team
North Holland 
South Holland
Dutch Players' surnames starting with "Van"
Italy after 1982, Italy between 1938 and 1982
England After 1966 All-Time Team
Germany All-Time Team After Beckenbauer
Germany All-Time Team before 1972
Brazil All-Time Team After Pele 
Brazil All-Team Under Mari Zagallo
Brazil All-Time Team before 1958


This is my all-time 22-member for Dutch players before Cruyff "BC".  Before 2002, only 22 players went to a World Cup Finals.

During the 1970s, led by the talents of Johan Cruyff, Dutch football invented "Totel Football".  They suddenly made strides, finishing second in two World Cup Finals in the decade.  Their team in the 1974 World Cup Finals is considered to be one of the greatest national team ever.  This blog is about the period before the emerge of Johan Cruyff.  

In the Julian and Gregorian calendars, "BC" usually stands for "Before Christ".  In Dutch football, "BC" sometimes is used to stand for "Before Cruyff" to describe Dutch football in the era before the emerge of Johan Cruyff.   I heard of the term "BC" (Before Cruyff) many years ago, but I did not really known much about Dutch football before the 1970's.  I really did not think that I have the knowledge to create a blog team about them.  In October, 2019, I did a review on my blog teams North Holland, South Holland and the Rest of Netherlands.  Suddenly, I realised that I already have created profiles on many players who played before Johan Cruyff.  So I did a quick survey of all of my Dutch blogs and came up with 18 Dutch players who played before the 1970's.  Suddenly, I realised that I might be able to do a blog team.

Some players played with Johan Cruyff.  The eligibility is flexible  but in general, I look for player who retired from playing international football before the year 1970.  That year, Feyenoord won the European Cup, which put Dutch football on the map.  Then, Ajax won three straight European Cup afterward.  Some players continued their club career after the year 1970.

World Cup 1938

Team
GK: Frans de Munck
Frans de Munck was nicknamed Black Panther because of his black hair and overall, de Munck was best remembered for his career with DOS Utrecht.  In 1950, he moved to play in Germany for Koln.  He was the club's first ever foreign player. While playing for the club, he starred in a German movie. He was capped 31 times between 1949 and 1960.

GK: Gerrit Keizer
Keizer started with Ajax Amsterdam before moving to play in England in 1930.  He played briefly with Kent side Margate, a feeder for Arsenal.  On August 30, 1930, he made his debit for Arsenal.  With the Gunners, Keizer went on to win the First Division title of 1930-31. This victory was Arsenal's first ever league title.  After a season, he played for Charlton Athletic and then, QPR.  He was capped once for Netherlands.  He was not picked for the 1934 World Cup.

GK: Eddy Pieters Graafland
Eddy Pieters Graafland started with Ajax in 1952, but was better remembered for playing with Feyenoord between 1958 and 1970.   He was a part of Feyenoord's European Cup victory in 1970. He also won 4 Eredivisie: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1968–69. He earned 47 caps for the Netherlands national football team between 1957 and 1967, but he did not attend any major tournament.

RB: Harry Dénis 
Harry Dénis participated in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1920.  He actually delivered the Olympic Oath during the opening ceremony of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.  Dénis started playing football with local side DVV and joined HBS aged 11. He would stay at the club for the rest of his career, winning the 1925 Netherlands Football League Championship with them. 

RB: Bertus Caldenhove 
Born in Amsterdam in 1913, Bertus Caldenhove was capped 25 times between 1935 and 1940.  He went to the 1938 World Cup Finals in France. He started playing football for SDZ then joined Door Wilskracht Sterk, where he was made captain when he was 18 years old.  He played his entire career there.

CB: Cor Van der Hart
Cor Van der Hart became the third Dutch player in history to play board and one of the first professional player in Netherlands when he joined Lille in 1950.  Before that, he played for Ajax.  Widely considered one of the best Dutch defender in history.  He had 44 caps, but the cap total largely was limited because the KNVB suspended all players that left the country to play professional football. 

Cor Van der Hart (R)

CB: Cor Veldhoen 
Cor Veldhoen spent his entire career with Feyenoord between 1956 and 1970.  He played over 380 games for them.  He was a member of the team that won the European Cup in 1970.  The trophy was the first ever European title won by a Dutch club team.  He earned 27 caps between 1961 and 1967 for the Dutch national team.  

CB: Mauk Weber 
Weber officially played for ADO' Den Haag's second team, when he was invited to join the national team.  In 1931, he made his official debut with national team against Denmark. He was 17 years old and three months. He played in both 1934 and 1938 World Cup Finals.  He earned 27 caps in total.  His club career was mainly spent with ADO Den Haag.   He also played with AGOVV Apeldoorn between 1935 and 1937.

CB: Wim Anderiesen 
Born in Amsterdam, Wim Anderiesen played for Romein and 't Gooi before being joining Ajax, where he would play from 1925 to 1940. With Ajax, he won five national titles.  He also earned 46 caps for the Netherlands national football team, and participated in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups.  His son Wim Anderiesen Jr. also played for Ajax.

LB: Kees Kuijs 
From 1955 to 1963, Kees Kuijs played for NAC Breda.  Cruyff named him as one of the greatest Dutch leftback.  He studied physiotherapy in Breda and tplayed as a semi-professional  with NAC.  He also played with HFC Haarlem. For Netherlands, he earned 43 caps between 1955 and 1962.  He was known with his partnership with rightback Roel Wiersma, whom played for PSV.

CM: Bok de Korver
De Korver played for Sparta Rotterdam between 1902 and 1923. He won the Dutch national title five times. De Korver scored his most notable goal in 1912, in a match against AFC Ajax. His goal won Sparta the national title.  De Korver played 31 caps for the Netherlands between 1905 and 1913, scoring one goal. He won two Olympic bronze medals, in 1908 and 1912. De Korver captained the latter team. He was also a player of the Dutch national team that beat England for the first time ever, in 1913.

Bok de Korver

CM: Mick Clavan 
Mick Clavan played for both ADO De Haag and SHS(Holland Sport) with two stints each for the two clubs, sandwiching each other.  Part of his club career was played as an amateur.  He earned 26 caps between 1948 and 1965.  His international career lasted nearly 17 years and it is the third longest for the Dutch national team.  He participated in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. 

CM/LM: Puck Van Heel  
Puck Van Heel was an inside-left and left wing-half in the 1930's. He spent his entire career with Feyenoord.  He was a cornerstone of the Feyenoord success preceding the World War II, winning five Eredivisie Championships and two KNVB Cups. During his time there, he became the team captain for the club. He was capped 64 times, a record until 1979.  He went to the World Cup finals in 1934 and 1938.

Puck Van Heel

AM: Kees Rijvers 
Kees Rijvers was considered one of the best players in Oranje's history before the emerge of the Golden Generation of the 1970's. He started with NAC Breda before moving to play for St.Etienne in 1950. He would have three different stints with the French club.  he also played for Feyenoord.  from 1946 to 1960, he played 33 times for Netherlands. 

RW/WF: Jan de Natrus
Jan de Natris was voted as the greatest Ajax player of the first half of the 20th Century.  He had three stints for Ajax from 1914 to 1921, 1923 to 1925 and 1928 to 1929, playing alongside with Wim Gupffert.  He also playd for Vitesse. He played for Netherlands in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium and the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.  

LW: Coen Moulijn  
Coen Moulijn was considered the best left winger in Dutch football.  He started his career with Xerxes in 1954.  A season later, he joined Feyenoord. He stayed there until 1972. He won the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup with them in 1970. He had 38 caps at a time when Holland was not considered a major power in football. He scored 4 goals for the Netherlands national football team.

Coen Moulijn  

FW: Wim Lagendaal 
Between 1930 and 1935, Lagendaal played 15 times, scoring 13 goals for Netherlands.  He was a part of Netherlands' World Cup team in 1934, but did not play in Holland's only match of the tournament in Italy. He played for XerxesDZB.  His daytime job was a manager at the Rotterdam police station, where he saved the lives of many Dutch footballers during the war,

FW: Abe Lenstra
Abe Lenstra was a club legend at SC Heerenveen in the 1950's. The club was nicknamed "Abeveen" because of his legendary status with the club.   He also played for SC Enschede and Enschedese Boys. For Oranje, he was capped 47 times, scoring 33 goals.  He was at one point Netherlands' all-time leading scorer.  he was known for his partnership with Faas Wilkes and Kees Rijvers. 

FW:  Faas Wilkes 
Faas Wilkes was one of the first Dutch player to play aboard.  In 1949, he joined Inter Milan, where he had the best of his career.  He also had a great career with Valencia..  He was considered to Holland's best player until the emerge of the Golden Generation of the 1970's. He was capped 38 times scoring 35 goals.  He was banned from the national team between 1949 and 1955 because KNVB did not select professional players. He was Netherlands' all-time leading scorer until 1998.

Faas Wilkes

ST: Kick Smit 
Kick Smit was a member of Netherlands' World Cup team in 1934 and 1938. He scored 26 goals in 29 matches for Netherlands.  He is the first Netherlands football player who scored a goal in a World Cup (27 May 1934 against Switzerland). During his club career, he played for HFC Haarlem.

ST: Coen Dillen 
Coen Dillen spent 12 years with PSV Eindhoven.  He scored 43 goals in the 1956/1957, a goal record for a single season that still remains unbroken today.  He scored twenty goals in a nine-match period between 27 January and 31 March 1957.  He also played for Brabantia. Internationally, he only played 5 times for Netherlands.

ST: Beb Bakhuys 
In his club career, Bakhuys played  for HBS, Zwolsche AC, Zac and VVV.  He alsop had a spell with THOR in his native Dutch East Indies while working for the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij in Surabaya. He became the second Dutch player to play abroad when he joined FC Metz in 1937, in a move which ended his international career. Bakhuys scored 28 goals in 23 games for Netherlands. He represented them at the 1934 World Cup.

Beb Bakhuys 

Honorable Mention
Jus Goebel, Gejus van der Meulen, Henk Groot, Sjaak Swart, Roel Wiersma, Eddy de Neve, Bennie Muller, Leen Vente,  Daan Schrijvers, Bertus de Harder, Tinus Bosselaar.

Squad Explanation
-- Only 22 players go to the World Cup Finals before 2002.
-- I did not really known much about Dutch football before the 1970's.  Before the 1974 World Cuo Finals, Netherlands only qualified twice for the World Cup Finals, both in the 1930's. From 1908 to 1920, they won three straight bronze medals at the Olympics.
-- As mentioned, some players played with Johan Cruyff.  The eligibility is flexible  but in general, I look for player who retired from playing international football before the year 1970.  That year, Feyenoord won the European Cup, which put Dutch football on the map.  Then, Ajax won three straight European Cup afterward.  Some players continued their club career after the year 1970.
-- Johan Cruyff made his national team debut in 1966.  He was 27 years old at the time of the 1974 World Cup Finals.  So he was an active player with some of the players selected, but I still used 1970 as the cutoff year.  It was before Ajax winning the European Cups in the 1970-1971 season.
-- Feyernood won the European Cup in 1970, which put Dutch football on the map.  I thought whether that moment in history should be a consideration as a part of Cruyff's generation.  In the end, I decided to include players on that team because they achieved that before Johan Cruyff secured his place one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game.
-- I mentioned that I do not know much about Dutch football before Cruyff, but I do know the following players as household names: Kees Rijvers, Puck Van Heel,  Coen Moulijn, Faas Wilkes and Cor Van der Hart.  They are my automatic selections.
--  I do not know if I have the three keepers on the team correctly.  Before I started my research on this Dutch "BC" team, I heard of Eddy Pieters Graafland and Frans de Munck, but I do not claim to be an expert on the subject.  I simply googled the internet for information and clues about football in Netherlands.  Jus Goebel and Gejus van der Meulen are my fourth and fifth goalkeeper, but not necessity in that order.
-- GK Gerrit Keizer made a name outside of Netherlands with Arsenal at a time when Dutch footballers were mainly amateurs. He was not picked for the 1934 World Cup Finals.  I do not know the reason.  Perhaps, it had to do with professional football, but I still rewarded him with a spot.
-- Jus Goebel helped Netherlands to win a bronze medal at the Olynmpics.
-- Both Eddy Pieters Graafland, Cor Veldhoen and Coen Moulijn played with Johan Cruyff on the national team.  Eddy Pieters Graafland and Cor Veldhoen played on Johan Cruyff's 1966 national team debut game against Hungary.  
-- Eddy Pieters Graafland's international career ended in 1967.  However, he was known for Feyenoord's European Cup victory in 1970.
--  Coen Moulijn played with Johan Cruyff on the national team, but he missed out the 1970 generation that defined "Total Football".   His last match for the Netherlands was in 1969.
-- Beb Bakhuys was one of the first Dutch players to play professional football.
-- I do not know Mauk Weber's position, but he is probbaly a defender in a 2-3-5 formation, which is probably a centerback.
-- I might be wrong about my rightbacks. Roel Wiersma is also mentioned among the greatest Dutch right backs.  Meanwhile, Sjaak Swart played international football until 1972.  So he is not eligible.
-- Johan Cruyff named Kees Kuijs as the greatest Dutch left back.
-- Eddy de Neve scored a hatrick against Belgium in Netherlands' first ever international match, but I do not really know much about him.

Formation