Virgil van Dijk has become the most-capped Netherlands captain in the storied history of his international team, savouring a memorable moment amid a season of strife back at Liverpool.
The towering Dutchman has been unusually ruffled, both on and off the pitch. Whether it’s failing to track runners or getting baited into slanging matches with Wayne Rooney, the normally phlegmatic Van Dijk has been knocked off his stride.
The 34-year-old’s season was crystallised by the final nine minutes of the first half of Liverpool’s clash with Manchester City last time out. Van Dijk went from celebrating an equaliser to inadvertently deflecting his team into a 2–0 deficit as a combination of VAR and Nico González wreaked havoc.
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This month’s international break has afforded Van Dijk some much-needed respite. Playing for his country has so often been a safe haven. The skipper hasn’t lost a match for his country in 90 minutes since the semifinal of Euro 2024, and oversaw a comfortable clean sheet against Lithuania on Monday evening to bring up an impressive landmark.
On Van Dijk’s 88th international appearance, he captained the Netherlands for the 72nd time, overtaking Frank de Boer’s high watermark. No other player in the history of the men’s team has ever hit half a century of appearances as the national team captain.
Virgil van Dijk applauding.
Virgil van Dijk has been the Netherlands captain since March 2018. / Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Player Total Caps Caps as Captain
Virgil van Dijk 88 72
Frank de Boer 112 71
Ruud Krol 83 45
Ruud Gullit 66 41
Harry Dénis 56 37
Edwin van der Sar 130 36
Johan Cruyff 48 34
Ronald Koeman 78 33
“I’m very proud to have the record now, but I’m even more proud to lead this group of guys for such a long time,” Van Dijk told NOS. “When I was a little boy, I never dreamed this. The national team was already very far [away], let alone taking over the record of Frank de Boer.”
Van Dijk didn’t earn his first cap until he moved to the Premier League with Southampton in 2015, when he was already 24. Stepping into a side that was at a low ebb after missing out on qualification for Euro 2016, the commanding centre back promptly became a fixture of the backline.
Shortly after Van Dijk joined Liverpool at the start of 2018, he took over from Arjen Robben as Netherlands captain, leading the Oranje out for the first time against England in Amsterdam.
Virgil van Dijk
The skipper hasn’t always looked settled this season. / Mateo Villalba/Getty Images
Looking ahead to this summer’s World Cup after securing qualification this week, Van Dijk beamed: “It is now important that we create solidities as a group, that we work together to ensure that we become a difficult to beat team. I’m really looking forward to it.” Whether he can say the same about his return to Liverpool remains to be seen.
The Premier League champions currently lie a lowly eighth after suffering five top-flight defeats—one more than they recorded across the entirety of last season. The root cause behind these setbacks has been laid out by Arne Slot at every occasion: long balls and set pieces remain a problem Liverpool are yet to solve.
With that in mind, the Reds return to league action against perhaps the most proudly direct manager in the division: Sean Dyche. After attempting to integrate a more possession-based style under first Nuno Espírito Santo before shifting to the extreme of Ange Postecoglou, the former Everton boss has swiftly pivoted back to a direct approach.
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