The Netherlands national team will base themselves in Wolfsburg during next year’s European Championship (UEFA EURO 2024) and hold their training sessions at the AOK Stadion. This was announced officially by the Dutch football association, the KNVB, on Wednesday. How long Ronald Koeman’s team will be staying in Wolfsburg depends significantly on their progress in the tournament. The EURO 2024 finals begin on Friday 14 June with the opening match between Germany and Scotland in Munich, and finish on Sunday 14 July with the final in Berlin.
“Looking forward to high-calibre guests”
During their prior visits, the KNVB delegation led by sporting director Nigel de Jong were able to see the exceptionally good sporting facilities around the AOK Stadion for themselves. The Oranje will take up residence in the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel during their stay.
“We’re looking forward to having really high-calibre guests on our premises during the European Championship with the Netherlands national team,” said VfL managing Dr Tim Schumacher, welcoming the decision. “With our AOK Stadion and our ambitious team, we’ll offer the Netherlands team very good infrastructural conditions, as a number of national teams have already experienced in recent times.”
Last September, Wolfsburg welcomed both the German and Japanese national teams. As well as short distances within the Netherlands base camp, the team’s group match locations of Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig are also easy to reach. Confirmed group opponents for Koeman’s side are France and Austria, with their opening opponents on 16 June 2024 still to be determined in the play-offs in March.
VfL a sporting home for many Dutch players
“We’re looking forward to the reunion with many familiar faces in the Dutch national team,” added VfL managing director for sport Marcel Schäfer. “We’ve been linked by close contact to lots of Dutch men’s and women’s internationals for years and we’ve accompanied a lot of players on their way into the national team in recent years. I’m sure they’ll feel at home here and can look forward to excellent conditions throughout Wolfsburg.”
As well as former Wolves coaches Andries Jonker (2017, now head coach of Netherlands women) and Mark van Bommel (2021, now at Royal Antwerp), a total of 10 players from the neighbouring country have represented VfL, including Bas Dost (2012-2016), Wout Weghorst (2018-2022) and most recently Micky van de Ven (2021-2023). VfL Women have also been able to regularly count on the quality of Dutch players, with the current squad featuring three Netherlands internationals in Dominique Janssen, Lynn Wilms and Fenna Kalma.
