{"id":229,"date":"2026-10-02T06:48:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?post_type=ba_guide&#038;p=229"},"modified":"2026-10-02T06:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:48:27","slug":"sport-in-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"ba_guide","link":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?ba_guide=sport-in-the-netherlands","title":{"rendered":"Sport in the Netherlands: popular sports, Dutch traditions and how to join"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ba-lead wp-block-paragraph\">Sport in the Netherlands ranges from enormous volunteer-run amateur club networks to elite football, hockey, cycling and speed skating. NOC*NSF&#8217;s 2025 figures count 4.4 million unique members of affiliated sports federations, 5.4 million memberships and about 21,300 clubs.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sports you will see often<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Football, tennis, golf, field hockey, swimming, cycling, running, fitness and speed skating all have a visible place in Dutch sport. Participation does not always mean club membership: adults also exercise independently or through commercial gyms, while club sport remains particularly important for children.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sports with a particularly Dutch profile<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Field hockey:<\/strong> a large club network and prominent elite game.<\/li><li><strong>Speed skating:<\/strong> indoor rinks, clubs, marathon skating and the cultural dream of natural-ice tours.<\/li><li><strong>Cycling:<\/strong> everyday transport and a separate competitive\/recreational sporting world.<\/li><li><strong>Korfbal:<\/strong> invented in the Netherlands and traditionally mixed-gender.<\/li><li><strong>Frisian regional sports:<\/strong> <em>keatsen<\/em>, <em>fierljeppen<\/em> and <em>sk\u00fbtsjesilen<\/em>.<\/li><\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do not confuse professional and amateur sport<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The professional game is what you watch; the amateur association system is usually how you participate. A newcomer who wants to play football or hockey should normally search for a local <em>vereniging<\/em>, not the professional club in the nearest stadium.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A newcomer overview of Dutch sport, from football, hockey and skating to korfbal and regional Frisian traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","ba_country":[2],"ba_topic":[264,265,262],"ba_audience":[261,17],"ba_section":[23,20,272],"ba_stage":[28,29,30],"ba_location":[],"class_list":["post-229","ba_guide","type-ba_guide","status-publish","hentry","ba_country-netherlands","ba_topic-amateur-sport","ba_topic-professional-sport","ba_topic-sport-clubs","ba_audience-newcomers","ba_audience-residents","ba_section-language-culture","ba_section-living","ba_section-sport-clubs","ba_stage-getting-established","ba_stage-integrating","ba_stage-living-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/ba_guide"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/229\/revisions\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ba_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_country&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"ba_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_topic&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"ba_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_audience&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"ba_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_section&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"ba_stage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_stage&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"ba_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_location&post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}