The Netherlands has always produced a high standard of imports into the Premier League since the division began in 1992. Star names have performed in the English top flight, but which of those players has been the most successful?
Here is a list of all the Dutch footballers to have won the Premier League, up to and including the end of the 2022/23 season.
How many Dutch players won the Premier League?
By the end of the 2022/23 Premier League season, 15 Dutch football players had won the EPL title. Most of those players had won the title once, while six Dutchmen had lifted the Premier League trophy, and claimed a winner’s medal, on multiple occasions.
Multiple Premier League Winners
Edwin van der Sar
While playing for Manchester United, Dutch international goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar won a host of trophies, including four Premier League titles. He has the most EPL winner’s medals among any Dutch player, so he’s set the standard for others to follow.
Van der Sar made his name in England with Fulham, before United acquired his signature in 2005. The keeper spent the next six seasons at Old Trafford, and was the regular number one across that period.
Edwin van der Sar also won the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008, but will any other Dutch player match his record of four Premier League titles?
Dennis Bergkamp
Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp gave great service to the Premier League, and he played for the Gunners between 1995 and 2006. He’ll be remembered for his spectacular goals and many feel he is the greatest EPL player of all time, from any country.
Bergkamp won eleven major honours during his time in England and that list includes three Premier League titles. He won England’s highest domestic honour in England in 1998, 2002 and 2004.
While he wasn’t the main striker at Arsenal, Dennis Bergkamp scored many important goals during his time with the club. He scored 120 for the Gunners in all competitions with 87 of those coming in the Premier League. Bergkamp’s most productive campaign came in 1997/98 when he claimed his first EPL winner’s medal. In 28 league games, he scored 16 goals.
Jaap Stam
Jaap Stam was a fearsome central defender and a vital player for Manchester United between 1998 and 2001. He developed his reputation with PSV Eindhoven and, by the time Stam arrived at Old Trafford, he was already an established Dutch international.
Stam slotted straight into the heart of the United defence and he proved reliable, and tough in the tackle. In his first two seasons in England, the Dutchman was a first team regular, before injury restricted his appearances in 2000/01.
The club sold him to Lazio and United manager Sir Alex Ferguson later admitted that the decision was a mistake. During his time in England, Jaap Stam won six major trophies, including the 1999 Champions League and three Premier League titles between 1999 and 2001.
Nathan Aké
Considering they’ve won so many Premier League titles, it’s surprising that Manchester City haven’t contributed more Dutch players to this list. As of the end of the 2022/23 season, only two Dutch players have won the EPL while at Manchester CIty, and Nathan Ake is the only one with multiple medals.
Another interesting fact about Ake is that he has played professionally in England for his entire career. The defender came through the youth system at Chelsea, but couldn’t command a first team place, and was sent on loan to Reading, Watford and Bournemouth.
Bournemouth signed the player on a permanent contract in 2017, and he moved on to Manchester City three years later. Since leaving for Manchester in 2020, Nathan Ake has won three Premier League titles, in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Arjen Robben
Dutch international winger Arjen Robben was part of the Chelsea revolution under Jose Mourinho in the mid-2000s. He joined the West London club from PSV Eindhoven in 2004, and took his form into the Premier League.
Robben was the complete midfielder, who could dribble, and provide pinpoint passes, and he had an eye for goal. The Dutchman scored seven goals in his first season, as Chelsea won the EPL title in 2004/05. The team successfully defended their title at the end of the following campaign, and Arjen Robben collected his second Premier League winner’s medal.
Raimond van der Gouw
He was the reserve goalkeeper at Manchester United during his time with the club, but Raimond van der Gouw made enough contributions to claim two Premier League winner’s medals.
He joined United from Vitesse Arnhem in 1996 and stayed at Old Trafford until 2002. He was a reliable back up, but only made 37 league appearances in six seasons. Under EPL rules, Van der Gouw was able to claim two league winner’s medals in 1999/2000 and 2000/01.
One-Time Winners
Robin van Persie
Former Feyenoord striker Robin van Persie played for Arsenal between 2004 and 2012, before making a controversial switch to Premier League rivals Manchester United. He won a host of medals while with the Gunners, but maybe the lack of an EPL winners medal led to the move to Old Trafford.
Van Persie finally landed the biggest prize in English football when Manchester United won the Premier League in 2012/13. Van Persie played in all 38 league games in that campaign, scoring 26 goals.
Marc Overmars
Former Ajax winger Marc Overmars joined Arsenal in 1997, and he stayed with the club for the next three years. Overmars played out on the wing, but he made some important scoring contributions too, and averaged one goal in every four games in the league.
The Dutchman’s stay in the Premier League was brief, but it was also successful. Marc Overmars left the Emirates in 2000, after three major trophies, including the EPL title in 1998. He played in 32 league matches across that campaign, scoring 12 goals.
Overall, Marc Overmars didn’t set English football alight, but Arsenal fans will feel that the Dutchman was a success. He made 142 appearances for the Gunners in total, including exactly 100 in the Premier League. Along with that Premier League title, he also won the FA Cup and the Community Shield while in North London.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Giovanni van Bronckhorst was already experienced in British football by the time Arsenal secured his signature in 2001. Having started his career with Feyenoord, the midfielder joined Glasgow Rangers in 1998, where he won two Scottish Premier League titles.
Van Bronckhorst was a versatile player who could feature in midfield and on the left side of defence, and he proved to be a useful squad man while at Arsenal. He played at The Emirates for two seasons and made 41 appearances across those two campaigns. He was never a regular first choice, but those contributions were enough to earn Giovanni van Bronckhorst a Premier League winner’s medal at the end of the 2001/02 season. After leaving Arsenal, the player spent three years at Barcelona before returning home to finish his career with Feyenoord. While with Barca, Van Bronckhorst won the UEFA Champions League at the end of the 2005/06 season.
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Dutch international striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy spent five seasons with Manchester United, but only managed to win one Premier League title. He was a prolific striker for the Red Devils, scoring 95 goals in 150 EPL matches before joining Real Madrid in 2006.
Van Nistelrooy’s solitary EPL title came in the 2002/03 campaign when he fired in three hat tricks in a total of 25 goals in 34 games. This was his most productive season in English football, although the Dutch striker continued to be a regular goal threat for Manchester United.
Ruud van Nistelrooy eventually left Manchester United to join Real Madrid in 2006. During his time in English football, he scored 150 goals in 219 matches across all competitions. 95 of those goals came in the Premier League. Along with that one Premier League title, Van Nistelrooy also won the FA Cup, EFL Cup and Community Shield.
Jordi Cruyff
After impressing with the Dutch national team at Euro 96, Manchester United moved to sign Jordi Cruyff from Barcelona. While he was undoubtedly talented, Cruyff wasn’t able to fully adapt to English football, and he only made 34 league appearances for United in four seasons.
Like Raimond van der Gouw, Jordi Cruyff did enough to win Premier League medals at the club. Manchester United won the title in 1996/97, and the Dutchman’s 16 appearances made him eligible for the reward.
His stay in English football was brief, but it was also the most successful period of his career, as Jordi Cruyff also lifted the Community Shield trophy on two separate occasions.
Nigel de Jong
The only other Dutch player to have won a Premier League title with Manchester City, at the time of writing, is Nigel de Jong. The defensive midfielder was a part of the Netherlands squad that reached the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and he was also involved when the national side won the third placed play off four years later.
De Jong had established an impressive reputation with Ajax, while Manchester City later signed him from Hamburg in 2009. He stayed at the club for three years until City sold the player to AC Milan in 2012.
Nigel de Jong was a regular first team choice during his seasons with his English club. In total, he played in 104 Premier League games, and the highlight of his EPL career came in 2011/12 when Manchester City lifted the trophy at the end of the campaign. The Dutchman played in 21 games as he helped his club to the title.
Virgil van Dijk
Having impressed in the English Premier League while with Southampton, centre back Virgil van Dijk became the world’s most expensive defender when he joined Liverpool in 2018. The Reds had experienced problems at the heart of their defence and Van Dijk quickly helped to solve those issues.
In his first two full seasons at Anfield, Van Dijk didn’t miss a game as he featured in all 38 league matches in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns. He won the Champions League with the club in 2019, and Van Dijk helped Liverpool to win their first ever Premier League title a year later.
With his club still competing for major honours, both domestically and internationally, Virgil van Dijk will be aiming to add his name to the list of multiple Premier League winners. He’ll surely remain an important part of the Liverpool side, and the Reds will want to keep the Dutchman in their squad for many years to come.
Georginio Wijnaldum
A versatile player who could take on many roles in midfield, Georginio Wijnaldum played for two separate English Premier League teams. He initially joined Newcastle United from PSV Eindhoven in 2015, before signing for Liverpool after just one season at St James’s Park.
Alongside his Dutch international colleague Virgil van Dijk, Wijnaldum was part of the Liverpool squad that won the Premier League in the 2019/20 season. During that successful campaign, he played in all but one of the Reds’ league games, scoring four goals.
Georginio Wijnaldum won four major trophies in his time at Anfield, with the Premier League and Champions League offering the highlights.
Alexander Büttner
Alexander Buttner was another Manchester United player who won a Premier League medal after making modest contributions to the cause. He arrived at Old Trafford from Vitesse Arhem in 2012 and stayed there for the next two years.
Buttner had built a strong reputation in Holland and was a promising Netherlands Under 20 international at that time. However, his career didn’t progress in England, and he featured in just 28 games over two seasons for Manchester United, before the club sold him to Dynamo Moscow.
13 of those matches were played in the Premier League, and his efforts earned Alexander Buttner an EPL winner’s medal at the end of the 2012/13 campaign.
Final Thoughts
There have been so many talented players from the Netherlands in the Premier League. These are the most successful, while a host of other footballers didn’t get their hands on the biggest prize. Edgar Davids, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Memphis Depay and Rafael van der Vaart are just four more Dutchmen who couldn’t land the Premier League title during their time in England.
Dutch football has its highs and lows, but it is strong right now. At Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo will continue to challenge for the title, while Manchester City’s Nathan Ake will be aiming to add to his haul of three EPL winner’s medals.
There’s always room for more, so who will come along and add their names to this list in the future? The Netherlands are strong on the world stage right now. They took a talented squad to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and there are some exceptional youngsters coming through.
English clubs are only too willing to look overseas for the best talent, and the Netherlands is constantly under the radar. More Dutch players will arrive here, but who will go on to lift the biggest trophy in English football?
