Why this Dutch super fan wears all orange and feels his team’s joy & heartbreak
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Oordt has attended every Dutch match since Nov 2015 except COVID bans.
- Oordt is a Dutch native who grew up in Canada and now lives in the U.S.
- He consistently dresses in full orange attire and decorates it with pins and patches.
There are Dutch football super-fans decked in orange.
And then there is Daniel Oordt.
Maxed out in his orange tie, loafers, pants, scarf and blazer— complete with pins and patches of the Netherlands’ soccer success — Oordt is known as the “Oranje Suit Fan.”
The party doesn’t begin when Oordt arrives because it doesn’t stop on game days. But there may not be a more dedicated — or well traveled — fan than the Dutch native who grew up in Canada and lives in the U.S.
“I’ve attended every single Dutch national team match, aside from the ones we were not permitted to enter during COVID, since November of 2015,” Oordt said.
He said he’s fulfilling a promise he made to himself as a young fan of the Dutch team: When he got his “big boy” job, he would make it his mission to be there for his team.
Working as a commercial pilot undoubtedly helps the cause. Oordt has spanned the globe and estimates he’s attended close to 100 Dutch national team matches. The run continues with this summer’s FIFA World Cup when the Netherlands meets Tunisia in a group-stage game on June 25 in Kansas City.
The Dutch national team is also making Kansas City — the KC Current’s training facility in Riverside, in particular — its World Cup base camp.
The Dutch football association estimates some 5,000 fans will travel to the U.S. for the team’s games, with another 5,000 North Americans with Dutch roots also planning to attend.
On game days, they’ll follow the team’s traditional double-decker bus on a march to the match venue ... although it hasn’t yet been determined how the Netherlands will negotiate the nine-mile path from downtown KC to Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium.
“The bus becomes the center of the party,” Oordt said.
And the party happens because Dutch football historically has delivered enough success to frequently rank among the world’s best teams ... and heartbreak just as often appears on the doorstep of elation.
With a population of around 18.4 million, the Netherlands — ranked seventh internationally by FIFA — is among the smallest world powers. It has played in three World Cup finals, the most recent in 2010, and lost them all by one goal or in extra time.
“You can look at France, Brazil, Argentina, these countries outperform, but they also have massive populations,” Oordt said. “It also comes down to three World Cup finals, three losses. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. And a lot of generational trauma that has kind of evolved through the generations.
“And that’s difficult to understand if you’re not Dutch. We were all there crying in these moments together, and we feel a real bond in that regard ... I’m very biased, but we still have something missing, something that is to attain. We’re still chasing it.”