Article by Mihai Șovei – Published on Wednesday, 03 June 2026, 15:40 / Updated on Wednesday, 03 June 2026 15:45
The Dutch national team came close to the world title in 2010. At the World Cup in South Africa, Spain were too strong in extra time, winning the grand final 1-0. Expectations were therefore high for the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, but it was a disaster. Tensions escalated within the selection, and two players clashed, according to Wesley Sneijder (41).
The former “decar” revealed that at that year's edition there was too much ego and too many “little groups”, the atmosphere being very tense. He also spoke about an unpleasant episode between Mark van Bommel and Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
Tensions in the Dutch national team at the 2012 European Championship
In a dialogue between Wesley Sneijder and Edwin van der Sar, the two spoke about the tense moments of the 2012 European Championship.
In one of the evenings when the players were at the training base, things degenerated.
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“Then bottles of vodka also appeared on the table. And you are responsible,” Van der Vaart laughed.
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“No, but now it seems… But believe me, he knows how I was there. I had to separate people because things got out of hand,” added Sneijder.
It was Huntelaar and Van Bommel in particular who clashed.
“It just happened all of a sudden. And I also suddenly saw the vodka bottles. I didn't even realize it. I was allowed a glass of wine, it was something normal. Suddenly, everything changed completely, but the damage had already been done”, said the former “Decar” of the “Mecanical Orange”, according to sportnieuws.nl.
The Dutch national team players always had two security guards with them on such evenings. “It's good that they were there, but we also knew: this will reach the coach and then it's over. The atmosphere was destroyed, the bomb had exploded and it could not be repaired,” he added.
Mark van Bommel and Klaas Jan Huntelaar
According to Sneijder, this was the main reason why things did not work out for the Dutch national team, who were eliminated without points in the group stage.
“There are many factors in a final tournament like this. You have to have a bit of luck, but above all the atmosphere has to be very good and there is a mutual understanding. We don't have to be friends, we weren't in 2010 either, but we knew we all had the same mission. That was completely missing in 2012,” concluded Sneijder.
