Dutch Class

While British Football supporters are without an obvious team to support for Euro 2008 (the European football championship held in in Switzerland and Austria during June 2008), there is no such split loyalty in The Netherlands.

The Dutch national football team are playing in Euro 2008 and thousands of supporters are expected to follow their team to their games. Although over-land travel to the venues is possible from The Netherlands, news reports say the Dutch Football Association’s official transport company, OAD has chartered 100 flights to fly Dutch fans to the European football championship matches.

There are plans for OAD to transport 15,000 football fans a day for the first three matches. These are: Netherlands vs Italy on 9th June, Netherlands vs France on 13th June, and Netherlands vs Romania on 17th June. All three matches take place in the Swiss city of Berne.

Most flights will leave the Netherlands on the morning of the game and return to Schiphol and Rotterdam Airport after the match. “Orange Parties” will be held for Dutch supporters ahead of the matches.

As the largest airport in the Netherlands, Schiphol Airport is the destination of many flights to/from Holland. This is also the European terminal of the first transatlantic “fast lane“, via which Dutch and American citizens may cross the borders of the Netherlands and US by automated border passage. 

This recently announced (19/05/2008) scheme called “The International Expedited Traveler (IET) Program” is an Initiative of the Dutch and American governments, which links Schiphol Group’s Privium program with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Global Entry program. The program will be executed in the Netherlands by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), the Dutch Border Police (Koninklijke Marechausee), and Dartagnan (a wholly owned subsidiary of Schiphol Group).

Further information is available from the Schiphol Group, operator of Schiphol Airport.