His debut for the Dutch national team was on October 7, 2000 against Cyprus which was won 4-0. However, for 'Oranje', he did not make an appearance in a major tournament until 2006, with the Dutch national team failing to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and injury preventing him from playing during Euro 2004 in Portugal.

The Dutch national team manager Marco van Basten was dissatisfied with Van Bommel's defensive performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Romania and was subsequently not selected for the rest of the qualification series. With many Dutch football observers believing Van Bommel's international career to be over, he was selected back into the Dutch side for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In the 2006 World Cup, Van Bommel played in all the games for his country except the match against Argentina as both teams had already sealed their passage to the knockout stage of the tournament. His position in the team was as right-half. His duties were mainly to play the anchor role in the Dutch 3-man midfield in their usual 4-3-3 formation.

He was the first of many players booked in the second-round match Dutch team defeat against Portugal dubbed 'The Battle of Nuremberg' by the press. After the World Cup, Van Bommel was not called up for the Euro 2008 qualifiers versus Luxembourg and Belarus. In September 2006, after his move to Bayern, he was added to Van Basten's squad to face Bulgaria; however Van Bommel stated (alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy) to no longer intend to play for 'Oranje' as long as Van Basten is in charge.^[1] Van Bommel has won 40 caps and has scored 7 goals for the Dutch national team.

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External links

• Mark van Bommel FIFA competition record
• Official Mark van Bommel website
• Bayern profile
• Career stats at fussbaldaten.de
• Mark van Bommel profile, stats, honours and more on footballdatabase.com
• Mark van Bommel profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)

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Honours

Club Titles

• UEFA Champions League: 2006
• La Liga: 2006
• Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006
• Eredivisie: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005
• Dutch Cup: 2005
• Johan Cruijff Schaal: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005
• Dutch Footballer of the Year: 2001, 2005
• German League Cup: 2007
• German Cup: 2008
• Bundesliga: 2008

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References

Awards
Preceded by Boudewijn Zenden	Dutch Football Talent of the Year 1998 – 1999	Succeeded by Arnold Bruggink
Preceded by Ruud van Nistelrooy	Dutch Footballer of the Year 2000 – 2001	Succeeded by Pierre van Hooijdonk
Preceded by Maxwell	Dutch Footballer of the Year 2004 – 2005	Succeeded by Dirk Kuijt
Preceded by Maxwell	Dutch Golden Shoe Winner 2005	Succeeded by Incumbent

v • d • e Netherlands squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 van der Sar • 2 Jaliens • 3 Boulahrouz • 4 Mathijsen • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Landzaat • 7 Kuyt • 8 Cocu • 9 van Nistelrooy • 10 van der Vaart • 11 Robben • 12 Kromkamp • 13 Ooijer • 14 Heitinga • 15 de Cler • 16 Maduro • 17 van Persie • 18 van Bommel • 19 Vennegoor of Hesselink • 20 Sneijder • 21 Babel • 22 Timmer • 23 Stekelenburg • Coach: van Basten