The Netherlands delivered their most dominant performance yet at Germany/Netherlands 2025, overpowering Tunisia 39:21 and keeping their perfect record intact as they push toward the quarter-finals.

Main Round, Group III
Netherlands vs Tunisia 39:21 (22:9)

It was a shaky start for the co-hosts, with Tunisia even holding a brief 3:2 lead. However, the African side couldn’t keep up for long. With the perfect mix of Yara ten Holte’s saves and rapid transitions, the Netherlands soon turned the game in their favour. Riding on the wings of Angela Malestein, they surged to an 11:4 lead while Tunisia piled up mistakes and went seven minutes without a goal.

The Netherlands continued to press, using an extra attacking player to stretch Tunisia’s defence even further and build a commanding advantage. It took them only 20 minutes to reach a double-digit lead (15:5) as they completely dismantled Tunisia’s back line. With nearly half of their goals coming from fast breaks, there was little the Tunisian goalkeepers could do to slow the co-hosts.

The Dutch attack looked unstoppable, producing their highest first-half tally of the tournament, with 11 different players finding the net. On Tunisia’s side, only Salma Ben Hassine and Nada Zelfani managed to score twice as their attack dropped to a tournament-low 30% efficiency.

The second half followed the same pattern, with the Netherlands fuelled by the strong support of the Ahoy Arena crowd and continuing to accelerate. With quick goals, they reached a +17 lead by the 40th minute (28:11), and every outfield Dutch player except Estevana Polman had scored. Smart rotation allowed them to conserve energy for upcoming matches while still scoring with ease from every position.

Tunisia seemed out of answers and looked as though they had run out of steam. Soumaya Belhadj and Fadwa Aouij showed flashes of resistance in the second half, while Basma Sfar produced several good saves. However, penalties and attacking efficiency remained a problem, with Rinka Dijndam reading them well.

Two minutes before the final buzzer, Polman finally joined the scorers with her first goal, marking the moment every Dutch field player had scored at least once. Her strike pushed the lead back to +18, the same gap that remained at full time as the Netherlands wrapped up a confident 39:21 victory.

The Netherlands joined title holders France at the top of the table with six points and a perfect record, taking a firm step closer to the top eight. In the next round, the co-hosts will clash with Poland, while Tunisia will test themselves against the young Austrian side.

hummel Player of the Match: Bo van Wetering (Netherlands)