The Netherlands beat Serbia 2–1 in Eindhoven on October 4, 2026, with Joshua Zirkzee scoring the winner after Teun Koopmeiners and Mihajlo Cvetković had traded first-half goals. For Indian viewers, the match began at 12:15 a.m. IST on October 5. The Dutch now have eight points from four Nations League games.

This was the return meeting at Philips Stadion, not the September 27 match in Serbia, which also finished 2–1 to the Netherlands. The identical score can make search results and clips confusing: use the Eindhoven venue and the October 4 European date when looking up this game.

The Eindhoven match at a glance

ItemConfirmed record
Final scoreNetherlands2–1Serbia
VenuePhilips Stadion, Eindhoven
Kickoff in India00:15IST, October5
Dutch points after four games8 (two wins, two draws)

European match date: October4,2026. Goal minutes in the graphic follow KNVB.

KNVB · Official Netherlands–Serbia match record ↗KNVB · Match report and November fixtures ↗
31 minutes Koopmeiners makes it1–0;35 minutes Cvetković equalises1–1;72 minutes Zirkzee wins it2–1. India kickoff00:15IST October5.
Editorial scoring timeline using the KNVB event record: 31, 35 and 72 minutes. The final score is 2–1; the vertical spacing is schematic, not a scale of elapsed time. View full-size graphic ↗

Three goals, with the substitute making the difference

The KNVB match record lists Koopmeiners at 31 minutes, Cvetković at 35 and Zirkzee at 72. Zirkzee had replaced Mexx Meerdink at half-time. The accompanying Dutch federation report describes a Dumfries delivery followed by Reijnders laying the ball across for the winning finish.

Goal-minute labels differ between sources: UEFA’s summary describes the winner as coming with 19 minutes left, while the KNVB event record uses 72 minutes. The timeline here follows the KNVB record consistently. Neither account changes the final 2–1 result.

Eight points keeps the next round in view

Two wins and two draws give the Netherlands eight points: six from the wins and two from the draws. The first four matches under Xavi Hernández therefore ended without defeat. That is a strong position with two group matches remaining, rather than a reason to treat the remaining fixtures as irrelevant.

The federation lists the next games as Greece at home on November 13 and Germany away on November 16, using European dates. The top two in the group advance to the March 2027 quarter-finals. Those matches will complete the group; no new result or qualification guarantee is inferred here.

How to find the correct report from India

The official record below is the clearest route to the score, scorers and venue. UEFA’s Matchday 4 article also includes a Netherlands–Serbia highlights item. Its availability in India, and any account or payment conditions, were not tested, so this is a link to the official record rather than a promise of a free replay.

The date difference is straightforward: 8:45 p.m. in the Netherlands on October 4 becomes 12:15 a.m. in India on October 5. Keeping both dates with the home team separates this result from the earlier away win and makes subsequent reports easier to follow.

Sources & context

Sources below distinguish official schedules and match records from editorial calculations.

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