The Netherlands is premiering at the World Cup in Qatar. The Dutch national team debuts its name after the name of the Netherlands was replaced in 2020. The change has been established in the different international sports competitions and events such as Eurovision, but there are not a few presenters who, out of habit, continue to make the mistake of talking about the Netherlands in the broadcasts.
The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces, two of which are North Holland and South Holland. The influence of cities such as Amsterdam or Rotterdam, belonging to these provinces have made the Netherlands commonly known as Holland.
The name of the Netherlands comes from Nederland in Dutch, which means 'low land', since this country is below sea level. Specifically, it is a delta of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. The Netherlands has been fighting the problem of being below sea level for years. A problem that has worsened over the years due to climate change.
Against the 'bad' habit of calling Holland the Netherlands, in 2020 the Dutch government adapted its tourist name so that companies, embassies, ministries and universities could only refer to the country as the Netherlands.
Their objective was to project the country beyond Amsterdam, and the initials NL (Nederland) also began to be used as the country's 'logo' along with an orange tulip. In fact, the Royal Spanish Academy already referred to the country as the Netherlands, although it also says: "It is frequent and admissible to use it (Holland) in ordinary speech to refer to the entire country, a use that should not be extended to official texts."
The country itself was the first to start changing terms. The country's tourism website modified much of its content to change Holland to Netherland (or Nederland in Dutch). The national team was renamed the Netherlands, at Eurovision the name was also changed and at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as well.
Even so, the Spaniards continue to differentiate it rather little. Before the national team match, Google searches in Spain for the Netherlands and the Netherlands have grown evidently (due to the debut of the Dutch team in the World Cup in Qatar), although, according to data from Google Holland, it has been much more searched (100 points) than the Netherlands (12 points).
