Virgil van Dijk: Netherlands captain hopes to bring down curtain on international career in style at 2026 World Cup

Virgil van Dijk will be desperate to lead the Netherlands to World Cup glory for the first time in their history in what will surely be the centre back's final-ever appearance at the tournament.

The Dutch skipper turns 35 the day before the quarter-finals get under way and hinted this could be his international swansong when delivering an emotional address to his team-mates after confirming their passage to the USA, Canada and Mexico with victory over Lithuania in November.

"First of all, I want to thank everyone here - the players, the staff and all the people working tirelessly behind the scenes," said Van Dijk on the occasion he led his country for a record-breaking 72nd time, overtaking Frank de Boer in the process.

"I'm proud to be the captain of Oranje and to lead you every time. I'm already excited for the final tournament and to achieve success together. I'm proud of all of you - you're an amazing group, and we have so much quality. Here's to chasing success together."

Van Dijk may have won every single club trophy since Liverpool made him the world's most expensive defender in January 2018, but on the international stage has only suffered relative heartbreak.

It was actually the centre back who missed the decisive spot kick as Louis van Gaal's side crashed out on penalties to eventual winners Argentina at the last eight in Qatar four years ago.

Despite making his international bow more than a decade ago, that was Van Dijk's only appearance at the showpiece event, with the Dutch not qualifying for Russia 2018.

However, since he was made captain in March of that year, the Netherlands have been regular contenders on the global stage - runners up in the 2019 Nations League, quarter-finalists at the 2022 World Cup, before losing late on to England in the semi-finals of Euro 2024.

In fact, the only tournament Van Dijk did not feature in as he recovered from an ACL injury saw the Dutch suffer a shock last-16 loss to the Czech Republic at the delayed Euro 2020, highlighting his importance to the team both as a defender and leader.

Then there is his impact from set plays, with the towering defender - who has netted 12 times for his country - having just enjoyed his best-ever scoring campaign for Liverpool, with eight goals in all competitions.

Van Dijk arrives at the World Cup battle hardened having just endured the "toughest" season of his career at Anfield, but it says everything about his overall fitness levels and dedication that it was also one which saw him rack up more minutes than any other outfield player in Europe's top-five leagues.

Now manager Ronald Koeman needs Van Dijk to marshal the troops one last time as the Netherlands - three times runners up - like their skipper, look to finally break their World Cup hoodoo, starting with Sunday's Group F opener against Japan.

Van Dijk has called on his team-mates to "be ready to fight" in order to achieve their dream of lifting the trophy at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19 on what would be his 100th appearance for his country.

And that would be quite some way for arguably the best defender in the world since 2019, when he finished just seven points behind Barcelona's Lionel Messi in that year's Ballon d'Or voting, to bring down the curtain on his international career.