Amsterdam acclaims Dutch heroes

The victorious Netherlands squad have received a heroes' welcome from hundreds of fans in Amsterdam, less than 24 hours after defeating Ukraine to win the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Portugal.

Sea of orange
Foppe de Haan's team showed no signs of tiredness from the previous night's celebrations when they were greeted by a sea of orange at Schiphol Airport. Nearly four million viewers had tuned into the Jong Oranje's 3-0 win against Ukraine in the final in Porto. Coach De Haan revealed that one interested observer, national team boss Marco van Basten, had sent him a text message at the final whistle. "It said, 'Congratulations on a great performance from the technical staff of the Dutch national team'," De Haan said. "It was a really nice touch." Having ended an 18-year wait for international silverware, the Netherlands will hope Van Basten's side can follow the example of the U21s at the FIFA World Cup in Germany, which starts on Friday.