Many soccer fans around the world feel like the Netherlands missed its golden opportunity to win a World Cup, as some of the greatest players in the country’s history (such as Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie) have now retired.

However, the squad that the Netherlands brought to the 2026 World Cup is still filled with talent. Virgil van Dijk is arguably the greatest defender in the world right now, and the team also has talented forwards like Liverpool left winger, Cody Gakpo.

Gakpo will need to produce if the Dutch side is to make a deep run in this year’s tournament. And he has a great opportunity to do so during Netherlands’ June 20 game against Sweden.

While Gakpo isn’t known as the most consistent performer, it would seem that he has a very consistent and stable personal life. This is because he has been dating his longtime girlfriend, Dutch model Noa van der Bij, since 2020.

The couple also welcomed a son named Samuël Seth Gakpo in April of 2024.

van der Bij has been supporting Gakpo throughout his professional soccer journey, which currently means coming to the United States to watch him in the World Cup.

And she proved this with a post to her Instagram on June 19, which showed several photos of her rocking the Netherlands’ iconic (and polarizing) orange jerseys, wearing Gakpo’s No. 11 kit.

Plus, her and Gakpo’s son, Samuël, was rocking an orange No. 11 jersey that had “Papa” written on the back instead of his father’s last name. The post was captioned, “WK 2⚽️26 🦁🇳🇱🧡”.

Gakpo has a great opportunity to make his mark on this year’s World Cup against Sweden on Saturday.

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