Editing Ruud Gullit (section)

=== 1980s ===
In 1981, on his 19th birthday, Gullit debuted for the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands national team]] against [[Switzerland national football team|Switzerland]] as a substitute, a game the Dutch lost 2–1.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ruud Gullit's brilliant career|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/1999/aug/28/newsstory.sport8|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 August 1999|access-date=20 October 2024}}</ref>

Gullit was one of the key players for the Netherlands as he helped his country win [[UEFA Euro 1988]] under coach [[Rinus Michels]]. Having lost their opening game of the tournament to the [[Soviet Union national football team|Soviet Union]], the Netherlands beat [[England national football team|England]] and the [[Republic of Ireland national football team|Republic of Ireland]] to reach the semi-finals,<ref name="guardian_euro88">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/1988/jun/22/euro2004.sport|title=Marco's late hook floors the favourites|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=22 June 1988|access-date=23 January 2009|location=London|first=David|last=Lacey|archive-date=30 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030220418/https://www.theguardian.com/football/1988/jun/22/euro2004.sport|url-status=live}}</ref> with Gullit setting up two of Van Basten's three goals in the 3–1 win in the second group match against England.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/history/news/0253-0d7b2eba4482-422dcfd39412-1000--van-basten-s-netherlands-hat-trick-eliminates-england-fr/ |title=Van Basten's Netherlands hat-trick eliminates England from Euro 1988 Group 2|website=UEFA|date=5 October 2003 |access-date=6 June 2024 }}</ref> After defeating [[Germany national football team|West Germany]] 2–1 in [[Hamburg]],<ref name="guardian_euro88"/> the Netherlands faced the Soviet Union again in the [[UEFA Euro 1988 Final|final]]. Gullit opened the scoring with a header and Marco van Basten scored a volley from a narrow angle to cap a 2–0 victory. Gullit was thus the first Dutch captain to hold aloft international silverware.<ref name="Van Basten ends Dutch wait">{{Cite web|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/history/news/0253-0d7b2f78ca99-40f24ef873fd-1000--van-basten-volley-crowns-netherlands-euro-1988-final-win-ag/ |title=Van Basten ends Dutch wait|website=UEFA|date=5 October 2003 |access-date=3 November 2019 |archive-date=2 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902014727/https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=1988/matches/round=210/match=22/postmatch/report/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>