Rafael made his debut for Holland at the age of 18, in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra in October 2001, when Louis van Gaal brought him off the bench in the second half of a 4-0 win.

Prior to his senior team call up, he had been representing Holland simultaneously at three different levels: U-19, U-20 and U-21.

Injury meant that he had to wait almost a year for his following cap, which came at the start of the Euro2004 qualifying cycle. A regular throughout that campaign, he scored goals in three consecutive qualifiers against Austria – his first for the national team - the Czech Republic and Moldova.

Having clocked up his 50th international appearance, and 12 goals against Belarus in November 2007, Rafael is now one of the most seasoned campaigners in Marco van Basten’s young squad. Were it not for bad luck with injuries he would surely have had many more caps by now

Rafael has now featured in two European Championships final and one World Cup, but it was at Euro 2008 in Austria/Switzerland that he truly found the chance to shine at a major international tournament, putting on some skilful and high-energy displays against the likes of Italy and France.

Caps: 64
Goals: 13
W: 37 D: 16 L: 11

Date	Opponent	Competition	Score**	Goals
06 Oct 2001	v Andorra (H)	WCQ	4-0
07 Sep 2002	v Belarus (H)	ECQ	3-0
20 Nov 2002	v Germany (A)	Frindly	3-1
26 Mar 2003	v Czech Republic (H)	ECQ	1-1
02 Apr 2003	v Moldova (A)	ECQ	2-1
30 Apr 2003	v Portugal (H)	Friendly	1-1
07 Jun 2003	v Belarus (A)	ECQ	2-0
20 Aug 2003	v Belgium (A)	Friendly	1-1
06 Sep 2003	v Austria (H)	ECQ	3-1
10 Sep 2003	v Czech Republic (A)	ECQ	1-1
11 Oct 2003	v Moldova (H)	ECQ	5-0
15 Nov 2004	v Scotland (A)	ECQ (play-off)	0-1
19 Nov 2003	v Scotland (H)	ECQ (play-off)	6-0
2004
18 Feb 2004	v USA (H)	Friendly	1-0
31 Mar 2004	v France (H)	Friendly	0-0
28 Apr 2004	v Greece (H)	Friendly	4-0
01 Jun 2004	v Faroe Islands (H)	Friendly	3-0
05 Jun 2004	v Republic of Ireland (H)	Friendly	0-1
15 Jun 2004	v Germany	EC	1-1
19 Jun 2004	v Czech Republic	EC	2-3
30 Jun 2004	v Portugal	EC	1-2
18 Aug 2004	v Sweden (A)	Friendly	2-2
03 Sep 2004	v Liechtenstein (H)	Friendly	3-0
08 Sep 2004	v Czech Republic (H)	WCQ	2-0
09 Oct 2004	v FYR Macedonia (A)	WCQ	2-2
13 Oct 2004	v Finland (H)	WCQ	3-1
2005
09 Feb 2005	v England (A)	Friendly	0-0
30 Mar 2005	v Armenia (H)	WCQ	2-0
04 Jun 2005	v Romania (H)	WCQ	2-0
17 Aug 2005	v Germany (A)	WCQ	2-2
03 Sep 2005	v Armenia (A)	WCQ	1-0
07 Sep 2005	v Andorra (H)	WCQ	4-0
08 Oct 2005	v Czech Republic (A)	WCQ	2-0
12 Oct 2005	v FYR Macedonia (H)	WCQ	0-0
12 Nov 2005	v Italy (H)	Friendly	1-3
2006
16 Jun 2006	v Ivory Coast	WC	2-1
21 Jun 2006	v Argentina	WC	0-0
25 Jun 2006	v Portugal	WC	0-1
16 Aug 2006	v Republic of Ireland (A)	Friendly	4-0
15 Nov 2006	v England (H)	Friendly	1-1
2007
07 Feb 2007	v Russia (H)	Friendly	4-1
24 Mar 2007	v Romania (H)	ECQ	0-0
02 Jun 2007	v Korea Republic (A)	Friendly	2-0
06 Jun 2007	v Thailand (A)	Friendly	3-1
22 Aug 2007	v Switzerland (A)	Friendly	1-2
12 Sep 2007	v Albania (A)	ECQ	1-0
13 Oct 2007	v Romania (A)	ECQ	0-1
17 Oct 2007	v Slovenia (H)	ECQ	2-0
17 Nov 2007	v Luxembourg (H)	ECQ	1-0
21 Nov 2007	v Belarus (A)	ECQ	1-2
2008
06 Feb 2008	v Croatia (A)	Friendly	3-0
26 Mar 2008	v Austria (A)	Friendly	4-3
24 May 2008	v Ukraine (H)	Friendly	3-0
29 May 2008	v Denmark (H)	Friendly	1-1
01 June 2008	v Wales (H)	Friendly	2-0
09 June 2008	v Italy (Berne)	EC	3-0
13 June 2008	v France (Switzerland)	EC	4-1
20 June 2008	v Russia (Basel)	EC	1-3
20 Aug 2008	v Russia (A)	Friendly	1-1
06 Sep 2008	v Australia (H)	Friendly	1-2
10 Sep 2008	v Macedonia (A)	WCQ	2-1
11 Oct 2008	v Iceland (H)	WCQ	2-0
15 Oct 2008	v Norway (A)	WCQ	1-0
19 Nov 2008	v Sweden (H)	Friendly	3-1

*Correct as of 20 November 2008
** Holland score shown first