Euro 2024: A street in The Hague gets an all-encompassing orange facelift

Dutch street transforms into a vibrant orange spectacle during soccer tournaments, fostering community spirit and celebration.

The fluttering of 64 kilometres (40 miles) of orange bunting and a hammer driving a nail into a wall to hold up orange tarps are the sounds of a Dutch summer of soccer in a normally drab suburban street in The Hague.

The Marktweg is one of several streets in the Netherlands that get an all-encompassing orange facelift during European Championships and World Cups when the national team — known as Oranje after the Dutch royal family and the colour of their shirts — are looking to add to the Euro it won 36 years ago.

For two months leading up to Euro 2024, which starts on June 14 in Germany, a dedicated team of up to 10 volunteers — more at the weekends — has been decorating their street, creating not just an orange overload, but also a sense of community.

Houses are plastered with orange tarps and banners, street lights and trees are wrapped in orange, garbage containers are — you guessed it — orange, while litter bins are red, white and blue, the equally patriotic colours of the Dutch flag.

Even a crew of municipal workers fits in, decked out in uniforms of orange high-visibility clothes.

Macho Vink, a 35-year-old truck driver, is on a cherry picker banging nails into houses' walls to secure tarps covering the entire street.

“It's time for a big party,” he said. “Get some positivity back,” he added as the driver of a passing car tooted his horn and gave a thumbs up.