“Don’t ever show that Dutch fan in the orange suit again.”

“Enough of the car salesman in the orange suit and glasses.”

“Honestly I hope that Dutch fan in the orange suit has many bad things happen to him in the near and long-term future.”

“I also hate that guy,” someone replied.

Twitter was not being kind, but there were other opinions.

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“That fan with the orange suit and tie. I dig it.”

“I’m intrigued by the Dutch fan who wore the bright orange suit.”

“He’s actually pretty amazing IRL!”

Pretty amazing? The Athletic spoke to him to find out.

“I’ve travelled thousands of miles to watch the Netherlands since the 2014 World Cup, including friendlies and qualifiers,” says Daniel Oordt, the man in the orange suit.

“I have spent hundreds on dry cleaners when I take my suit across the world on this journey. To me, it is more than a suit, I am a soldier, and this is my orange uniform.”

One of the reasons he has racked up so many miles is he does not live in the Netherlands. He doesn’t even live in Europe. He lives in Atlanta, USA, and grew up in Vancouver, Canada.

However, he was born in the Netherlands, in the city of Leiden, moving to Canada with his mother as a child, from where he watched his national team remotely and would consistently dress in orange.

Things changed though in 2014, when his mother gave him tickets for the World Cup in Brazil. Finally he saw his team in person. He wore an orange suit to do so, and has worn it for matches ever since.

“Excluding competitions that the Dutch team failed to qualify for, such as Euro 2016 and the World Cup 2018, I followed them religiously across the world,” he says.

“Since my first game at the 2014 World Cup, which I saw them win 5-1 over Spain, I’ve attended over 30 games across the world, sharing my love for the Netherlands and my love for fashion through this orange outfit.”

The idea for the orange suit and sunglasses came to him after a conversation with his tailor, who sourced it and tailored it for him in San Francisco. That suit has now accompanied him, along with the orange sunglasses, around the world, turning him into one of the most famous fans in the sport.

“The Dutch have a saying, which loosely translates to, ‘I like to see the world through orange glasses’.”

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Oordt took that literally.

“It is such a big part of my journey. I even wear orange socks and orange underwear,” he says.

One of the reasons Oordt is able to follow the Netherlands as regularly as he does is his job: he is an airline pilot, so he works his route schedule around fixtures, even taking freighter flights to reach matches.

Him and his suit have travelled to games in Brazil, Kazakhstan and the Republic of Ireland, along with other dedicated fans. “There are around 50 ultra-fans that travel and follow the team religiously who I have met and they have become my Dutch family. Most of us meet more outside of the Netherlands rather than in the country,” he says.

Oordt also collects pins from local fans wherever he goes and adds patches for every tournament or country he goes to. “The goal is to have a well-travelled suit that documents the journey to seeing the Netherlands lift a World Cup with the journey communicated through my suit.”

His team have won three matches in Qatar: two in the group stage (where they also drew against Ecuador) and the 3-1 against USA in the last 16. He received a text during that match from a friend back in the U.S. telling him to check Twitter; the camera was continuously panning to him, which is why he became the focus of social media.

“If only fans watching the game in my U.S. hometown knew I lived in that same city,” he says. “It’s funny what the internet has been saying, (that I’m) looking like a car salesman.”

On Friday night the Netherlands face Argentina, one of the tournament favourites, and Oordt is optimistic.

“We have the most balanced team in the tournament,” he says, “the best defence even with Frenkie (de Jong) in the middle. Memphis Depay up front is different when he puts on the orange shirt.

“This could be a fairytale ending for Louis van Gaal too, as a Dutch legend. I feel like it’s just written in the stars to win. The Dutch are known for beautiful football ending in beautiful heartbreak. Hopefully that will end.”

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Oordt has tickets for that quarter-final match and, depending on how far the Dutch team go, he will be staying until the end of the tournament, having already grabbed a lot of attention on the streets of Doha.

The suit, the glasses, the pins, the thousands of miles travelled, it’s all a matter of pride for Oordt; it’s a way of sharing his love for the Netherlands and their national team.

“It is a way to feel closer to my country,” he says.

Read more: Netherlands were eliminated by Argentina on penalties

(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)