As a player with British citizenship born outside the UK, eligibility rules of the time meant that Van Den Hauwe qualified to play for the national football team of any of the four Home Nations—England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Van Den Hauwe spurned offers from England under Bobby Robson and Belgium under Guy Thys to represent Wales, having been recommended to Mike England by Everton team-mates Kevin Ratcliffe and Neville Southall. It was often speculated in the press that Van Den Hauwe had made this decision because he had Welsh ancestry, but according to his autobiography this was not the case. "No parent or grandparent—or even great grandparents—of mine were Welsh", he wrote.