While playing for HVV Helmond, Van der Kuijlen played for the Dutch under-19 national squad. After a call-up from coach George Kessler, Van der Kuijlen made his debut for the Dutch senior national team on 23 March 1966 in a match against West Germany, aged 19. His international career started encouraging: in his first five caps, he scored four times. Subsequently, Van der Kuijlen received intermittent call-ups until 1970. Because he was occupied with his military draft, he could not play for the national squad very often. Meanwhile, his playmaker position in the Dutch team was slowly taken over by Johan Cruyff. From 1970, he had to wait four years before appearing for the Dutch squad again. The Netherlands were scheduled to play the 1974 FIFA World Cup, but Van der Kuijlen (who almost certainly would be benched in favour of Cruyff) declined to appear at the tournament.