 Van Breukelen made his international debut on 11 October 1980 against West Germany.Later, he played in qualification matches for the 1982 World Cup, Euro 1984 and the 1986 World Cup, but the Dutch team failed to qualify for any of the tournaments.In the Euro 1988 qualifiers, Van Breukelen was struggling with his form and before the qualification match against Hungary in 1987, coach Rinus Michels dropped him in favour of Joop Hiele as goalkeeper.