Michael vs Michael. 🎯 What a great game.

[Helpful Herbert]

Do they have to give up their original passport?

 

[jstar]

We have talked about the consequences of the Dutch players joining the Indonesian national team before and it is kind of amazing that nobody -not the players, not the teams, not the authorities, not the agents and legal advisors- seem to have realized what it would mean to give up a citizenship.

And now Dutch football is dealing with 'passportgate'. Up to 25 players are advised not to train and not to play because there are doubts about their EU residence and work permits.

It all started with a complaint from the football club NAC Breda. NAC lost to Go Ahead Eagles on March 15 with 6-0, but had doubts about Eagles player Dean James participating in that game. James, born in Leiden, chose to join the Indonesian national team in 2025. In the process, he would have lost his Dutch citizenship. Without that Dutch passport, James -as a non-EU citizen- must have a residence- and work-permit to be allowed to play football in the Netherlands.

That's where there is a problem. NAC was told that the full-back may not have such papers. The club, on the verge of relegation, asked the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) to start an investigation.

The case was rather big in the media. But above all: it made the KNVB and other clubs think. In addition to James, 24 other players may have lost their Dutch nationality because they chose a different national team.

It is not the intention of the league to have the matches already played declared invalid. However, the clubs must find out as soon as possible -with legal support- whether all players have the right permits.

 

[harryopal1]

Great game? I would rather watch grass grow.

 

[jstar]

Feel free to contribute Harry. Perhaps about AFL, cricket or the NRL? I think many non Australians here have no idea about those sports.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

Imagine if all those players had subscribed to expatindo then they would have been aware of what the risks were. I think FAFO is the appropriate acronym in this case

 

[Helpful Herbert]

I love this quote
De Lange states that there are three possible solutions for the sports passport issue. Players could relinquish their newly acquired citizenship or clubs could consider these players as non-EU citizens and pay them the required €600,000, but these options aren't feasible on a short-term basis, De Lange says.

The third option is her favourite: "It would be good if the Netherlands amended the law and made an exception for this category of athletes, so that they do not lose their Dutch passports if they start playing for another country. We are waiting for a minister or MP to propose amending the law to sort this out."

She really expects that the government will change their entire citizenship law just to benefit a few medium level footballers? Lol. Not to mention that that would immediately invalidate their Indonesian passports!

In my opinion the only possible solution is for them to give up their Indonesian citizenship and go back to being Dutch. (hopefully the Dutch allow that)

 

[jstar]

Imagine if all those players had subscribed to expatindo then they would have been aware of what the risks were. I think FAFO is the appropriate acronym in this case

 

[jstar]

In the mean time in the ladies’ Champions League…

Pulling someone’s hair won’t get you a card. Protesting against that does.

 

[Pak Tani]

She really expects that the government will change their entire citizenship law just to benefit a few medium level footballers? Lol. Not to mention that that would immediately invalidate their Indonesian passports!

For those who pictured De Lange as a random, unkempt, overweight middle-aged woman loading bags of Haribo into her shopping cart at Lidl, she is a professor of sociology of law and migration law, so she knows what she is talking about.

 

[jstar]

….clubs could consider these players as non-EU citizens and pay them the required €600,000

To avoid confusion: There is no general EU minimum wage of €600,000 for football players. This particular amount applies in the Netherlands as a minimum salary for age 21+ players from outside the EU to get a work permit. They didn’t pull that number out of their @sses, well a little bit perhaps; it is based on 150% of the average salary of the highest league.

As example; Justin Hubner’s salary at Fortuna Sittard seems to be approx. €150.000 yearly. And Dean James' salary at Go Ahead Eagles (with who it all started) is reportedly around €190,000 per year.

 

[jstar]

The two favorites for today’s Tour of Flanders; Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel,

The Tour of Flanders, which is considered one of the monuments of the cycling classics, was first organized (among the men) in 1913 by the sports newspaper Sportwereld. At the time, it was common for publishers of newspapers and magazines to organize cycling competitions to promote their publications.

Today it is one of the five monuments of cycling, together with Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Giro di Lombardia.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

For those who pictured De Lange as a random, unkempt, overweight middle-aged woman loading bags of Haribo into her shopping cart at Lidl, she is a professor of sociology of law and migration law, so she knows what she is talking about

Recommending that somebody holds Dutch and Indonesian passports at the same time is a rather strange way of indicating that 'she knows what she's talking about'. Legally speaking it is quite literally impossible, and will still be impossible even if Dutch law changes.