Madness in the Eredivisie, 133 matches could be replayed 🤯
It’s the story of the year.It’s a case that is currently shaking the Netherlands and is only just starting to make noise beyond its borders.The Dutch league is at the heart of a completely crazy l...
Madness in the Eredivisie, 133 matches could be replayed 🤯 It’s the story of the year. It’s a case that is currently shaking the Netherlands and is only just starting to make noise beyond its borders. The Dutch league is at the heart of a completely crazy legal mess that could lead to 133 matches from the season being replayed!
The reason? As reported by L'Équipe, it all stems from players born in the Netherlands who chose to represent another national team instead (such as Suriname or Indonesia to give themselves a chance of playing in the World Cup). With this change in sporting nationality, the players are now considered foreign workers under Dutch law.
This status change comes with specific obligations for clubs, notably obtaining a work permit and complying with a minimum annual salary threshold of €608,000 for players over 21. The problem is that several clubs were unaware of these obligations and are said to have fielded players without meeting all the required legal conditions. In other words, some footballers may have played even though they were not fully compliant administratively.
That could make their participation legally invalid. The case took a real turn when the issue was raised on the De Derde Helft podcast after NAC Breda’s 6-0 defeat to Go Ahead Eagles, in which Dean James had started. Born in the Netherlands, the defender chose to play for Indonesia.