1. What is the reason?
Eredivisie club NAC Breda submitted a request to the KNVB last week to have the match they lost 6-0 against Go Ahead Eagles declared invalid. According to the association, Go Ahead player Dean James was not eligible to play because he plays as an international for the Indonesian national team. To this end, left back James, born in the Netherlands, obtained an Indonesian passport last year. That would mean, NAC reasons, that he no longer has Dutch nationality – and therefore must have a work permit. Since this is not the case, NAC asked the KNVB to have the match replayed or to convert the 6-0 defeat into a regular 3-0 victory.
The KNVB competition board has rejected the demand in order not to endanger “the continuity” of the competition. But NAC’s complaint has exposed a deeper labor law problem, with potentially far-reaching consequences. Several Dutch-born footballers play for the national team of the country of their parents or grandparents – namely Indonesia, Suriname and Cape Verde. Since, according to the law, you automatically lose Dutch citizenship when you voluntarily adopt another nationality, say labor lawyers, James and the other football players indeed no longer have Dutch nationality. “And as a non-EU citizen they must apply for a work permit,” says Steven Jellinghaus, an employment lawyer who specializes in sports law.
Following NAC’s complaint, first division club FC Emmen decided last Tuesday not to field winger Tim Geypens in the match against SC Cambuur. He also naturalized as an Indonesian in order to play for the national youth team. “We were surprised by this,” says technical director Nico Haak of FC Emmen. He calls the issue “very annoying from an empathetic point of view” for Geypens and the other football players.
First division club TOP Oss asked the KNVB on Tuesday to have the defeat against Willem II (1-3) declared invalid due to the participation of Indonesian international Nathan Tjoe-a-On.
2. How many players are involved?
The KNVB does not want to say that. In recent seasons, two Dutch footballers played for Cape Verde, six for Indonesia and eight for Suriname, which was eliminated from the World Cup in a play-off match against Bolivia on Thursday. The players include well-known names from the Eredivisie, such as goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen (FC Groningen), defender Mees Hilgers (FC Twente) and midfielder Jean-Paul Boëtius (RKC Waalwijk).
The rules do not apply to Dutch players who play for the national team of Morocco or Turkey, such as former Ajax player Hakim Ziyech or ex-Feyenoorder Orkun Kökçü: they already had two nationalities at birth, so it is not a voluntary choice. Nor for Dutch people who represent Curaçao or Aruba: these two countries are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
3. Why is this only coming to light now?
The players and their clubs, say those involved, were not aware of the consequences of their choice. There is a legal obligation to report the adoption of another nationality, but as long as someone does not actively join the government, he or she will retain his or her Dutch passport. “As long as no one knows, nothing will happen,” says lawyer Steven Jellinghaus.
4. What are the consequences for the football players?
The KNVB has “taken the intended decision” to consider all matches in the Eredivisie and First Division “as played”, says Jan de Jong, director of Eredivisie CV and member of the KNVB competition board. This means: no results adjusted or duels replayed. However, before the start of the next competition round, in the Easter weekend, the clubs must have “one hundred percent eligible players”, according to De Jong. “If there is still uncertainty about their status, they cannot play. That is the homework that now lies with the players and the clubs.”
As a result, a number of players would no longer be able to play for the rest of the season, says labor law expert Jellinghaus. “It seems unlikely to me that the clubs will have clarity about the status of their players in the short term. And until then, they would be on the field illegally.”
If it indeed turns out that the players are no longer Dutch, obtaining a work permit would be “a matter of a few days”, according to Jellinghaus. But then new problems arise. To start with, according to European guidelines, football players from outside the EU must earn at least one and a half times the average salary of the relevant competition. For the Eredivisie this is currently 600,000 euros – a considerable amount, which probably not all players in question now earn. The question is therefore whether clubs are prepared to offer them a new contract.
Even more far-reaching, says Jellinghaus, are the consequences of losing Dutch citizenship. “If their contract with the club expires, they will in principle lose their residence status. Perhaps they can then stay because they are married to a Dutch national, but otherwise they will have to reapply for Dutch citizenship.”
