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Dutch coach calls for bigger European competition squads

March 27, 2024
A disappointed Virgil van Dijk after the defeat by Germany. Photo: Koen van Weel ANP

Dutch national coach Ronald Koeman has called on European football body Uefa to allow squads of 26 players for this summer’s European championships, three up on the current maximum size.

The current limit of 23 is “ridiculous”, Koeman said. “I am going to lobby for more, because I know more countries think the same way.”

Koeman was speaking after Tuesday night’s friendly against Germany, which the Netherlands lost 2-1. “It is absurd we can only select 23 players,” he said. “If more than one player drops out, you can no longer play 11 against 11 in training.”

Koeman has to submit his final squad to Uefa by June 7, nine days before Oranje meet Poland in their first Group D championship tie. Poland beat Wales in the final of the play-offs to qualify for the competition.

Oranje will meet Poland on June 16 in Hamburg, followed by France on June 21 in Leipzig and Austria in Berlin on June 25.

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