NAC loses passport case against Go Ahead Eagles, averting chaos

Breda football club NAC have lost their bid to replay a match against Go Ahead Eagles after discovering the Deventer side had fielded a player who was not technically allowed to play.

The court said in its ruling that the interests of NAC in replaying the game did not compare to the interests of the Dutch football association KNVB in heading off major problems completing the Eredivisie competition.

In a worst case scenario, 133 Eredivisie matches would need to be replayed because all of them involved players who did not have valid work permits.

The legal issue centres on Go Ahead Eagles defender Dean James who played in their recent 6-0 victory over relegation-threatened NAC Breda.

The 25-year-old was born in the Netherlands, but has Indonesian heritage and obtained an Indonesian passport last March in order to qualify for the national team. He has since made five appearances for Indonesia.

The Netherlands requires most people who adopt a different nationality to give up their Dutch passports and this means James is no longer an EU citizen. As such, he has to meet much stricter criteria to play in the Eredivisie, such as a work permit and a minimum salary of €600,000 a year.

Several Dutch-born players have made the switch in the last two years, including Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Paes, Groningen goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen, NEC striker Tjaronn Chery and Go Ahead Eagles forward Richonell Margaret.

Their legal positions are now being checked by the IND immigration service.

Both NAC and the KNVB have said they will now let their legal dispute rest.