PARAMARIBO – NAC Breda has lost the summary proceedings on the so-called passport issue. The judge has ruled that the Premier League match against Go Ahead Eagles, in which defender Dean James may not have been eligible to play, does not have to be replayed. A number of players from the national football selection of Suriname who have Dutch nationality have also fallen victim to this passport issue.
According to the court, the KNVB acted within its own regulations and could reasonably have reached this decision. The fact that the association has policy space in such decisions is also taken into account. Press judge Martine Erich explains: “The regulations state: ‘a match can be declared invalid’ and in that word ‘can’ there is room for the KNVB to make a choice and in this case that choice has been disadvantageous for NAC.”
“Replaying all those matches was deemed practically impossible by the KNVB”
The judge primarily looked at the question of whether the KNVB had made a defensible assessment. Arguments about the possible consequences for the competition played a role in this. “The KNVB took that argument into account in its decision, that it could be chaos at the end of the competition, and the judge said: ‘yes, that is easy to follow’,” said Erich.
The union argued that a precedent might be set. Similar issues could play a role in a total of 133 Premier League matches this season. Replaying all those matches was deemed practically impossible by the KNVB. The court follows that reasoning and rules that it is not unreasonable for the association to give greater weight to the broader competition interests than the individual interests of NAC, especially now that the season is approaching its conclusion.
For NAC, the ruling means that the club can no longer enforce points through this legal route. “For NAC, this means that no more points can be achieved through this legal procedure,” said the press judge.
The case arose in March, when NAC questioned the eligibility to play of Go Ahead defender Dean James. The player may have lost his Dutch nationality due to his choice for an international career with Indonesia. On this basis, NAC demanded that the match be replayed, but the KNVB rejected that request due to the possible far-reaching consequences. The judge has now confirmed that rejection.
