FC Twente goalkeeper Joël Drommel left the Dutch under 23 squat, where he was third goalkeeper, to play a league game for his club. Now the Dutch football association KNVB is prohibiting him to play because he was not "available" for his country. Why is this happening and what does it tell about the KNVB?

Joël Drommel in his FC Twente outfit (source)

FIFA rules regarding country duty

According to the FIFA a player has to be available for country duty when the national coach calls him/her to the team. To this extend, the KNVB (Dutch Football Association) is right to apply this rule by prohibiting Drommel to play for FC Twente. The strange thing however is that Twente has to play a league game at all.

First division playing during international weekends

FC Twente relegated from the Eredivisie last year, so it has to play its matches in the Keuken Kampioen Eerste Divisie. Last year, when Twente was still playing on the highest level, the KNVB decided, together with the clubs in the first division, that the league would not pause during international weekends. That means that all clubs that have players in representing teams (including the under 23 squat) don't have those players available in a lot of games.

KNVB logo (source)

What this tells us about football in The Netherlands

Clearly this leads to an unfair competition. Some of the teams are weaker in these weekends while others don't have any international players and are as strong as in "usual" rounds. In other countries the second level (like The Championship in England and the second Bundesliga in Germany) do take a break during international weekends. Obviously these competitions have a higher quality and have more international players than the Dutch first division. On the other hand, The Netherlands has always been a breeding country for national and international football talents. Having talents in your team, that might be called for national duty, is not very beneficial with this playing schedule.

Al in all I'd say the KNVB is not taking the first division serious by planning games in international weekends. Do you agree? Or do you think this is a pointless opinion? Let me know in the comments below!