On Friday afternoon around 1 p.m., the KNVB announces the pre-selection of the Dutch national team for the World Cup in Qatar. FIFA world football’s governing body must list a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 55 players. For whom is the World Cup dream shattered?

With the possibility of such a large pre-selection, national coach Louis van Gaal still has a lot of leeway for the selection of doubtful cases or players who are still struggling with injuries. Nevertheless, it will be an exciting day. No place in this pre-selection also means no World Cup.

dilemmas

After the last international we wrote about Van Gaal’s dilemmas in putting together his squad. Since then, Xavi Simons (PSV), Sven Botman (Newcastle United) and Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkusen) have all shown form but those three have never been called up.

It is not for nothing that Van Gaal said that he prefers to bring players he has seen not only on the field, but also in a group. And how much patience does the national coach have with injuries? The national coach will keep a place for Memphis Depay as long as possible, he said before.

Only replacement in case of injury or illness

In the event of an injury or serious illness, a national coach can replace a player up to 24 hours before the country’s first World Cup game. The replacement must have been in the preselection.

The possibility of putting together such a large pre-squad is new and planned due to the timing of the World Cup during the season and in order to be as flexible as possible in the event of an injury. At the last World Cup in Russia, the pre-selection could consist of 35 players, at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil 30.

For all 32 World Cup participants, Friday, 30 days before the start of the World Cup, is the deadline for submitting the preselection. FIFA needs this deadline for administrative reasons.

However, the countries concerned are not obliged to disclose and FIFA does not publish the shortlists. The KNVB does this with Orange’s in the form of a press release, but the FA, for example, does not make the list public and does not inform the players concerned.

Deadline for final selection November 14th

Van Gaal still has more than three weeks after today to put together a definitive group of 26 players for the World Cup from the pre-selection. That number has also been expanded as the last editions of the World Cup featured 23 players. Also new is that more than three goalkeepers are allowed.

The deadline for the final line-up is November 14, six days before the first World Cup match between Qatar and Ecuador. After that, FIFA will publish all selections. The day before, on Sunday 13 November, the last club competition games will be played here and there.