HC’03 would not have registered him as an ‘international player’ after all. “First of all, we are of course very pleased that we continue to see Klaas-Jan on our amateur fields. That is great for amateur football and the experience of this, many people will have already enjoyed the message about this,” said the football association against the Telegraaf.
But nothing could be further from the truth, something appears to have gone wrong within the systems of the KNVB. “It is of course very exceptional that a former international, following his career abroad, takes the step to this level in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, we had to conclude that something did not go quite right in the ICT systems. We will of course resolve this quickly.”
German bond release
Both Huntelaar and HC’03 have done nothing wrong, the football association wants to emphasize: „In this case, Klaas-Jan and his club did not break any rules, they were allowed to rely on what the system told them. However, we still have to receive the international release from the German federation. We are going after it to get this done as soon as possible so that hopefully he can play again next weekend.”
Similar
Amateur club DCS from Zevenaar recently experienced something similar: they also recruited an ex-pro. Dami Rovcanin (33) played professional football in Turkey and Bosnia, but has not played an official game since July 2019. The club’s chairman, René van Leeuwen, turned to the KNVB to register him as an ‘international player’, but received no response from the football association, reported the Gelderlander earlier.
Reason: Rovcanin did not comply with the rules, because he was not allowed to play for at least three years. In addition, he was only registered by the club after the transfer deadline. Rovcanin may also not be released for DCS until January 2022.
Warm bath
Huntelaar won the match 3-1. He didn’t score, thought HC’03 chairman Mart de Kruif. “I don’t think he scored, but I wasn’t there myself,” he told Region 8.
Huntelaar has deliberately stayed out of the publicity, according to De Kruif, who is also a teammate of the former top striker. “He just wants to play football. The club is a warm bath. He doesn’t need anything, he can do anything.”
