Dutch talent steering several countries towards 2026 World Cup

The Netherlands have enjoyed plenty of World Cup success as three-time runners-up, and at next year’s finals in North America, Dutch influence could stretch well beyond their own team.

They are fancied to qualify comfortably for next year's tournament in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., but Dutch-born talent is also helping other countries bidding to reach the finals for the first time.

A change in single nationality laws has enabled Indonesia and Suriname to significantly bolstered their talent pool, while the island nations of Cape Verde and Curaçao have a considerable, and influential, tally of Dutch-born players in their squad.

Morocco, who have qualified for the World, also tap into the migrant community in the Netherlands, with players like Sofyan Amrabat and Noussair Mazraoui regulars in the team who were the first to book a 2026 berth from the African zone.

Indonesia have taken on a distinctly Dutch flavour under coach Patrick Kluivert, with more than a dozen players recently naturalised, as they look to earn one of the two remaining Asian spots available when they meet Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Iraq on Saturday.

Strictly speaking, they have played in a World Cup, as the Dutch East Indies in 1938, but an independent Indonesia have never been as close as they are now.

Among the additions is Eliano Reijnders, the 24-year-old younger brother of Manchester City’s Tijjani, who should feature for the Dutch side in World Cup qualification this week. Their mother is from the Maluku Islands.

MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT FOR INDONESIA

Marc Klok, one of the first Dutch-born players to be granted Indonesian citizenship because of family ties and who debuted for them two years ago, says the improvement is tenfold.

"We're improving in quality