Tuesday, September 20, 2022 at 12:11• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 12:18

Sven Botman will not report to the Dutch Juniors this international period. The defender has withdrawn from national coach Erwin van de Looi because he wants to focus on Newcastle United, the KNVB reports. No replacement is being called up for Botman, which means that Van de Looi has 22 selection players at his disposal.

Botman is usually a basic player at the Dutch Juniors, but now chooses to stay in England with his employer Newcastle. The Magpies underperforming and only managed to win once this season in competition. On the first day of play, PhD student Nottingham Forest was defeated 2-0. The six games that followed resulted in five draws and one loss. In the battle for the EFL Cup, Tranmere Rovers won 1-2.

The Dutch Juniors will meet this week to start the practice campaign for the European Championship next year. Van de Looi’s team plays exhibition games against Belgium and Romania. On Friday at 6.30 pm there will be kicked off against the southern neighbors in Leuven, after which the confrontation with Romania’s peers awaits in Cluj on Tuesday. As the organizing country, the Romanians have automatically been placed for the European Championship and therefore did not have to play European Championship qualifiers.

Romania will host the European Championship together with Georgia. The tournament will take place next summer from June 21 to July 8. A total of sixteen countries participate in the European final battle. In addition to the Netherlands, Romania and Georgia, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, England, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Spain are already certain of participating. The other four countries emerge from the play-offs that will be played later this month.