Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 2:08 PM

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar played completely legally with the sixth team of HC’03 from Drempt against Concordia Wehl 10 last Sunday, chairman Mart de Kruif says in conversation with the Gelderlander. René van Leeuwen, chairman of DCS, questioned this, as his club tried to get Damir Rovcanin to play in vain. De Kruif says that there is a difference in the rules for such registrations between the A category and the B category of amateur football.

Rovcanin played hundreds of matches in Turkey and Bosnia & Herzegovina for various clubs. Rovcanin has not played an official game since July 2019 and he has been living in Arnhem for several years. However, the striker can only play matches for the DCS first team from January 4, 2022. The international transfer could not be completed as Rovcanin has played in the past three years and was only signed up after the transfer window closed.

“Klaas-Jan is registered with us as a player in the B category. This means that he can immediately take action, but not for the selection. For that you have to be registered as a player in the A category”, De Kruif explains the difference. The chairman of HC’03 says that in Huntelaar’s case no international transfer was necessary and that he was transferred from Ajax to HC’03. “We arranged this all neatly last week, and it was confirmed to us by the KNVB that Klaas-Jan was allowed to play.”

“Klaas-Jan playing with us on Sunday was fully approved, we already received confirmation from the KNVB last week. Otherwise he would of course not have participated at all”, says De Kruif. He says he has not yet had any contact with the KNVB about the investigation that the association announced it would do. The KNVB in turn says that nothing can be said about the investigation yet.

Van Leeuwen regrets that a fuss has arisen after his contact with the KNVB and has now been in contact with his colleague from HC’03. “We’re going to have a beer together soon. It was never my intention that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar should not be allowed to play football. I think it’s wonderful that he plays in the basement class in our region. I only saw an opening for our player Damir Rovcanin, that he can also play football in the first team of DCS immediately.”