Oranje provisional roster for Euro 2021 announced

Dutch men's national football coach Frank de Boer announced the country's 34-man provisional squad for the UEFA EURO 2020 football tournament taking place from June 11 to July 11. The final roster for the European championship, consisting of 26 players, will be announced on May 26th, the Dutch football association KNVB announced.

The Oranje coach said that "difficult choices had to be made" in the selection process. The Dutch team failed to qualify for the previous championship in 2016, and did not appear in the 2018 World Cup.

The new squad will be captained by Georginio Wijnaldum, the Rotterdam-born midfielder playing his fifth season for with Liverpool. Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong and Juventus’s Matthijs de Ligt will be crucial to the team marking their comeback at the major tournament.

Virgil van Dijk who was key to Liverpool’s Premier League title last season announced on Thursday he would not be joining the squad for the upcoming Euro. The Dutch defender said he has not yet recovered from the ligament injury he suffered in October last year.

The preliminary squad also includes Ajax's Daley Blind and Davy Klaassen, Atalanta’s Marten de Roon, Spartak’s Quincy Promes, and Sevilla striker Luuk de Jong, among the others.

The technical staff will work with a small group of players who no longer have any club commitments during the first training camp, running from May 24 to May 26. Staff and players will then meet in Zeist on May 28 before departing the next day for Lagos, Portugal for the second half of the training camp, KNVB confirmed.

The Netherlands has been placed in Group C alongside Ukraine, Austria, and North Macedonia, and will play all of their group matches in Amsterdam. Oranje, who are also one of 11 hosts of the quadrennial event, will face Ukraine on June 13 in their opening game.

The Netherlands is set to face teams Scotland and Georgia in international friendlies during the first week of June.

Oranje's 34-man provisional squad for EURO 2020