Overview
- CAS backed FIFA’s refusal, leaving Union Berlin defender Danilho Doekhi ineligible to play for Suriname.
- FIFA’s rule requires a player to already hold the new nationality at the time of any relevant youth appearance.
- Doekhi did not have a Surinamese passport when he last played for the Netherlands U21 in November 2020 against Belarus.
- Suriname cited goalkeeper Maarten Paes as a precedent, but he was cleared to switch to Indonesia because he already held that citizenship at his U21 game.
- The failed appeal closes Suriname’s legal route and costs the team a €13 million-rated centre-back who never made the Dutch senior side.