דה רידר שיחק בנבחרת הולנד עד גיל 21 ומבחינת פיפא לאומיותו הולנדית. לפי חוקי פיפא שחקן יכול להחליף לאומיות פעם אחת ועליו לעשות זאת לפני גיל 21. דה-רידר היה בן 21 במרץ. גם אם יאשרו לו לעבור לפנים משורת הדין הוא לא יוכל לשחק נגד שוויץ ואיי פארו כי לפי חוקי פיפא אסור לעבור באמצע טורניר.

החוק בנושא זה כפי שכתוב באתר פיפא:

Dual nationality: initial benefits of new FIFA Statutes already evident


Zurich, 8 January 2004 - In Doha (Qatar) on 19 October 2003, the Extraordinary FIFA Congress ratified the new Statutes of world football’s governing body, which came into force on 1 January 2004. One provision in particular, article 15 of the new Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes, attracted the attention of many.

Under the terms of this new provision, up to his 21st birthday, a player who has represented an Association team in one or more matches of an official competition may henceforth request to change the Association for which he is eligible, provided that he fulfils the following criteria:

- he has not played at “A” international level for the Association for which he is eligible at the time he submitted the request;- he had dual nationality (or more than two nationalities), at the time of his first appearance in an international match in an official competition of any category. Therefore, this provision does not apply to any players who have been naturalised after having already represented one Association. Consequently, FIFA has rejected the request submitted by Murat Mogomedov, a Russian player but now a naturalised Israeli, as he has already played for Russia.

Any player who fulfils the above criteria may only once request to change the Association for which he is eligible. Changing Associations is not permitted during the preliminary competition of a FIFA competition, continental championship or the Olympic Tournaments if a player has already been fielded in a match of one of these competitions.

Any player who fulfils the above conditions must submit a request to FIFA through the Association wishing to enrol him. The FIFA Players’ Status Committee is responsible for ruling on such matters.

Furthermore, FIFA has also introduced a transitional period, which shall only apply throughout 2004, to allow players over the age of 21 to benefit from the above provision, provided that they fulfil the relevant criteria.

“The sheer number of requests that we received in the days following the coming into force of article 15 of the new Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes merely confirms the need for this provision, which was unanimously approved at the Extraordinary Congress in Doha by the Associations from all around the world,” said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

A number of players and Associations have already submitted requests to FIFA ahead of the forthcoming African Cup of Nations. Consequently, FIFA yesterday approved requests to change Associations submitted by Frédéric Oumar Kanouté (Mali), Mohamed Lamine Sissoko (Mali) and Lamine Sakho (Senegal), who all represented France at youth level on one or more occasion. Similarly, requests submitted by Anther Yahia, Abdenasser Ouadah and Samir Beloufa (all Algeria), and Adel Chedly (Tunisia), who all represented France at youth level in the past, were approved at the end of December 2003 and came into force on 1 January 2004.

http://www.fifa.com/en/media/index/0,1369,73776,00.html