KNVB taking govt. advice ahead of France, England friendlies

Netherlands is set to host France at the Amsterdam Arena on Friday, before facing England at Wembley four days later. The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) expressed its sympathy with the victims of the explosions, but says it is not planning a review of its security measures.

Published : Mar 22, 2016 19:38 IST

Netherlands national team during a training session.
Netherlands national team during a training session.
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Netherlands national team during a training session.

The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) is following instructions from the government but has no plans to cancel the upcoming friendlies against France and England following Tuesday's explosions in Brussels.

Explosions at Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek metro station in the Belgian capital killed 34 people and injured 136 according to the latest official figures.

Netherlands is set to host France at the Amsterdam Arena on Friday, before facing England at Wembley four days later. The KNVB expressed its sympathy with the victims of the explosions, but says it is not planning a review of its security measures. Read: >Belgium team calls off training session after blasts

In a statement released to Omnisport, the KNVB said: "The KNVB's thoughts are, of course, with the victims, and the families, of the attacks in Brussels. We feel deeply sad about what happened in Belgium this morning.

"We follow the instructions of our national government in relation to the risk of organising big events in our country. Our government is leading on this issue, they are capable and have the best recent information.

"For this moment we have no plans to review security procedures around our national teams and the coming matches they play. But the level of the measures we take is already high.

"We have a meeting [on Tuesday] at our headquarters in which we will discuss the level of our security. This is a meeting which was already planned because taking care of our players, fans and colleagues is already a high priority."

In November, Netherlands' friendly against Germany in Hannover was cancelled four days after terror attacks in Paris due to security fears over "serious plans to bring about an explosion".

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