Their passport was stolen, the Netherlands remains without the record holder in the World Cup qualifiers

The Netherlands national team will be without record goalscorer Memphis Depay for Thursday's match against Malta in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The famous Dutch footballer, who a month ago broke Robin Van Persie's record and took the top spot in the ranking of the best scorers in the history of the Netherlands with 52 goals, is currently part of Corinthians in Brazilian football.

He had planned to travel regularly to the Netherlands to join the team, but discovered that he no longer had his passport, which had been stolen. It is known that Depay had gone to the airport in the hope that he would be allowed to travel without a passport, but it had not been possible.

His absence was confirmed today by Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman, who made it clear that traveling a day late with "special emergency documentation" would cost Depay a place in the team's lineup for the match with Malta.