Holland manager Bert van Marwijk called up 29 players on Wednesday for the upcoming last two qualifying matches ahead of next year’s European Championships finals.

One of them, Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, suffered a serious knee injury during training on Thursday and is expected to be out of action for at least six months.

Fortunately, three other midfielders - Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City) and Theo Janssen (Ajax) - have all recovered from injury.

Also back on the list is Bayern Munich striker Arjen Robben, who is expected to be fully fit when Holland take on Moldova before a capacity 51,500 crowd in Rotterdam on 7 October.

Four days later, the Dutch will play the number two in Group E, Sweden, in Solna near Stockholm. That match will decide who will finish as group leaders.

Holland have already qualified for next year's finals in Poland and Ukraine, but would like to finish top of the group. This would give them the privilege of playing the first three games of the finals in the same stadium (either Kharkiv or Gdansk).

The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) has decided on Krakow in Poland as its base of operations for next year’s European championship finals.

Preliminary Dutch squad:

Goalkeepers
Maarten Stekelenburg (AS Roma)
Michel Vorm (Swansea City)
Tim Krul (Newcastle United)

Defenders
Joris Mathijsen (Málaga)
John Heitinga (Everton)
Erik Pieters (PSV)
Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia)
Edson Braafheid (Hoffenheim)
Jeffrey Bruma (HSV)
Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart)
Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax)
Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord)

Midfield
Wesley Sneijder (Inter)
Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur)
Nigel de Jong (Manchester City)
Kevin Strootman (FC Utrecht)
Mark van Bommel (AC Milan)
Stijn Schaars (Sporting)
Theo Janssen (Ajax)

Strikers
Eljero Elia (Juventus)
Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04)
Arjen Robben (Bayern München)
Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)
Luuk de Jong (FC Twente)
Robin van Persie (Arsenal)
Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)
Jeremain Lens (PSV)
Ibrahim Afellay (FC Barcelona)
Ryan Babel (Hoffenheim)