Frenkie de Jong starts for Netherlands in World Cup opener against Japan

Frenkie de Jong is back on the World Cup stage. The 29-year-old Barcelona midfielder has been named in the starting lineup for the Netherlands’ opening match against Japan in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, taking the field in Dallas, Texas on June 14, 2026.

For a player whose career has been defined by elegant passing and metronomic midfield control, the moment represents something of a full-circle return. De Jong featured in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and now gets the nod from coach Ronald Koeman as the Dutch look to make a deep run in the first expanded-format tournament in FIFA history.

De Jong was officially named to the Dutch squad on May 27, 2026. Both he and Koeman participated in pre-match press conferences ahead of the opener, signaling the midfielder’s central role in the team’s tactical setup.

This match marks de Jong’s debut in the expanded World Cup format, which features 48 teams for the first time.

De Jong’s crypto connection, and why it fizzled

Back in 2022, the midfielder launched a personal NFT collectibles project. The project faced operational difficulties, joining a long list of athlete-backed NFT ventures that launched into the hype cycle and struggled once the music stopped.

De Jong also appeared on Panini’s LaLiga digital trading cards, another product that sat at the intersection of sports fandom and blockchain technology.

There are zero crypto assets, tokens, or blockchain protocols referenced in connection with this World Cup match. Compare this to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where crypto sponsorships were everywhere. Crypto.com had its logo on stadiums. Algorand was FIFA’s official blockchain partner. Fan tokens from Socios were being marketed aggressively to supporters of participating nations.

The collapse of FTX, which had its own sports sponsorship empire, left a crater in the industry’s appetite for athletic partnerships.

De Jong’s own NFT experience is a microcosm of this shift. A talented, high-profile athlete lent his name to a project during peak mania, and the project struggled once market conditions deteriorated.

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