The DBU football association shocked a lot of people around the world on Wednesday with a statement announcing that it is considering withdrawing from FIFA.
“It is not a decision that has been made now. We have been aware of this for a long time. We have been discussing it in the Nordics since August,” said DBU chairman Jesper Møller.
Timely notification
The announcement was timely as the European Parliament criticized FIFA a day later for allowing the World Cup to take place in Qatar, given the oil-rich state’s appalling human rights record.
The EU has called for a compensation fund for the families of the estimated 6,500 migrant workers who have lost their lives during preparations for the tournament. Many of the deaths are simply unexplained.
Threatened with sanctions from FIFA
The Danish football team, among a number of other squads, had to drop plans to wear the One Love armband. As a breach of FIFA rules, captain Simon Kjær risked being suspended and could not participate in the match against France on Saturday.
DBU will oppose Gianni Infantino’s presidential re-election in FIFA. According to the DBU, there were only four unions out of 211 that did not sign his statement of support.
LGBTQ+ fans criticize DBU
The LGBTQ+ community in Denmark has condemned the DBU football association after pouncing on FIFA and deciding not to show the armband as they expected more from them.
However, some of them welcomed the DBU’s subsequent statement against FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino.
Danish fan refused entry to Qatari stadium because of his socks
Before the match between the USA and Wales, Christoffer Pederstrup, a Danish football fan, was refused entry because he was wearing rainbow socks. The security guard did not allow him to enter the stadium when he saw the socks. An American journalist was also denied entry before the match because he was wearing a rainbow shirt. However, former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt had no problems at Denmark’s match against Tunisia, where she wore a blue dress with rainbow colored sleeves. Sanctions have not yet been handed down by the football institutions.
Thomas Delaney gives up the WC
The 31-year-old Danish midfielder Thomas Delaney will not continue in the tournament after suffering an injury in the opening match against Tunisia. He returns to Denmark. “We will miss Delaney both on and off the field. Other players are ready and we have a strong squad for the next games,” noted DBU.
Low audience for Denmark-Tunisia
Less than a million Danes watched the national team’s opening match at the WC 2022 on Tuesday. An early kickoff at 14:00 meant that many were still at work, their studies or carrying out family duties. An audience of 983,000 tuned in compared to the 1.5 million who watched the opening Euro 2020 match against Finland last year.
Family tragedy forces Nadia Nadim to cut short ITV appearance
UK viewers of the Denmark v Tunisia match on Tuesday might have been surprised to see Denmark international Nadia Nadim among the pundits. But tragically, she had to cut her appearance short after finding out her 57-year-old mother had been killed in a road accident. Together with her mother and siblings, Nadim emigrated from Afghanistan to Denmark as a child after her father had been killed by the Taliban. “She was a warrior who had fought for every inch of her life. She gave me life not once but twice and everything I/we are is because of her,” Nadim said in a statement Wednesday.
Source: The Nordic Page