Sports News in Brief: Denmark supports North American bid for 2026 World Cup

Elsewhere, all was good in Russia, the women score ten in two and Danish delight at Tour de Suisse

Jun 13, 2018

The Danish football association DBU has revealed that it is supporting the North American bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

DBU chairman Jesper Møller said the Dane would prefer a World Cup held jointly in the US, Mexico and Canada over the other bid from Morocco.

“We’ve looked at it a lot and it’s important to spread football all over the world. We think that it’s North America’s turn to host a World Cup. In 2026 it will be 30 years since the last time,” Møller told DR Nyheder.

More than sports
Møller explained that DBU had considered a number of issues, including human rights and sustainability.

The 2026 World Cup bid vote will take place this afternoon in Moscow.

Denmark praise conditions in Russia
The Danish national team arrived in Russia ahead of the World Cup and reported that the trip went without a hitch and praised their hotel near Anapa on the Black Sea. The team was given a warm welcome at Hotel Beton Brut in the little town of Vityazevo, where the team is based throughout the tournament. The Danes had their first training session yesterday on a brand new pitch, which coach Åge Hareide called the best the team has played on for quite some time.

Ladies laying them down
The Danish womens’ national team took a big stride to qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in France. In the space of four days, the Danes beat both Ukraine and Hungary 5-1 and now sit joint top of Group 4 alongside Sweden, who surprisingly lost to Ukraine yesterday. With two rounds to go, the Swedes lead by virtue of their 3-0 automatic win over Denmark during the player strike last year, but the Danes can win the group with a win at home over Sweden in the final game on September 4.

Dane pedals to Swiss glory
Christopher Juul-Jensen secured one of the biggest triumphs of his career when he won the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse yesterday. The 28-year-old Mitchelton-Scott rider broke out with about 3 km from the finish and managed to hold on for the win. In the overall standings, Søren Kragh Andersen is the best Dane, currently sitting 13th – 33 seconds behind the leader, Stefan Küng of Switzerland.

Durmisi ready for Rome?
Danish left back Riza Durmisi may have been disappointed in being cut from Denmark’s World Cup squad, but now there’s better news afoot. According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Seria A giants Lazio have had a bid for the Dane accepted by his Spanish club Real Betis. Should the deal go through, the Italians will reportedly have to shell out upwards of 50 million kroner for the 24-year-old, who has 23 caps for Denmark.