Sports News in Brief: Three Danish teams reach Europa League playoffs

Elsewhere, Wozzie injured, Denmark cracks FIFA world rankings top 10 and KB unveils first girls’ team in 142-year history

Christian Wenande

Aug 17, 2018

Denmark will have three chances to get a team into the Europa League this year following wins by FC Copenhagen, Brøndby and FC Midtjylland last night.

Thanks to a brace by Dame N’Doye, FCK beat CSKA Sofia 2-1 at Telia Parken to win 4-2 on aggregate over the Bulgarians.

FCM with best chance
FC Midtjylland got past Welsh outfit TNS 3-1 at home (5-1 on aggregate) thanks to a double by Simon Okosun and a strike by Mayron George, while Brøndby beat Spartak Subotica 2-1 (4-1 on aggregate) at home despite playing 80 minutes with ten men. Dominik Kaiser and Kamil Wilczek scored the goals.

The only team to miss out was FC Nordsjælland, who lost 2-3 away to Partizan Belgrade (3-5 on aggregate) despite goals from Andreas Skov Olsen and Jonathan Amon.

FCM have the best chance to reach the group stages as they take on Swedish side Malmö FF, while Brøndby have a fair shake against Belgium outfit Genk. FCK, however, will likely find it tough going against Italian stalwarts Atalanta.

Woz injured in Cincinnati
Caroline Wozniacki’s participation at the US Open is hanging by a thread after she sustained an injury during the Cincinnati Open this week. The Dane was a set down to Dutch player Kiki Bertens in the second round of the tournament when she withdrew due to an injured shoulder. The injury could force Wozniacki out of the US Open, which starts on August 27. The Dane lost the final of the grand slam event in 2009 and 2014.

Denmark in FIFA’s top 10
Denmark is back in the top 10 of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in 21 years. The Danes ranked ninth on the newly-published list – a climb that has been underpinned by an 18-match undefeated run and a trip to the last-16 of the World Cup in Russia. World Cup champions France topped the ranking, followed by Belgium, Brazil, Croatia and Uruguay. England, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark (joint ninth) completed the top ten. Denmark’s highest-ever ranking on the list was sixth – in 1993 and 1996.

Two Danes leaving Astana
Kazakh cycling team Astana will lose two of its Danes in the near future. Michael Valgren announced after the Tour de France that he would leave for South African outfit Team Dimension Data at the end of the year, while Jesper Hansen has revealed he will sign for French team Cofodis. Astana will still have two Danish riders on their team in the form of Jakob Fuglsang and Magnus Cort – who won a stage in the Tour de France this summer.

KB finally for girls
It only took them 142 years, but Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) has finally gone and done it. The football club is starting a girls’ team. For the first time in their history, the club will start four girls’ teams this autumn. The club said it wanted to make the change earlier, but pitch availability issues and loads of boys on waiting lists had forced them to keep the girls on the side-lines – well not completely as the girls were allowed to play with the boys’ teams. Girls can sign up to teams until August 24 at KB’s website. Founded back in 1876, KB is the oldest football club in Europe outside the UK.

Juve eyeing Danish talent
According to several Italian media outlets, Seria A giant Juventus is lining up a bid for FC Nordsjælland’s starlet Nikolai Baden Frederiksen. The 18-year-old striker has been part of the first-team set-up at FCN for some time already and has scored three goals in ten appearances for the club. He also has 23 youth caps for Denmark to his name. According to Tipsbladet.dk, the transfer fee will be in the realm of 15 million kroner.