Sports Round-Up: Rough draw for Danish teams in Europe

Elsewhere, Danish golf celebrates historic weekend and there was more Champions League final woe for Pernille Harder

Aug 31, 2020

There wasn’t too much to celebrate today for the Danish teams still in European competition.

FC Midtjylland did get the home draw – this year’s European qualifiers will take place over one leg due to the Coronavirus Crisis – in the Champions League third qualification round, but will face tough opposition in Swiss champions Young Boys.

That matchup will take place in Herning on either September 15 or 16 and the winner will be guaranteed a spot in at least the Europa League group stage.

Øresund derby!
Should the Wolves get past Young Boys, they could face RB Salzburg, Slavia Prague, Olympiacos or the winners of the third-round matchup between Dinamo Zagreb and Ferencvaros.

Meanwhile in the Europa League, both FC Copenhagen and AGF Aarhus will travel for their second qualifying round games.

FCK will pop across the Øresund Bridge to take on IFK Gothenburg, while AGF will play away at either Nõmme Kalju (Estonia) or Mura (Slovenia). Both games will be played on September 17.

Impressive first Tour de France start
Current world champ Mads Pedersen turned heads on his first ever Tour de France stage by finishing second on the first stage of the postponed 2020 edition. In doing so, Pedersen became just the third reigning world champ to lead the TdF youth rankings. The other two who have managed the feat are Lance Armstrong (1994) and Greg Lemond (1984). While Denmark’s biggest podium chance, Jakob Fuglsang, is not participating in the race this year, there are eight Danes taking part. Aside from Pedersen (Trek), they are Søren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb), Casper Pedersen (Sunweb), Michael Valgren (NTT), Niklas Eg (Trek), Michael Mørkøv (Quick-Step), Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step) and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott).

Young gun wins UK Championship
Denmark’s biggest men’s golf talent, Rasmus Højgaard, continued his rise by winning the UK Championship at the Belfry over the weekend. The 19-year-old Dane won the European Tour tournament following a play-off against South Africa’s Justin Walters. Højgaard’s title is his second in his inaugural European Tour season and netted him a sum of 1.17 million kroner.

Czech out Pedersen!
Emily Kristine Pedersen was another Dane to impress on the links followed her triumph at the Czech Open on Sunday. The 24-year-old won the tournament convincingly by four strokes ahead of Christine Wolf of Austria. It is Pedersen’s second title on the Ladies European Tour after winning the India Open in 2015 – the year she was honoured with the Rookie of the Year award.

Tauson nears top 200
Denmark’s new tennis darling Clara Tauson has reached her highest position in the women’s world rankings following her win at the W15 Oeiras tournament in Portugal on August 23. The 17-year-old is now ranked 208 on the WTA rankings, up four places since August 17. Tauson can rack up some more points this week at the Prague Open and break into the top 200 for the first time in her career.

More final woe for Harder
Denmark’s top women’s footballer suffered more Champions League final heartbreak after her side Wolfsburg lost 1-3 to Lyon. It was the second time in three years that Harder and Wolfsburg have lost a Champions League final to Lyon, who have won it five times in a row now. Since the match, there has been ample speculation that Harder has been signed by Chelsea in a record move.