Sports Round-Up: Danish fans staying away from World Cup in Qatar

Elsewhere, the Bakken Bears return to CL heaven, FCN are still the youngest and Brøndby are punished for fan trouble

Oct 7, 2022

When Denmark kicks off its 2022 World Cup campaign in Qatar next month, it won’t have the fan support it usually does at a major tournament.

As of late September only about 2,000 tickets have been sold to Danish fans for the country’s three group stage games.

Criticism of Qatar as a host and exorbitant hotel prices have seen fans dump the tournament.

“Right now, we’ve sold a total of 2,000 tickets to Danish fans. We want to guide the Danes during their stay, but we won’t arrange any fan zones or other activities in Qatar as we don’t want to support the country,” Jakob Jensen, the head of football association DBU, told Ekstra Bladet.

Different in Euro 2024
Danish fans could have been allocated 3-5,000 tickets for each game, but currently only an average of 700 tickets per game have been sold.

Should Denmark qualify for Euro 2024 in Germany, DBU said that it would once again assume a greater role in distributing tickets for Danish fans.

Denmark opens the tournament against Tunisia on November 22, before taking on France on November 26 and Australia on November 30.

Sertdemir lauded by The Guardian
Denmark under-19 international Zidan Sertdemir was among the The Guardian’s 2022 Next Generation list – which highlights the 60 best young talents in world football. Sertdemir, who plays in the midfield for Bayer Leverkusen, became the youngest Bundesliga debutant for Bayer Leverkusen and the second youngest in the history of the Bundesliga last year.

Mahfoud no longer undefeated
One of Denmark’s top female boxers, Sarah Mahfoud, lost for the first time in her professional career in Manchester on September 24. The Faroese-born boxer lost her IBF title belt to Puerto Rican fighter Amanda Serrano on points. Serrano now holds the featherweight title belts in the WBC, WBO, IBO and now the IBF as well. Mahfoud, meanwhile, now has 11 wins and one loss as a pro.

Bears in Champions League
Denmark’s top basketball team, the Bakken Bears, once again qualified for the Champions League following a tight overtime victory against Serbian side FMP Meridian on September 25. The Danes won 88-82 after the game initially finished 74-74 in ordinary time. The last time the Bears were in the Champions League was in the 2020/21 season.

FCN are the youngest
According to CIES Football Observatory, FC Nordsjælland has the youngest team across 60 leagues in the world with an average age in starting lineups of 22.31 years. Additionally, the Tigers from Farum have all topped the list in terms of giving playing time to under-21 players – 74 percent of playing time was taken up by under-21 players. The Superliga team with the oldest average age was AGF Aarhus, with 26.57.

Holger’s heat and Tauson’s turmoil
Following his runner-up performance at the ATP tournament in Bulgaria on October 2, Holger Rune once again reached 26th in the world ranking – equaling the highest ranking in his career. Meanwhile, things are not going as well for Denmark’s top women’s player Clara Tauson. Pestered by a lingering back injury, Tauson has dropped from top career mark 33rd in February to currently sit 94th.

Talent with landmark win
Mattias Skjelmose, 21, took the first win of his professional career on September 16 on the fourth stage of the Tour de Luxembourg. The Trek rider won the 26km time trial and took the yellow jersey in the process. Skjelmose would go on to become the fifth Dane to win the Tour de Luxembourg in race history.

Youngest Serie A debut
Aged just 17, Julius Beck became the youngest ever Dane to make his debut in the Serie A after being subbed in for Spezia against Lazio on October 2. The former SønderjyskE player came on with eight minutes left of the game, which ended in a 4-0 win to the Italian giants from Rome.

Brøndby punished for fan trouble
Brøndby will play its remaining away games in 2022 without its fans following several instances of fan trouble. It means that Brøndby’s games at Randers, AGF, OB and Aarhus Fremad in the Danish Cup will be without away fans. The club was also fined 400,000 kroner.