Pay dispute forces Denmark to cancel World Cup qualifier with Sweden in women’s soccer
he match had been scheduled for Friday in Gothenburg
A pay dispute involving the Danish women’s national team has forced the country’s soccer federation to cancel a World Cup qualifying match against Sweden.
The DBU said on Wednesday it has informed Uefa and Fifa and “expects now a disciplinary decision,” including being excluded from 2019 World Cup qualifying.
The match had been scheduled for Friday in Gothenburg. The federation had set a Wednesday morning deadline for the women’s side to come back to the table.
“Many things are dividing us,” DBU spokesman Kim Hallberg said.
In Sweden, the country’s national soccer federation said its women would continue to prepare for the match hoping it would eventually take place.
“It is a really special situation in which we never have been before,” Swedish federation general secretary Hakan Sjostrand said.
The DBU said it had offered to increase the annual investment to the women’s team by 2 million kroner (US$316,000) to 4.6 million kroner (HK$2.48 million) to be used on higher salaries, among other things.