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Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
A dispute over commercial rights between the Danish football association and players of the national team forced the former to dismiss the entire squad called up to play against Slovakia and Wales in the upcoming international break. Among those players sent home are Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen.
My @ESPNFC piece with the latest in a strange & messy story:
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) September 3, 2018
The Danish FA emailed clubs today releasing their players from international duty as commercial dispute with players rumbles on. Eriksen, Christensen, Schmeichel all affected https://t.co/ehvaMhBPt1
As reported by ESPN’s Liam Twomey, the source of this debacle are the individual players signing deals with companies that are rivals of the ones sponsoring the Danish national team. The players, represented by their collective association, failed to sign a new agreement with the FA before Friday’s deadline and rejected the PFA’s offer of an extension on the current agreement until October.
And so their FA took the seemingly unprecedented decision to dismiss all the players who were called up by coach Age Hareide, whose services will also not be required this break apparently. Denmark must now find a replacement squad (of non-union players, i.e. mostly amateurs), or they will have to forfeit their games and face UEFA sanctions as well.
Needless to say, the player are less than pleased.
As crisis leaves Denmark without a squad, Eriksen is furious.
— Ricky Sacks (@RickSpur) September 3, 2018
“We are making a big surplus for the DBU every year and therefore it is disappointing that the DBU tries to tell a story that we don’t think of anything else but our own wallets.”#THFC #COYShttps://t.co/tbYDDO85JE
What a mess!
Denmark have sacked off their entire squad because of a commercial dispute between the DBU and the players, and may have to field a team of amateurs V Wales. @JStaehelin of Danish podcast Mediano Fodbold joins us to explain the chaos.https://t.co/Y6ZFEYEX7i pic.twitter.com/KdhiYDtEtZ
— Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) September 3, 2018