Dave Smith
August 27th, 2020

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FC Midtjylland moved a step closer to the group stages of football’s premier club competition with a 1-0 victory over Bulgaria’s PFC Ludogorets on Wednesday.

The win means the Danish champions are one game away from the Champions League play-offs, which will decide which teams join the giants in the lucrative group stage.

Draw on Monday
Their opponents in the third qualifying round, which will comprise just a single game, will be decided on Monday. The play-offs will be played over two legs with the winners advancing to the group stage and the losers entering the Europa League.

The Jutland club’s opponents could be Dynamo Zagreb of Croatia, Young Boys of Switzerland or Red Star Belgrade of Serbia.

Bendtner training with Tårnby
Former Danish international Nicklas Bendtner is training with the small Danish club Tårnby FF, Ekstra Bladet reports. Bendtner, whose former clubs include Arsenal and Juventus, is scheduled to make his debut for Tårnby’s ‘old boys’ on September 9. The 32-year-old striker was previously a regular with the Danish national team, for which he scored 30 goals in 81 matches. He most recently played for FC Copenhagen, but his contract was not extended after 2019. It remains unclear whether Bentner will continue in the professional game.

Harder in CL final
Pernille Harder’s Wolfsburg will participate in the women’s Champion’s League final following a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Barcelona. The Danish national team captain, who scored four goals for Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals, featured prominently in the game which was settled by a strike from team-mate Fridolina Rolfö. Wolfsburg now face Lyon in the final on Sunday. Their French opponents will start as strong favourites, having won the competition on the past four occasions.

Tauson wins in Portugal
Danish tennis starlet Clara Tauson can add another title to her name after winning an ITF tournament in Portugal. The Dane beat Spaniard Maria Gutierrez Carrasco 6-3, 6-2 at a tournament in Oeiras near Lisbon.  The victory is Tauson’s first following a long lay-off due to the coronavirus outbreak. The 17-year-old, who won the ITF Australian Junior Open in 2019, is next due to participate in a WTA tournament in Prague, which starts on August 31.

Youngest Dane on cycling’s World Tour
Danish cycling prospect Frederik Wandahl will ride for the strong German team BORA-hansgrohe next season after signing a three-year contract. The 19-year-old, who will become the youngest Dane ever on the World Tour, will be a team-mate of world stars such as Slovakia’s Peter Sagen. Wandahl made headlines in 2018 when he became the Danish junior road-racing champion. In 2019 he finished eighth at the World Junior Championships in Yorkshire.

Jønsson moving to La Liga
Danish midfielder Jens Jønsson has signed a contract with Spanish La Liga club Cadiz, which runs until 2022. The 27-year-old makes the switch from Turkey’s Konyaspor, where his contract expired this summer. The Dane made 121 appearances for AGF Aarhus before being sold to Konyaspor in August 2016. Cadiz finished runners-up in the Segunda Division last season, securing promotion to the top flight. Jønsson’s arrival means that Denmark now has four players in Spain’s top division.