The Right to Play

Women have historically not had it easy in the male-dominated world of football, and only in the 1970s did most countries lift bans on women's football. I just listened to a very interesting podcast from Danish Radio, "Retten til Fodbold" ("The Right to Football") that through two Danish stories told about the challenges and discrimination faced by women in football.

The first story is an interview with Lone Hansen, a Danish player on the 1970 Danish National team that won the first women's World Cup in 1970, and facing the discrimination from the Danish Football Association (DBU) decided to become one of the first professional female players in Italy, in 1971, when she went to play for Fiorentina, where she stayed for four years, but never received any recognition in Denmark, where DBU only allowed women football after pressure from UEFA in 1972 (and even despite the fact that Denmark had won the Unofficial Women's World Cup in 1971).

The second story is more recent, and is that of the Afghan-born Danish player Nadia Nadim. Born in Afghanistan she experienced the Taliban takeover and her family had to flee to Denmark, where she was able to play football, and was spotted early on by scouts and was invited for the Danish National team despite all the discrimination she faced as a woman, but also as a refugee. Nadia Nadim went on to become a superstar and has been capped 104 times for Denmark!

Even today women face discrimination in football despite huge advances, and it is clear that this even happens in Denmark, and the amazing story of these two strong women is a welcome reminder, besides it being amazing stories.

Joke-mark

I was just browsing the news and saw that the Danish national team for the next friendly and Nations League matches against Slovakia and Wales will be a group of amateur players from the lowest leagues because the Danish football federation, DBU, and the players of the Danish national team have a dispute on commercial rights. So basically the Danish team, among the 16 best in the world in the last World Cup, are not just a joke, but also insulting the fans, their opponents and the entire footballing world.
One has to wonder why this is not happening with other national teams: surely other national teams, whose professional players also have commercial rights, have similar agreements that could be an example for these uncompromising Danes...? So either the Danish national team players had the best deal in the world, and DBU were trying to normalize it, or DBU are offering a deal that is much worse than what other national teams have.
Last year the Danish women's team refused to play a World Cup qualifier amid a similar dispute. Denmark was fined and lost the match. Why does this happen with DBU and not with other football associations? Are Danish professional players (both men and women) more complicated than the ones from other countries, or is DBU just incapable of striking an acceptable agreement that other federations in UEFA seem to have no problem with...?

I must admit that I give the benefit of the doubt to the players: DBU has historically been dismal at managing Danish football. Until 1975 DBU refused to recognize professionalism, and players who went professional were banned for life from the national team. This meant that Denmark, who had players in the top leagues in Europe throughout the 1950s and 1960s, always fielded teams of second rate amateurs, just like they are doing now!
So maybe this is just a return to the time when Danish football was dominated by glorious amateurs and would get their butts kicked by every other country. If anything, the next matches will be worth watching because Denmark will not be much better than San Marino or Liechtenstein.
Football is a joke.