Danish women risk World Cup expulsion over FA dispute

By Philip O'Connor

REUTERS - The Danish women's soccer team will not play Sweden in their planned World Cup qualifier on Friday and risk being kicked out of the competition as a dispute between the players and the Danish Football Association (DBU) has not yet been resolved.

"The DBU has today told the Swedish FA that the players of the women's national team have not gathered in order to play the game, which will now not be played," DBU officer Kom Hallberg said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement also added that the FA now faces fines, points deductions and possibly expulsion from the competition because of the failure to fulfil the fixture.

The Danish players, who lost in the final of the European Championship to hosts Netherlands in August, have been engaged in tough negotiations with the DBU over compensation and conditions for female internationals.

Norway recently announced that its male and female players would receive the same pay, but talks between the DBU and the its women's team have broken down several times in recent weeks.

Denmark have so far played one match of their 2019 World Cup qualifying campaign, which was a 6-1 victory over Hungary last month. They are scheduled to play against Croatia on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, additional reporting by Julie Astrid Thomsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Christian Radnedge)