Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 1102 Sat. July 07, 2007  
   
Sports


Denmark sanctions relaxed


UEFA on Thursday announced a slight relaxing of the punishment handed out to Denmark after their ill-fated Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden last month.

The match had to be stopped at the end with the score at 3-3 after the referee came under attack by a spectator with UEFA awarding Sweden a 3-0 victory.

European football's governing body also ordered Denmark to play their next four home qualifiers more than 250km from the national stadium in Copenhagen with the next two behind closed doors.

But on appeal UEFA has decided to allow the games against Spain and Lichtenstein be open to the public but to be staged 140km from Copenhagen.

The other two games against Iceland and Lithuania can be held at Parken national stadium and in front of spectators.

"We're relatively satisfied with this decision by the appeal's commission," said Danish football federation secretary general Jim Stjerne Hansen.

"I'm sure that the majority of fans of the national team are frustrated that because of the work of one stupid person we weren't abe to play our games at Parken," he added.

Coach Morten Olsen expressed his displeasure however, saying: "Spain had the support of 70,000 fans when we played them in Madrid. Naturally then it's very tough not to play against the same team in our biggest stadium."

Sweden lead their Euro 2008 group from Spain by three points with Denmark in fourth place, eight points adrift but with a game in hand.