Postponing the European Football Championship due to the coronavirus outbreak has unpleasant consequences for Danish national team coach Age Hareide. The 66-year-old Norwegian’s contract will expire this summer and that will not be extended by the Danish football association DBU.
Hareide is unlucky that Denmark has already appointed a new national team coach. Kasper Hjulmand, 47, will succeed him after this season and will also lead the Danes during the European Championship, which will now take place next summer.
“Of course it is a pity to miss a final tournament and a big football party in Denmark. But this is a very special situation, in which many people are much worse off than me,” Hareide said on the DBU website on Wednesday.
“People who are sick, people who die, people who lose their jobs … It is the social consequences that must be central and not the personal ones. It was a great pleasure to work with the players.”
“We are very sorry for Hareide”
Hareide has been the choice of Denmark since 2015. He led the Scandinavians to the European Championship last year by finishing second in the qualifying pool behind Switzerland, but ahead of Ireland, Georgia and Gibraltar.
“We are very sorry that Hareide is not able to end his period with us in a beautiful way. We are facing a major crisis in both Denmark and many other countries in the world,” said DBU Chairman Peter Møller.
The European Championship was supposed to be held next summer, but UEFA moved it Tuesday by a year because it is not clear how the COVID-19 virus will develop and the European competitions now have longer to finish.
Follow the latest developments around the virus in our live blog.
The coronavirus in short
- The virus mainly spreads through cough and sneeze droplets that hang briefly in the air.
- An infected person infects two to three others on average. This number may decrease with proper precautions.
- The vast majority of patients have mild (flu-like) complaints.
- Almost all deaths involve older or already sick people. You can protect these people with precautions.
- Read here what the most important precautions are.
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