Sometimes it’s not so easy to be Pernille Harder. Friday against England was one such day. Basically, it annoys coach Lars Søndergaard when there is too much talk about Denmark’s best player and the team practically disappears behind her. But in the 0-1 draw against the European champions from England, Søndergaard did his best to ensure that Harder was the focus afterwards – again she had to give up the lone center forward.
Her coach likes to field her there against strong opponents because he sees her as the attacking playmaker. Harder gets balls, hangs up, prepares – and ideally is also a goal threat himself. That went wrong against the English in the second World Cup preliminary round match in group D. In the abundance of tasks, she got bogged down, played inconspicuously – and later criticized this line-up: “It wasn’t my idea. I would rather play in attacking midfield. I can do that best.”
It did not become a Danish state affair. But the story of the game. Even if the performance against the “Lionesses” got better towards the end; the Danes just missed the equaliser. In the victory over China at the start of this tournament, Pernille Harder prepared the only goal with a corner kick, and on Tuesday (1:00 p.m. CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the women’s soccer World Cup and in the ZDF media library) against Haiti she will probably be deep against standing opponents can play to their strengths on the ball and in dribbling.
Everything gets bigger around Pernille Harder
What the story of the lonely number nine shows: even in Denmark, where stars are not agitated, everything to do with Pernille Harder quickly becomes one size bigger – even if it’s basically a tactical little thing.
No wonder. After all, the 30-year-old Jutlander from Ikast is considered one of the best players in the world. She has proven that in her three years at VfL Wolfsburg and since 2020 at Chelsea. She was never stingy with goals, was overwhelmed with individual titles – things were bumpy in the “Landshold” because the team rarely reached the highest level.
Second place at the 2017 European Championships triggered a boom. But it ended in disputes between the women and the Dansk Boldspil-Union (DBU). It was about equality in rewards. The association referred to higher income from the men’s team and wanted to increase slightly. The women went on strike, international matches were canceled and they missed the 2019 World Cup.
Denmark’s most important player: Pernille Harder : Photo: AP
The association has now equalized the bonus payments for women and men, and although Danish women’s football is “100 years away” from equal treatment, as a commentator on state television recently said, the DBU has taken steps in the matter of equal play: The coaching staff is larger, hotels and preparatory camps are similar to those of the men, and the travel arrangements are professional. Our own chef traveled to the World Cup. The new appreciation is well received: 20,000 fans attended a recent friendly against Brazil in “Parken”, the national stadium – where Danish women played for the first time. The state broadcaster DR1 and the private broadcaster TV 2 alternately broadcast the World Cup games.
The fact that Danish women’s football lags behind the seven or eight top nations is also due to the weak domestic league. Eight teams play out the champion; HB Køge from Copenhagen currently dominates, while important men’s clubs such as FC Copenhagen or FC Midtjylland do without women’s football – something Pernille Harder recently criticized. Practically the entire squad plays in the best European leagues from England to Spain to France. The domestic season leads a shadowy existence, which means that the number of kicking girls has decreased since 2019.
It is small consolation that Pernille Harder is now a little closer to home. FC Bayern signed her for 400,000 euros. The fact that Harder will play for Munich with her partner Magdalena Eriksson in the future has hardly been reflected in the media beyond sporting assessments. The Dane and the Swede have been a couple since 2014. Together they are involved in “Common Goal” and donate at least one percent of their annual income to social causes. The two professionals also frequently and prominently support the interests of the LGBTQ+ community.
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For a football upswing like 2017, good results would be the most important thing – and should Harder score against Haiti on Tuesday, the discussion about their best position would be postponed at least until the round of 16.
