– We are furious. Easily. This is a violation of everything called fair play. I don’t understand what they are thinking. If they don’t want to play in the Toppserien, then they better withdraw, says team manager Richard Jansen in Stabæk. – It has no commercial value. I have been to Cobham. There are gatekeepers in uniform and fences. You are not allowed in there. This is obvious! It is a complete scandal in terms of the competitors, Jansen continues. Toppserien’s disputed play-offs split the series after 18 games have been played. Then the four best teams will meet each other in a battle for the league title. Brann, Rosenborg and Vålerenga are already ready. – It’s just a matter of congratulating Lyn Stabæk, who is fighting a fierce battle for fourth place. They have played 16 out of 18 games before the league is to be divided, and are in 4th place with 23 points. Close behind are Lyn (22 points), Kolbotn (20) or LSK Kvinner (19) with one game less played. And it is precisely Lyn who will meet Arna-Bjørnar on Sunday – barely 50 hours after the latter has played a training match against one of the world’s best teams. On Friday 12 August they will meet Chelsea in London, at 12.00 (Norwegian time). On Sunday 14 August they meet Lyn in Oslo, at 15:00. The assessment causes the competitors to seethe. – It is as far away from fair play as it is possible to get. We can only congratulate Lyn on the three points, says Stabæk coach Per Inge Jacobsen to news. STABÆK COACH: Per Inge Jacobsen. Photo: MARIUS SIMENSEN / BILDBYRÅN NORWAY – They will certainly field their best players, but travel on a Friday and play against Chelsea and then to Oslo… There is a travel load there that means you never want to be “fit » to battle. One thing is the physiological, another thing is the mental. It goes without saying that it doesn’t work. LSK Women’s chairman, Rune Øien, tells news that he would also like to see the match moved. – I hope that they take the match against Chelsea as a training match and allow the width in the stable to play, so that it does not affect the performance against Lyn and that the Lyn match is the priority. When they are going to play against the world’s best players, it is perhaps not entirely natural for them to ease off the brakes, and that is the problem with that match here. Arna-Bjørnar hits back – It’s not every day you get an opportunity where Chelsea ask if you want to come and play a training match against them, says Erik Mjelde, sports director at Arna-Bjørnar, to news. When asked about the Stabæk managers’ claims that there is a breach of fair play and the lack of commercial value, Mjelde replies with a twinkle in his eye: – Surely Stabæk would have refused to go there if they had the opportunity? If we had played for league gold, we would still have taken this opportunity. We have an extreme development focus in Arna-Bjørnar. If we can measure some strength, we think that it is a huge inspiration and motivation for the young players. SPORTS MANAGER: Erik Mjelde in Arna-Bjørnar. Photo: Eivind Senneset / NTB He guarantees that they will be ready for the match against Lyn – and adds that they want to bring players to Oslo who will not come to London. – We have no plans to give Lyn three points, so if they beat us on Sunday, they will play a better game than us. Arna-Bjørnar leaves for London on Thursday, before they play a match against Chelsea on Friday at 11.00 local time. They then go to Oslo on Saturday morning to make the final match preparations. CHELSEA STARS: Erik Mjelde’s sister, Maren Mjelde, is one of the players Arna-Bjørnar will get to hone in London. Here she celebrates last year’s league trophy together with Fran Kirby and Guro Reiten. Photo: MATTHEW CHILDS / Reuters Mjelde say they actually wanted to play the match against Chelsea a week earlier, but were asked by the Norwegian Football Association to change the match time for a match against Brann. It was done with regard to Brann’s championship qualification. – We were involved in that, so we played that match on 3 August. Then we could possibly play against Chelsea earlier. And then we tried to find the date that suited both Arna-Bjørnar and Chelsea best. We have taken many precautions and the series will definitely not be de-prioritised. Stabæk has warned against play-offs Stabæk coach Jacobsen points out that the Bærum club has previously warned against the play-off model, where some teams will not have anything to play for too long before the series is split up. – We have thought that some teams will be able to save players with a view to the play-offs, so that they can field a fresher squad in the fight against relegation. That is the consequence we have in mind, says Jacobsen. The Stabæk coach had not imagined that a team would go to London 51 hours before the next match on Norwegian soil. One match that will affect which teams will be seen at the top of the top flight. – We did not think in our wildest imaginations that someone would exploit it to the extent that Arna-Bjørnar does here, says Jacobsen, and calls it an extreme consequence of the playoff model. Has given promises Stabæk has been in contact with the Norwegian Football Association and Topfotball Kvinner to inquire about the priorities made by the Bergen club. – We got in touch regarding the assessments Arna-Bjørnar has made and to make sure that the league game is prioritized, as it should of course be. It is a very basic principle for participation in the Toppserien, and they assured us of that, says Hege Jørgensen, general manager of Toppfotball Kvinner. DAILY EDITOR: Top soccer Women’s Hege Jørgensen. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – Initially, it is fantastic that you get a training match against Chelsea, but that it comes so close to the league game can be unfortunate. However, the club has emphasized that the series has priority and that they will field a full crew for the match against Lyn. We relate to that. PS! Erik Mjelde is the brother of Chelsea and Norway profile Maren Mjelde.
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– This is obvious! – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
