The Danish women's national football team "will not play Sweden" in a planned World Cup qualifier on Friday and risks "being kicked out of the competition" as a dispute between the players and the Danish FA (DBU) "has not yet been resolved," according to Philip O'Connor of REUTERS. DBU Senior VP Kim Hallberg said in a statement on Wednesday, "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." The statement added that "the FA now faces fines, points deductions and possibly expulsion from the competition" because of the failure to fulfill the fixture (REUTERS, 10/18). The PA reported Hallberg said, "It is a historically bad day for the women's team and for Danish football overall. It is regrettable but also grotesque that we are in a situation where players will not meet up for major international matches, even though we have offered better terms and invited them to new negotiations after the matches." The DBU said that it offered to increase the investment in the women’s team by 2M Danish Krone ($320,000) per year, from 2.6M Danish Krone to 4.6M Danish Krone ($410,000-$730,000), to be used on "higher salaries, bonuses and strengthening the staff around the team." The men's team offered to give up its 500,000 Danish Krone ($79,000) annual bonus for the women, "but this was rejected" (PA, 10/18).