Huddersfield Town stars Jonas Lossl and Mathias 'Zanka' Jorgensen represented Denmark in the 2018 World Cup over the summer.

The Terriers' Danish defensive duo helped their nation to a Round-of-16 finish in Russia, with Zanka netting against Croatia in the knockout stages before Zlatko Dalic's men claimed victory through a penalty shootout.

But two months on from their successful campaign and Danish football is in crisis.

No players have been selected to represent their nation this month, with the Scandinavian side due to play a friendly clash against Slovakia tomorrow before the Nations League tie with Wales on Sunday, September 9.

This is due to the Danish FA (DBU) and Danish players' union (Spillernforeningen) being locked in talks over a new contract for those that represent the national team.

The DBU are believed to be seeking a new deal that is geared towards raising more funds for community projects, while the players have refused to sign due to their personal sponsorship deals.

Denmark's Mathias 'Zanka' Jorgensen celebrates after scoring his team's opening goal against Croatia.
Denmark's Mathias 'Zanka' Jorgensen celebrates after scoring his team's opening goal against Croatia.

The DBU reportedly walked out of negotiations on Friday, while the players supposedly chose not to sign a potential temporary deal on Sunday.

Discussing the disagreement, DBU communications manager Jakob Hoyer said: "The parties disagree strongly about how it should be interpreted.

"We cannot continue with an agreement where there are such big ambiguities and where we lose so much money."

But Zanka gave his own take on the matter to Danish newspaper BT.

He said: “Unfortunately, it is a bad negotiating climate. We must of course hope that it will improve soon for Danish football. And so, of course, we hope that the DBU will come back to the table.”

When asked whether the players were being greedy by the outlet, Zanka replied: “If you think so, it’s because you have not gone into things. I thought about it too, you know.

"This is a fine question, but it is not the essence of the case, and it is not at all what is being discussed – both the DBU and we know, and therefore we are opposed to our director going out and insinuating in the media that the players are greedy."

The standoff looks likely to rule Denmark's big names, such as Zanka and Lossl and team mates Christian Eriksen, Kasper Schmeichel and Andreas Christensen, out of both clashes this week, with the players union releasing a statement on the issue.

It read: "There is currently no agreement between the DBU and the Player Association for the national team players, and it has always been established that the national team does not play without a collective agreement."

Denmark could therefore field a number of futsal players after the Danish Superliga and First Division made their players unavailable for the games.

Rumours had been circulating that the ties would be called off, but that seems unlikely after a similar dispute between the DBU and women's side resulted in a cancelled fixture against Sweden last October.

As a result, UEFA fined the DBU and threatened to ban the nation from future competitions if it happened again.

Denmark are therefore likely to select a side without their top players for their upcoming fixtures in order to escape UEFA punishments.

Reflecting on the issue ahead of the matches against Slovakia and Wales, DBU president Jesper Moller said: "It is regrettable and serious that there is no new national team agreement.

"The crucial thing is now that the two national matches will be played. The board has therefore asked DBU's management that the two international matches will be played with the strongest possible team."