New Saints find they haven’t got a prayer in Copenhagen
Welsh side The New Saints went out of the Champions League with a 1-0 defeat away to FC Copenhagen.
Greece international Carlos Zeca scored the 52nd-minute winner to give the Danish champions a 3-0 aggregate win and set up a third qualifying round date with Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 European champions who went through despite losing 2-1 to HJK Helsinki in Finland.
Dusan Jovancic’s 56thminute goal secured a 3-2 aggregate win for the Serbians with Sebastian Dahlstrom and Riku Riski on target for HJK.
Dundalk lost 3-0 at Qarabag to go out 4-1 on aggregate. Jaime Romero scored twice and Ailton got a third another as the Azeri champions went through to play Cypriots APOEL.
Rosenborg overcame a 2-1 first-leg deficit to beat BATE Borisov 2-0, with Pal Andre Helland’s penalty and Alexander Soderlund’s strike taking the Norwegian champions through.
NK Maribor knocked out AIK on away goals to set up a tie with Rosenborg. AIK, who lost the first leg 2-1, took the tie into extra time with Per Karlsson and Sebastian Larsson on target and Andrej Kotnik replying for the Slovenians.
Tarik Elyounoussi put the Swedes ahead after 93 minutes, but Alexandru Cretu’s 117th-minute goal made it 4-4 on aggregate. The 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup will be expanded to a 32-team tournament.
The Fifa Council unanimously agreed yesterday to expand the number of teams from 24 to 32 with immediate effect.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino, right, said: “The expansion reaches far beyond the eight additional participating teams. From now on, dozens more member associations will organise their women’s football programme knowing they have a realistic chance of qualifying.
“The Women’s World Cup is the most powerful trigger for the professionalisation of the women’s game, but it comes but once every four years and is only the top of a much greater pyramid.” Nine countries - Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea – have bid to stage the 2023 tournament.