Norwegian national team coach Stale Solbakken calls Benfica striker Andreas Schjelderup “incredibly stupid,” while the president of the Portuguese club, Rui Costa, offers his support for Schjelderup after the former FC Nordsjaelland player has admitted to sharing an illegal video.
“Andreas spoke to me about this on Friday. There is no doubt that this was incredibly stupid of one of our young players”, Solbakken tells vg.no in a statement from the Norwegian Football Association (NF).
In his Instagram story on Saturday, the Benfica player wrote that he was not aware of what he shared. Schjelderup explained that he only saw the first few seconds of a video with what he describes as two young men.
A friend made Schjelderup aware that it was illegal to post that type of video, so he deleted it immediately, says the Benfica player.
Only afterwards did Schjelderup realize the seriousness of his action, for which he apologizes and takes full responsibility, he says.
The Norwegian national team player further explains that he has cooperated with Danish police after he was contacted earlier this year. The Norwegian striker expects that he will soon receive a suspended sentence.
Stale Solbakken is satisfied with Schjelderup’s reaction.
“I am happy that he expresses so clearly that he is sorry for what has happened and for those affected, and that he has cooperated well with the Danish authorities. He has confessed to the incident, which took place two years ago, and is taking the consequences”, says the national team coach.
Also Benfica president Rui Costa has reacted to the incident.
“Of course we will stand by Schjelderup’s side. The player himself has already taken responsibility. We know Schjelderup very well. He did something he shouldn’t have done. As he himself admitted: he didn’t do it out of malice, but he did it. We must be here to support him”, says President Rui Costa, according to the Portuguese newspaper Record.pt.
