Danish players fly team mate Jonas Knudsen home to see newborn daughter

The players clubbed together so that the defender could fly home on a private jet to see his daughter

Jonas Knudsen during Denmark's national team training.

Denmark's players clubbed together so defender Jonas Knudsen could fly home on a private jet to see his newborn daughter shortly after the win over Peru in their first match at the World Cup.

Knudsen’s wife Trine gave birth to a girl several weeks earlier than expected after he had already arrived in Russia.

In a gesture of team unity, the players decided to pay for the jet to fly Knudsen home shortly after the 1-0 victory against Peru in Group C on Saturday.

“I think you have to remember we are human beings as well as footballers,” said goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. “As a father myself I cannot imagine how hard it was for Jonas getting that message and not being there. There are lots of fathers in the squad and so we wanted to look at the human side and do anything for him to see his daughter.”

On Tuesday we became parents to a healthy and beautiful baby girl ❤ Everybody is doing great and we're all ready for the World Cup of course! Thanks for all your messages. #prouddad I tirsdags blev vi forældre til en sund og smuk lille pige ❤ Begge mine piger har det godt og vi er selvfølgelig alle mand klar til at VM starter! Mange tak for alle beskeder. #stoltfar @trine_bruun

A post shared by Jonas Knudsen (@jonasknudsen92) on Jun 14, 2018 at 10:19am PDT

 

It was only a brief visit for Knudsen, who returned to the camp on Monday in preparation for Denmarks meeting with Australia on Thursday in Samara.