Feb 16, 2006, 12:55 GMT
Copenhagen - The controversy caused by a Danish newspaper's publication of controversial Mohammed cartoons continues to impact Danish sports, reports said Thursday.
One of the main sponsor's of Denmark's national football team, food company Arla, announced it would remove its logo from the team's uniform in a pending friendly against Israel on March 1.
'We would like to maintain the focus on football, so we will hold off with putting on the Arla logo until the next match,' Arla spokeswoman Astrid Gade-Nielsen told news agency Ritzau.
A consumer boycott in the Middle East has virtually halted all Arla's sales of feta cheese, milk powder, butter and other dairy products in the region.
Danish players have aired concerns over security and the Danish Football Association is next week to announce if they would go ahead with the match or not.
The match appears set to draw protests from Muslims in Israel. Fans of the local Bnei Sakhnin football team said they planned to burn a Danish flag on Friday, according to Wednesday's online edition of the Haaretz newspaper.
Local Danish sports clubs have also reported that their websites have been hacked, including swimming club HG Svommeklub on the island of Zealand.
The club's website was hacked Wednesday and replaced with a green and white flag with a crescent and a message in English and Turkish.
'I don't understand what we have to do with the Mohammed cartoons. We are not involved in the debate. We are a swimming club and mind our own business,' club treasurer Arne Wasserman told the online edition of the Sjaellandske newspaper.
Security concerns in Indonesia contributed to the Danish Badminton Association's decision last week to cancel a planned friendly match in the Asian nation next month.
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