Two years on from sharing an explicit video of a minor and Andreas Schjelderup still doesn’t know if he’ll be allowed to play at the World Cup.
The act while playing for Nordsjælland hit headlines late last year at Benfica when he was given a 14-day suspended prison sentence in Denmark.
Such a record could bar him from entering the United States this summer, and the Norway winger doesn’t know what will happen.
“An application has been submitted, I don’t know more than that,” he told TV2.
“I hope everything goes well, and these are the signs I’ve been receiving.
“But I don’t know anything else. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The verdict came just before Benfica beat Real Madrid 4-2 in the league phase of the Champions League to book their spot in the knockouts.
Schjelderup scored twice in that game and reflected on a headline-making period.
“I felt like my life was over,” he commented.
“If what we talked about at the beginning was my worst day, then that was probably the best day of my life [scoring the goals].”
Such a performance has seen Benfica coach Jose Mourinho praising Schjelderup in the press, while Barcelona reportedly sent scouts to a recent match to watch him.
As for his World Cup chances, if it was up to coach Stale Solbakken, Schjelderup would be going.
“Andreas spoke to me about it on Friday,” he said at the time of the video incident.
“There’s no doubt it was an extremely stupid attitude on the part of one of our young players.
“I’m glad he expressed so clearly that he regrets what happened and for the people affected, and that he cooperated with the Danish authorities.
“He confessed to the incident that happened two years ago and is facing the consequences. I have full confidence that he has learned from it and will never do anything like it again.
“It will be a difficult time for Andreas, so we must take good care of him when he comes to the team meeting on Monday.”
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