Aarhus councillor faces backlash after wearing rival club shirt at AGF trophy celebration

An Aarhus city councillor has apologised after appearing at a trophy celebration for local football club AGF while wearing a shirt from rival club FC Midtjylland hidden beneath his clothing, DR reports.

Michael Christensen of the Liberal Alliance party, who serves as councillor for social affairs and employment in Aarhus, attended AGF’s cup celebration at the city hall and posted a photo on Facebook in which he pulled open his shirt to reveal an FC Midtjylland jersey underneath, while holding the trophy in his other hand. He captioned the post: “Congratulations to Aarhus, remember it is only on loan.”

The post quickly drew a flood of critical comments. Lars Fournais, chairman of AGF, wrote: “That a councillor in Aarhus shows so little character and judgement on AGF’s and the city’s great day says a lot about you, Michael Christensen. You should not have touched that trophy and had some fool photograph this utterly embarrassing image of you.”

Christensen deleted the post shortly afterwards and published a new one acknowledging it had been a mistake. Speaking to DR, he offered a fuller apology.

“It was a completely idiotic post, made to congratulate the city while having a little fun. It was a bad decision and the wrong moment. I can only apologise unreservedly, because it showed no sense of the situation,” he said.

He said he had not planned to wear the shirt from home, but had acted on a sudden impulse because he keeps an FC Midtjylland shirt in his office wardrobe. “I thought I’d just put it on underneath, in case I got talking to some of the old Midtjylland players,” he explained.

Christensen stressed that the post was solely intended as a way of congratulating the city. “It has been absolutely fantastic to be an Aarhus resident lately and to be part of the celebration. It was meant as a way of saying congratulations. But it was the wrong moment, and it was not my intention to overshadow this fantastic occasion in the city council chamber,” he said.