Denmark's biggest club are in crisis

It’s an inevitable part of sports that you can’t win every year. Many defending champions are having poor seasons; the Philadelphia Eagles lost in the NFL’s first playoff round, Max Verstappen failed to win his fifth F1 title, and FC København are down in the Danish Superliga’s mid-table.

FCK are 5th in the league and were eliminated from the Champions League at the first hurdle. This comes after many of the club’s summer signings failed to impress, says DR’s Oliver Bilberg Ravn.

“The belief after the summer was that FCK had emerged stronger,” says Ravn, “but new signings were not integrated well into the squad.”

Former Borussia Dortmund star Youssoufa Moukoko has been the biggest shock, scoring just three times and playing less than half of FCK’s minutes.

“It’s a big surprise [Moukoko] hasn’t hit the ground running,” according to Ravn. “Coming from Dortmund, his name had glory. There were very high expectations of him.”

Other blunders include the loan of PSG’s Yoram Zague, and €4m signing Mads Emil Madsen, who has just one assist after moving from leaders AGF.

So how can it be turned around? In Ravn’s view, there is still hope to salvage this season for Løverne.

“The Champions League outings against Napoli and Barcelona showed promise, despite the results. I think FCK can still catch up to the sides above them and challenge for the title.”

This story is meant for an audience in another country; it could be published in the Athletic section of The New York Times.