With two Danish grandparents and a dad who grew up in Kalundborg, a match against Denmark will always mean that little bit more to England midfielder Isobel Christiansen.
Thorbjorn and Janet Christiansen hailed from the north-west coast of the largest Danish island, Zealand, 68 miles west of Copenhagen, and it was there they raised Niels, the eldest of five children.
Niels was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, but was brought up in a small village called Raklev until the age of four.
Now the proud father of young Lionesses star Izzy, Niels’s links to women’s football actually came about much earlier as he was in the same year at school as Karen Carney’s mum, Marie.
And with such strong connections with Denmark, Christiansen cannot wait for Saturday's match in Copenhagen, England’s final preparation game before Euro 2017.
She said: “I think this will be a really special game for my dad, and for me, too.
“His allegiance is definitely with England but he’s really proud that I’m playing against Denmark, in Denmark, for the first time. It's obviously a country that is close to his heart.
“I made my debut against them for the U17s and that was a very special day, but I think the fact that I’m now in the senior team will make it even better.”
The 25-year-old continued: “Playing for Denmark was never an option for me, especially because I started to train with England when I was 13 or 14. It never really crossed my mind that I could play for Denmark.
“I used to play against [Danish midfielder] Katrine Veje a lot when we were at youth level. She’s a great player and we have kept in contact over the years.
“It would be great to get a Denmark shirt for my dad, so if Katrine is playing I think I’ll have to ask for hers.”
Christiansen made her senior team bow, and scored, in England’s opening Euro 2017 qualifier, an 8-0 drubbing of Estonia in September 2015. She went on to play in three more qualifiers, also netting against Serbia last year.
The Manchester City schemer helped England win the U19 Euros in 2009 and her focus is now very much on this summer’s senior equivalent which kicks off in Netherlands in less than three weeks.
Christiansen said: “We are fully prepared for the tournament.
“Everything we do on any of our training camps and in any of our games is structured towards winning the Euros.
“We’ve got an incredible mentality among the squad, and it’s probably the strongest squad we’ve ever had, both physically and tactically.
“We are so adaptable, too. We can deal with anything that gets thrown at us.
“We are still a few weeks out but we are absolutely going to Holland to try and win that tournament.”
The match against Denmark is the final chance for Christiansen and Co. to impress head coach Mark Sampson ahead of England’s Group D opener with Scotland on Wednesday 19 July.
Christiansen said: “We want to keep on developing with every match. It’s a friendly fixture but it’s one that we want to win.
“We’ll be going out there with the ambition of winning the game and going a step closer to becoming that team we want to be.
“Training has been really, really good over the last couple of weeks so we’re all hoping for a really good performance on Saturday.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to put on a great show, like we did against Switzerland.
“Hopefully we can score a few goals and get the team full of confidence ahead of the Euros.”
