Danish players, clubs end lockout threat with new deal

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A lockout that threatened the European ambitions of Denmark's top clubs was averted in the early hours of Friday morning, as the Players Association and the Danish League agreed a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Failure to agree a new deal would have triggered a lockout from Aug. 19, which would have forced champions Aalborg and rivals FC Copenhagen to field teams of youth players in their upcoming Champions League qualifiers.

"We have negotiated a very important deal," Danish League director Claus Thomsen said in a statement announcing the deal.

"The European matches will go ahead as planned, and in the domestic tournaments the ball also rolls forward."

The dispute centred on the collective bargaining agreement that governs relationships between players and their clubs in Denmark.

The clubs cancelled the previous agreement in July, saying it was too open to interpretation, while the players wanted better conditions, a limit to the amount of hours they work and more protection for lower-league players.

(Reporting By Philip O'Connor in Stockholm; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)