Anja’s journey - from being a lone girl in boys’ teams to among the most qualified and well-respected female coaches in Denmark - has been one in which she has “said yes to every opportunity”,

As a player, she worked her way through the youth national teams, before gaining seven caps for the senior team. A midfielder, she was part of the Danish squad at the 2001 European Championships, where they were knocked out by Sweden in the semi-finals.

She also played in the Uefa Women’s Cup - now the Women’s Champions League - for Brøndby IF, before retiring aged 25 and taking up a role coaching the club’s U18s.

Her coaching gigs since have included eight years at a boarding school in Copenhagen, instructing other coaches on Uefa C and B licence courses for the Danish FA, and moving to Canada for three years, where she worked at the Vancouver Whitecaps and North Shore Girls Soccer Club academies.

More recently, she was head coach of the U18s girls team at FC Nordsjælland before becoming head coach of Denmark’s U19s in July last year. She is also taking the Uefa Pro Licence course - one of only two women in a group of around 20.