Danish league final rounds 11/12 *Update, With Title!*

So it happened, as well described by one of the few "football journalists" I actually carry some kind of respect for, "It seems like 11 out of 12 teams in the league wanted to see Nordsjælland win the title" And that is what happened, although it wasn't quite like a few weeks ago in Manchester it was indeed very nervy, specially as FC Copenhagen went ahead in the first half while FC Nordsjælland was missing a ton of chances, almost looking like it would be a repeat of the performance against OB a week and a half ago, a performance then that could have lead to FC Copenhagen having the upper hand. Regardless of what happened in Copenhagen, the players and the coach up north didn't seem like they had been informed and just at half time they looked like Champions again with a scrapped in goal by Mikkel Beckmann. A bit of back and forth in 2nd half in both games, the title ends up with the little guy who has the great project, 2-0 by Andreas Laudrup and 3-0 by Andreas Bjelland secures the title.

Both special goals, as Andreas Laudrups parents were in the stadium to view their son in his title match after a difficult season and Andreas Bjelland the guy that deserves a lot of the credit for FC Nordsjælland even challanging for the title and as he is leaving for FC Twente after the Euro 2012 tournament gets to score in the match that gave the club who helped put him develop, put him on the national team and land him a contract with top club in a bigger league . The goal by Bjelland reminded me of Ajax last game of this season where Jan Vertonghen scored in his final game for the club before he leaves for a bigger league (The 2 players are also quite similar both big strong CB's that want to play and want to attack while being superb in defense and man of the season for their clubs)

It was a strange atmosphere at Farum Park, a full stadium is rare, a full stadium on a day where a championship is on the line is unheard of, in the stands were some of the biggest personalities in danish football, the national team coach and his assistant took a deserved break from the Euro 2012 preparations, to view the players from Nordsjælland joining them and no doubt enjoying the spectacle, then as mentioned Andreas Laudrup's parents, which includes the greatest of them all Michael Laudrup. In the stands were also Peter Brixtofte, the man with the vision for the club, who had the stadium made and the old club formed. A wine related scandal sent him in prison and shamed him and the old clubs name. It was then "saved" by the new club owner, a businessman called "AKP", a bit shady at times (Shady enough that should they get the £15m that you can expect to make from Champions League exposure here in Denmark, they will have to give £3,5m of that to some people that are very angry that he sold the club to himself a few years back for just £50.000)

Story aside for a moment, some updates in the cold facts department

CL: FC Nordsjælland
CL Q: FC København
EL: FC Midtjylland
EL: AC Horsens
EL: Aarhus GF
6th SønderjyskE.

Obviously the 5 first matter, but why include the 6th? Well other than it being settled on what seems like a very special day not just in the capital region, a few miles north of the German border SønderjyskE wanted to play along. Before the round Aab was in 6th place and not only did SønderjyskE need to win, they would have to win by 4. After a few minutes Quincy Antipas made it 1-0, and what was a display out of nowhere against a disappointing Aab side they pulled it off and as Gold medals were being celebrated north of the capital Sønderjyske secured a 5-0 victory and the 6th place, for a team like SønderjyskE it's a feat on its own. Regularly a bottom team for a long time looking like they would have to fight off the relegation teams, they manage to secure a top half finish. It's special for them in some fairly insignificant ways if you look at it from a European perspective, but basically it means they get an extra home game next season due to the uneven amount of rounds in the league (33) as well as more TV money (based on placement at winter and summer breaks).
5th place was Aarhus GF before the round began, so they had nothing to play for in their home match against Midtjylland who had a 3rd place and Bronze medals to secure, something that would require gold medals going to FC Nordjælland, so it all worked out for the 2 clubs with the blossoming academies in the end. Midtjylland beat AGF 2-0 away, although the Aarhus fans seemed more focused on cheering for FCN and against FC Copenhagen than they were on their own team losing.

All in all its nice to see the league being won by the little guy. The little guy with the concept as the experts say, young talented players supported by experience, offensive football and as Andreas Laudrup so delicately put after "We are a Team with capital T!"

Tl:dr

FC Nordsjælland won their first title, yay.









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So a bit bored not really having proper Eredivise dumps to do, i will do a little for a fairly insignificant league to most people, the Danish Superliga.

There is currently 2 rounds left of the league and still all to play for, at the moment there is half time in the last game of the 31st round, 12 teams each play each other 3 times so that means 33 rounds of play.

At the top FC Copenhagen is residing like so many years before, but this year something is rotten in Østerbro, Copenhagen, as just behind a club from the wine drinkers up north FC Nordsjælland sit 2 points behind and are about to walk out to a second half where they can take first place. FC Nordsjælland marked themselves in danish football the last few years by taking the cup twice in a row, although this year FC Copenhagen got revenge on them and sent them out after being beaten by them a few weeks before at home. FC Nordsjælland is a fairly young club, in 1992 they were formed as Farum BK, but a wine based scandal tarnished the name and the club and a name change to FC Nordsjælland (North Zealand) was done, it also signifies that its not just the Farum area but 53 other smaller clubs that are roots for the Superliga club and talent development.
There aren't any famous or formerly famous players at Nordsjælland although people could stumble upon a name they might Recognize in the form of Andreas Laudrup, the son of Michael Laudrup, although the potential has been there for years it is not devolping as fast as the danish population could have hoped (We now look to Eriksen and Fischer to lift that heritage). Other than that there's Andreas Bjelland who saw a quick rise to the national team after some injury issues who moves to FC Twente after the Euro 2012 tournament and possibly Patrick Mtiliga formerly of Feyenoord, NAC & Malaga CF, his most significant achievement at the latter club probably being an elbow to the face by Cristiano Ronaldo that gave the Portuguese a red card and Patrick 3 weeks on the sideline.

The club has focused on attacking positive football, inspired by Ajax and Barcelona of course and lead the last few years by Morten Weighorst who gave up the reins this season to his assistant Kasper Hjulmand, he himself got a job as U-21 coach for the Danish FA. The style of play saw them as a very good cup team which the 2 titles proves, but for many years they were known as a roller-coaster team in the league, not stringing more than 3 victories in a row together despite playing some of the best football in the league on their good days. All that changed this season, playing more like Ajax and Barcelona not afraid to keep possession and always ready to find a pass, tiring out opponents by simply having them run for the ball, even if they don't have any players that are over the top special the very simple yet delicate play-style have proved to finally be stable enough for them to challenge the top, and challenge they have.

So enough story, time for cold facts!

FC Copenhagen and FC Nordsjælland are both sure of getting CL, the difference is just that the winner gets group play directly, while the runner-up gets to enter round 3 in the non-champions qualification. In EL spots so far only AC Horsens are secure as they are in the Cup and currently in 3rd place. In 4th place is another danish talent development specialized club in FC Midtjylland who are currently in the last safe EL spot, AGF in 5th are 4 points behind FC Midtjylland and have 6 up to AC Horsens although they look sure for Europa League only needing 1 point to be clear of the immediate followers.

At the bottom another story plays it self out, something I've found quite special. Last year in the play-off round of Champions League OB played Villareal, the danish club lost and went to Europa League where they dissapointed but on the last day helped polish club Wisla Krakow qualify with an overtime victory in London against Fulham. Villareal were relegated this weekend and OB are just 4 points clear at the moment and face the team below them in the next round, OB still has one of the most individually talented sides in the league but they haven't been a team since the early fall of last year.
Right above them sits another old "giant" in the form Brøndby, the former club of many of the biggest danish players including Peter Schmeichel, Michael & Brian Laudrup, Daniel Agger and Ebbe Sand. The team still features some danish and international players in the form of their American captain Clarance Goodson and Danish national team wingers Dennis Rommedahl (Formerly Ajax, PSV, Charlton Ath & Olympiakos) and Michael Krohn-Dehli. Brøndby are clear of relegation but they are gonna break their streak of a top half finish every season for decades this year.

Do you support a team in Denmark pal?

Nice write-up

ShakerMatty wrote:Do you support a team in Denmark pal?

FC Nordsjælland has certainly grown on me the last few years, went to both the cup finals they won and a few matches as my dad lives fairly close to their stadium, i wouldn't say i'd out and about support them through thick and thin but as long as they keep being entertaining with some Ajax/Barca inspired football its the team i'd prefer to see win the most. They are also a good provider of talents to follow around Europe although the talents sometimes make mistakes that end up sending them back to a richer club in Denmark.

FC Nordsjælland drew against OB, 21 shots, 13 on target, 4 near misses. to compare OB had 5 shots 2 on target. with 63%-37% possession difference but in the end it wasn't their day, perhabs a bit nervous the team has never been close to the medals before so its not something they have experience with. Now FC Copenhagen again has the matchball as they can "just" win the rest, although both teams have tough draws next weekend as FC Nordsjælland visit Brøndby and FC Copenhagen visit league number 4 FC Midtjylland. Both difficult matches, FCN have won just 1 of the last 5 meetings with Brøndby, 2 have been drawn and 2 have been in favor of the Copenhagen suburb team.
Midtjylland have usually been close matches for FC Copenhagen with the odd one out being 5-2 win of the very strong team last season , the last match in March ended 0-0 while Midtjylland last won in march of 2011. FC Midtjylland have to win to keep hopes of the Bronze medals up, which also mean a better starting round in the Europa League.

Since this is all for a Champions League group stage berth so this a big deal. I do not see either of these sides making a huge run like APOEL did but maybe the actual champion could finish 3rd and make a run in the Europa League.

FC Copenhagen won the cup in what (reportedly) was a very dull cup match against AC Horsens. A 1-0 victory was secured on a well hit shot by Claudemir in the first half.

Beep Boop round 32 over, a round with all the matches at the same time just finished and gave what the table was asking for last week as FC Nordsjælland Won while FC Midtjylland did the same. That means for the first time since the 4th FC Copenhagen isn't the top dog as they were the team FC Midtjylland beat to stay in the race for 3rd place. FC Nordsjælland beat Brøndby away who now officially will end the season as their worst finish of all time.

FC Norsjælland has 65 points and Fc Copenhagen are at 63 points going into the last round, Nordsjælland has a tough home game as strong away team AC Horsens who need to win to secure 3rd place, while FC Copenhagen faces Silkeborg who has nothing to play for, but has caused them trouble during the season, only just edging them out at home in fall and drawing with them away.

The relegation play is all done now though as OB beat Lyngby 3-0 which confirms what i though from the beginning of the season that HB Køge and Lyngby would be relegated.

FC Nordsjælland's match against Brøndby wasn't their best display but they still showed how they have gotten where they have now, specially noticeable is how their defense differs from every other team in the league, as they almost never result to clearing it out of play or randomly away, very often their very talented centreback Andreas Bjelland simply moves the ball away from danger and plays it up or finds easily finds his centreback partner or one of the fullbacks. That combined with some great quick passing play up front and players with confidence to move the ball themselves if they have to has finally given the result that they can with a victory on Wednesday secure the first championship ever, and first since Herfølge in 1999 put a championship outside of Copenhagen (Brøndby is part of Copenhagen) or Jutland (Aab).

Muhkoo is like Weather except he doesnt simply copy and paste shit

Suprised not to see Copenhagen win it again, as they are the only team I have even heard from the danish league.

Ed wrote:Muhkoo is like Weather except he doesn't simply copy and paste shit

Surprised not to see Copenhagen win it again, as they are the only team I have even heard from the danish league.

Given that they are the only team lately to have played in the CL and actually not just been a training session for the good teams its possibly the reason, also they did face Chelsea in the 2010/11 season? They are the only "big" money club in danish football although with a questionable youth system (They simply steal/buy from the smaller Copenhagen clubs, their biggest current talent who was sold to PSV was taken from the club in the same borough/district of Copenhagen as the stadium is in.) which has probably given them the problems they have now once they got hit financially with the 2008 economic crack as they let several of their best players leave at the end of last seasons record margin championship (Alternative methods kept the bottom line black rather than red for a few years after 2008). FC Copenhagen has won 9 championships since the club was formed 19 seasons ago. Only finished out of the medals 4 times.

They can however still win it, FC Nordsjælland are in a tougher last match by far as AC Horsens have everything to play for, both being teams that have never been close to the medals in the league before and can with a win secure Gold or Bronze respectively, although the 3rd place doesn't mean much expect possibly a better starting round EL (all danish teams except FC Copenhagen, Aab and OB would be unseeded regardless of starting round) and the fact that the TV money payout (Greatest revenue source for most of the clubs in the league) will be higher than finishing 4th where they compete with a currently strong FC Midtjylland side.

~~Not trying to be like Weather and post obscure football stuff, think its fine what he does as long as its not spammed. I just like to write about what i see and have interest in, you would also rarely see me comment on stuff i don't care about or watch. Same time i do try to get out of it what could interest people that may not have any interest in the league itself, such as players to look for that might be coming to teams they know. Not that there is currently any danish league players heading directly for the BPL or any other major league/team. Normally i wouldn't give a flying fuck about the national league here, but after years of FC Copenhagen dominance it suddenly got interesting, maybe assisted by the fact that the other league(s) i was watching every weekend ended a while ago~~

Threw in an update on the title and all in the first post.

Unlikely this is a continuing thing, just practicing with interest, my written English isn't being used enough.

Yeah Michael Parkhurst! Thanks for the update.