European Football Weekends

After games in both Odense and Helsingborg, this was the main event of the weekend - derby day, Denmark style. This is undoubtedly the biggest match in Danish football and needed a big build up accordingly. So, the EFW Team travelled in by ferry from Sweden and then boarded the "Tuborg Express" from Helsingør before arriving to drink in the atmosphere in Copenhagen.

Apparently, there were a few scuffles as the Brøndby fans made their way to the stadium with a traditional march but we didn't see any trouble all day. Nowadays, this derby is billed as the "New Firm" but to my mind, despite lots of healthy banter, it didn't have any of the vitriol, racism and bigotry that often defines an "Old Firm" encounter in Glasgow.

We weren't searched at all upon entering The Parken. This was pretty good news as we'd smuggled in a few shots of "Fisk" to drink at half time. These were purely for medicinal purposes you understand as it was bloody freezing.

If I'm honest, the foyer of the ground felt like a cinema. There were large velvet curtains everywhere, sectioning off sponsors lounges and the whiff in the air was of....popcorn (popcorn!). Don't panic too much though, pints of beer were being poured aplenty and sausages were also available for us fat lads.


These aren't the happiest of times for Brøndby supporters. Since their last championship in 2004/05 with Laudrup at the helm, the club have been struggling on and off the pitch. Constant changes of managers and directors haven't helped. Some fans think the good old "Brøndby passion" is gone and the "New Firm" has lost some of its magic. The Brøndby fans I talked to still dislike FCK though, one called them "a silly product of modern football".

Inside, the ground, most of the fans had made a great effort. The FCK ultras were in good number and voice in one corner of the stand behind one end and Brøndby had a good few thousand fans behind the other goal. Tifo displays, flags, flares and all the other things you associate with derby days were there. Great stuff.

Sadly, for large periods, the players couldn't match the passion shown in the stands. Indeed, the first shot we saw was at half time when Mr Fuller remembered our test tubes full of spirits. Down the hatch they went and back out we went for the second half with a warm glow. Two late goals ended up clinching a 2-0 victory and city bragging rights for FCK. I won't dwell on the match as you'd have all read about it by now. I will say, if you're a fan of offsides then forget this derby. There weren't any in the whole match.


After we'd watched the away fans set fire to parts of their section, we met up with some FCK and Brøndby fans across the road in a great little bar called Thyges Kro in Osterbrogade. The post match banter and bonding with our new Danish friends exceeded the excitement on the pitch. Football is more than 90 minutes as we all know and we're kings of the social side of the game here at EFW.

In the pub, FCK fan Ivar gained an EFW gold star by entertaining us long into the night with his many stories. His wife once stopped talking to him for two weeks for getting a FCK tattoo on his arm and he also received an additional two week ban for erecting a seven foot satellite dish on the side of the house to watch Danish football around the clock. He also dropped another bomb shell by telling us he'd played both Eric Bristow and Lars Ulrich of Metallica at darts. The Danny Baker of Denmark was good value I can tell you.

After 4 hours of talking nonsense, everyone was pretty Hammaby-ied. A guy called Marcus claimed to be the brother of the Burnley goalkeeper 'The Beast' before mooning to the pub. Another was best mates with Michael Schumacher. Around 1am, we decided to draw the curtain on our Scandinavian EFW. If you aren't too bothered about the standard of football but you want to meet genuinely warm and friendly people, then book a trip to Denmark. We'll be back. Skål!