Danish football champions

The Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913,da icon cite web | url=http://www.dbu.dk/page.aspx?id=690 | title=Historien om Danmarksmesterskabet i fodbold | publisher=Danish Football Association | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga championship. The Danish football championship is governed by the Danish Football Association (DBU).

The early Danish football championships were decided in a single game, and the competition was not nationwide until its structure was altered before the 1927-28 season. Until the 1950s, the winners' list included teams exlusively from the Copenhagen area. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) thus won 12 of its record 15 Danish championships before the 1954-55 season, when Køge Boldklub became the first non-Copenhagen team to be crowned Danish football champions.

A Danish champion has been found every year since 1913, except for 1915 and 1928. In 1915, the tournament was not played because of World War I. In 1928, there was no rule defined for the possibility that two or more teams had the same number of points at the end of the tournament, when three clubs all ended in first place.

History

Upon its founding in 1889, the Danish Football Association (DBU) inaugurated The Football Tournament contested by Copenhagen clubs only, though the winners are not considered official Danish champions. Upon the creation of the Copenhagen Football Association (KBU) in 1903, The Football Tournament folded, and KBU went on to arrange yearly Copenhagen football championships until 1936.

The first Danish championship, the "National Football Tournament", was played from 1912 to 1913. Through to 1927, the championship was decided in a single game, with the winner of KBU's Copenhagen football championship directly qualified for the final. The KBU tournament winners played the winner of a series of play-off games between the regional champions from the rest of Denmark. [The winners of the regional JBU (Jutland), FBU (Funen), SBU (Zealand), LFBU (Lolland-Falster) and BBU (Bornholm) competitions.] From 1914 to 1917, the runner-up team from the KBU tournament played a semi-final game against the best team from the rest of Denmark. The winner of that game then faced the KBU champions in the Danish championship final. As the Copenhagen clubs were stronger than the provincial teams, this meant the final game ended up being contested by two clubs from Copenhagen.

Before the 1927-28 season, the first nationwide tournament, the "Denmark Tournament", was inaugurated. 20 teams were divided into five groups of four teams. They played each other once, and the five group winners qualified for a championship deciding group. Here they again played each other once, and the top placed team was declared champions after seven games in all. This lasted only two years before the league system was changed and the tournament renamed to the "Championship League" for the 1929-30 season. The teams were divided into two leagues, a championship series of ten teams and a promotion series with a varying number of clubs each year. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1929-30.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1929 - 30 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] This meant that the number of teams competing for the championship was fixed for the course of the tournament, and that every team played each other. The lowest placed team in the championship series and the top placed team in the promotion series would swap places between each season. From the start of the competition in 1929-30, the clubs played each other once to give a total of nine games a season, but from 1936-37 they met twice in a season for a total of 18 games.

During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II from 1940-45, the championship was again decided in a single final. The format varied throughout the occupation, as a differing number of teams played in three separate tournaments. The best placed teams in each tournament would go on to a string of play-off games, before two teams met in the final.

From the 1945-46 season, the competition reverted to the "Championship League" format, with the tournament now named the "1st Division". There were 10 teams in the top division once again, playing each other twice, with the lowest team being relegated. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1945-46.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1945 - 46 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] The 1953-54 season saw the first non-Copenhagen team win the Danish championship, when Køge Boldklub won the title. [da icon cite web | url=http://www.koge-boldklub.dk/dmtriumfer/dm54.html | title=Køges første DM-titel blev til på "Ungarsk Rapsodi" | publisher=Køge Boldklub | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] The championship title was not reclaimed by a Copenhagen team in more than ten years, until Akademisk Boldklub (AB) won the 1967 season.

From 1958, the Danish championship was arranged through one calendar year, and the 1956-57 season lasted 18 months with the teams playing each other thrice for a 27 games total. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1956-57.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1956 - 57 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] From 1958 to 1974, the tournament was expanded to 12 teams, playing each other twice for 22 games per season each, but now the bottom two teams faced relegation. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1958.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1958 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] The number of teams was increased to 16 for the 1975 season, which resulted in 30 games per season. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1975.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1975 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] In 1986, the number of participants was altered once more, this time decreasing the number of teams to 14, and the number of games to 26. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1986.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1986| publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ]

In 1991, the 1st Division was replaced by the "Danish Superliga". From the start in 1991, only 10 teams participated, and the tournament structure once more stretched over two years. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1991.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1991 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] The opening Superliga season was played during the spring of 1991, with the ten teams playing each other twice for the championship title. From the summer and autumn of 1991, the 10 teams played each other twice in the first half of the tournament. In the following spring, the bottom two teams would be cut off, the points of the teams would be cut in half, and the remaining eight teams would once more play eacother twice, for a total of 32 games in a season. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1991-92.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1991 - 92 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ] This practice was abandoned before the 1995-96 season, when the number of teams competing was increased to 12, playing each other thrice for 33 games per Superliga season. [cite web | url=http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/1995-96.htm | title=Danmarksturneringen 1995 - 96 | publisher=Peders fodboldstatistik | accessdate=2007-02-22 ]

Champions

National Football Tournament (1913-1927)

War Tournaments (1941-1945)

Total titles won

The following 18 clubs have won the top league in Danish football.

Notes and references

ources

*da icon [http://www.dbu.dk/page.aspx?id=690 Historien om Danmarksmesterskabet i fodbold] at the "Danish Football Association"
*da icon [http://www.dbu.dk/sr/rows.aspx?unionid=1&genderid=0&divisionid=1 List of Danish clubs according to division] at the "Danish Football Association"
*da icon [http://home6.inet.tele.dk/pin/Danmarksturneringen/index.htm#top Danmarksturneringen fra 1913 til nu] at "Peders fodboldstatistik"
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/dentops.html Denmark - List of Topscorers] at "RSSSF"