Nordic Football Championship

Nordic Football Championship

Sport	Association football
Founded	1924
No. of teams	3-6
Country(ies)	Nordic countries
Ceased	2001
Last champion(s)	Sweden (9)  Denmark (3)  Norway (1)  Finland (1)

The Nordic Football Championship (Danish: Nordisk Mesterskab, Norwegian: Nordisk Mesterskap, Swedish: Nordiska Mästerskapet, commonly abbreviated NM) was an international football competition contested by the men's national football teams of the Nordic countries. In the first tournament played 1924–1928, only Denmark, Norway and Sweden competed, but Finland joined for the second tournament, and at the last tournament played in 2000–2001, Iceland and the Faroe Islands also competed.

History

The tournament was created on Danish initiative to replace a contract, ended in 1919, between the Danish (DBU), Norwegian (NFF) and Swedish Football Association (SvFF) that stated that the national teams of the three associations should play two annual matches against each other. However the idea was not realised until four years later, when the Danish association celebrated its 35th anniversary, and the first tournament was started. It was arranged by the DBU and was played as a single group where the three teams met each other five times for a total of ten matches each. DBU also provided the trophy of the first edition, a trophy that Denmark won when the tournament ended in 1928.

The second tournament was arranged by SvFF that celebrated its 25th anniversary, and this time the Football Association of Finland (SPF) was invited. It was also decided to play the tournaments over four years, with each team playing 12 matches, four against each other team, two at home and two away. The tournament was won by Norway, but the following nine tournaments, played between 1933 and 1977, were completely dominated by Sweden which won all of them. The fourth tournament was interrupted by the Second World War, and thus was played over eleven years, from 1937 to 1947.

The tournament gained popularity after the war and the matches were important for the Nordic national teams as preparation for larger tournaments such as the World Cup and the Olympics. But the tournament lost significance in the 1970s, partially due to the increased number of matches played against other international opponents, and thus the last three tournaments played in the 1970s and 1980s varied in length and format. The last match of the 1981–1983 tournament, between Sweden and Norway, was not even played as Denmark had already won.

A non-recurrent edition of the tournament was played in 2000–01, to which the Football Association of Iceland and the Faroe Islands Football Association were invited. Some of the matches were played during a joint training camp in La Manga, Spain, and the rest were played at home, some in indoor arenas. One match, between Norway and the Faroe Islands, was never played.

Results

Year	Trophy		Winner	Runner-up	3rd Place	4th Place
1924–28 Details	Jubilæumspokal		Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Only three participants
1929–32 Details	Guldkrus		Norway	Sweden	Denmark	Finland
1933–36 Details	Nordiske Pokal		Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1937–47 Details	Suomen Karhut		Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1948–51 Details	DBU's Vase		Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1952–55 Details	SvFF:s pokal		Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Finland
1956–59 Details	Eventyr og Lek		Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Finland
1960–63 Details	SPL's Pokal		Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1964–67 Details	Fodboldspillere		Sweden	Denmark	Finland	Norway
1968–71 Details	SvFF:s pokal		Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1972–77 Details	—		Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1978–80 Details	—		Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Finland
1981–83 Details	—		Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Finland
2000–01 Details	—		Finland	Iceland	Denmark	Norway

References

• Alsiö, Martin (ed.); Frantz, Alf (ed.), Lindahl, Jimmy (ed.) & Persson, Gunnar (ed.) (2004). 100 år: Svenska fotbollförbundets jubileumsbok 1904-2004, del 2: statistiken. Vällingby: Stroemberg Media Group. ISBN 91-86184-59-8. 
• Aarhus, Lars; Elbech, Søren & Pietarinen, Heikki (2001-02-06). "Nordic Championships". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nordic.html. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 

External links

• Nordic Championships at RSSSF