Denmark and Sweden football rivalry

The Denmark and Sweden football rivalry is a highly competitive sports rivalry that exists between the national football teams of Denmark and Sweden. The clashes between the two neighbouring countries has since the very first match in 1913 attracted large crowds that have witnessed several spectacular games and controversial incidents, despite the fact that the two teams very seldom have met in any of the larger international football tournaments.

Memorable matches

Euro 2004 group match

Prior to the June 22, 2004-game, the group C standings were as shown in the table to the right. Simultaneously with the game, Bulgaria faced Italy.

With the tiebreaker after points being the matches between the tied teams, and Sweden playing 1-1 and Denmark 0-0 with Italy, a 2-2 tie or higher would send both Sweden and Denmark through to the quarter finals, putting both Denmark and Sweden at five points, and leaving Italy with one goal from the tied matches versus Denmark's two and Sweden's three, regardless of the Italian side's efforts. In any other case - a non-draw or a draw with fewer than four goals between the Scandinavian sides, Italy would qualify with a victory over Bulgaria.

After a 28th-minute-opener by Jon Dahl Tomasson, Henrik Larsson equalised on a penalty shortly after the break. Tomasson brought Denmark one up again in the 66th minute, but just minutes before the final whistle Mattias Jonson equalised for Sweden to make up the final score of 2-2.

The Italian side, meanwhile, had beaten Bulgaria by 2-1 on a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, which would have sent them through, had Denmark and Sweden not drawn. This caused an uproar within the Italian team, with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Italian football federation president Franco Carraro both accusing the Danish and Swedish team for match fixing. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2004/italy/3832143.stm|"Italy angry at rivals' draw"] , BBC] However then-Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni said that he nor the federation would protest against the result. UEFA did not investigate the case. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2004/3831443.stm "Uefa will not investigate"] , BBC.]

Abandoned 2008 Euro qualifier

The game played on June 2, 2007 started out with the Swedish side going three goals up after two goals from Johan Elmander and one from Petter Hansson in the first half hour of the game. However, through goals by Daniel Agger, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Leon Andreasen they completed a remarkable comeback.

In the 89th minute, Christian Poulsen hit Markus Rosenberg in the stomach, prompting Swiss referee Herbert Fandel to send him off and award Sweden a penalty kick. Shortly after, a Danish supporter ran unto the pitch and attempted to punch Fandel, but was stopped by Michael Gravgaard. Fandel abandoned the match shortly after, and the result was announced as a 3-0 loss to Denmark, although that had not been decided at the time.

In the end, Sweden was indeed awarded the match by 3-0, and Denmark was sentenced to play its next two qualifying matches at least 140 km away from Copenhagen.

Statistics

References

;Print
*cite book |last=Alsiö |first=Martin (ed.) |coauthors=Frantz, Alf (ed.), Lindahl, Jimmy (ed.) & Persson, Gunnar (ed.) |title=100 år: Svenska fotbollförbundets jubileumsbok 1904-2004, del 2: statistiken |publisher=Stroemberg Media Group |date=2004 |location=Vällingby |id=ISBN 91-86184-59-8
*cite book |last=Glanell |first=Tomas (ed.) |coauthors=Havik, Göran (ed.), Lindberg, Thomas (ed.), Persson, Gunnar (ed.) & Ågren, Bengt (ed.) |title=100 år: Svenska fotbollförbundets jubileumsbok 1904-2004, del 1 |publisher=Stroemberg Media Group |date=2004 |location=Vällingby |id=ISBN 91-86184-59-8

;Online
*cite web |url=http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/ |title=Landsholdsdatabasen |accessdate=2007-06-03 |publisher=DBU
*cite web |title=SFS-Bolletinen |publisher=Sveriges Fotbollshistoriker och Statistiker |date=2007 |url=http://www.bolletinen.se/ |accessdate=2007-06-03

Notes

External links

* [http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,1083054,00.html Aftonbladet - Sex matcher vi minns] sv icon