Nordic Football Championship

The Nordic Football Championship (Danish: Nordisk Mesterskab, Norwegian: Nordisk Mesterskap, Swedish: Nordiska Mästerskapet, Finnish: Pohjoismaiden-mestaruusturnaus, commonly abbreviated NM or PM) 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.

Nordic Football Championship

Founded	1924
Abolished	2001
Region	Europe (UEFA)
Number of teams	4 (2000–01)
Last champions	Finland (1st title)
Most successful team(s)	Sweden (9 titles)

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. But the match was then played in 1985 after all.

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 Club, 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
1981–85 Details	—		Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Finland
2000–01 Details	—		Finland	Iceland	Denmark	Norway

Medal summary

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Sweden	9	4	0	13
2	Denmark	3	7	4	14
3	Norway	1	2	9	12
4	Finland	1	0	1	2
5	Iceland	0	1	0	1
Totals (5 nations)		14	14	14	42

General statistics

Pos	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts
1	Sweden	14	147	89	26	32	382	198	+184	293
2	Denmark	14	147	75	23	49	323	218	+105	248
3	Norway	14	145	52	31	62	265	300	–35	187
4	Finland	13	137	21	24	92	150	401	–251	66
5	Iceland	1	5	3	1	1	7	5	+2	10
6	Faroe Islands	1	4	0	1	3	2	6	–4	1

• http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nordic.html

Top scorers per tournament

Tournament	Name	Team	Goals
1924–1928	Sven Rydell	Sweden	15
1929–1932	Jørgen Juve	Norway	17
1933–1936	Pauli Jørgensen	Denmark	8
	Bertil Ericsson	Sweden
1937–1947	Gunnar Nordahl	Sweden	7
1948–1951	Egon Jönsson	Sweden	7
1952–1955	Nils-Åke Sandell	Sweden	10
1956–1959	Agne Simonsson	Sweden	7
1960–1963	Ole Madsen	Denmark	11
1964–67	Erik Dyreborg	Denmark	5
	Ole Madsen	Denmark
	Tom Turesson	Sweden
1968–71	Odd Iversen	Norway	6
1972–77	Conny Torstensson	Sweden	4
1978–80	Pål Jacobsen	Norway	4
1981–85	Preben Elkjær	Denmark	2
	Frank Arnesen	Denmark
	Lars Bastrup	Denmark
2000–01	Ríkharður Daðason	Iceland	4

All-time top scorers

	Player	Team	Goals
1	Pauli Jørgensen	Denmark	27
2	Jørgen Juve	Norway	20
3	Ole Madsen	Denmark	18
4	Sven Rydell	Sweden	17

See also

• Women's Nordic Football Championship
• Nordic Under-20, Under-21 and Under-23 Women's Football Championship [1]
• Nordic Under-17 Football Championship
• Nordic Under-17 Women's Football Championship [2]
• Nordic Futsal Cup
• Royal League

References

1. Nordic Nordic Cup (Women U-20/U-21/U-23)
2. Nordic Cup (Women U-17)

• Alsiö, Martin; Frantz, Alf; Lindahl, Jimmy; Persson, Gunnar, eds. (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. Retrieved 2007-02-23.

External links

• Nordic Championships at RSSSF