Men's Nordic Football Championship

This article describes the men's Nordic football championship ; for the women's championship see Nordic women's football championship .

Nordic football championship
Association	DBU , NFF , SPL , SFF
founding	1923
First edition	1924
Teams	6th
Game mode	Group mode
Title holder	Finland
Record winner	Sweden (9)
Record player	Thorbjørn Svenssen (41)
Record scorer	Pauli Jørgensen (30)

The Nordic football championship was a football tournament for men's national teams from Denmark , Norway and Sweden , from 1929 Finland also took part. The competition was held regularly between 1924 and 1983 and usually lasted four years. The last edition took place in 2000/01, with Iceland and the Faroe Islands also taking part.

prehistory

Since 1912 Norway and Sweden have played two international matches a year. In 1915 there were also two annual games between Denmark and Sweden, and a year later two games were played between Denmark and Norway. These contracts expired after the First World War . At the initiative of the Danish association DBU under the direction of Louis Østrup, a Scandinavian championship between the national teams of these three countries was considered. However, it was not until 1923 that the Danish federation celebrated its 35th birthday and, in this regard, Norway and Sweden agreed to the proposal to start the competition under the name Nordic Championship . This should run for five years, the first trophy was donated by the Danish association.

Further development

In November 1929 the Swedish association SvFF celebrated its 25th birthday. This was the reason for another competition, this time for four years. Finland was also considered for participation for the first time.

The next round was organized by the Norwegian association NFF in 1933 , and this time a new trophy was specially designed. Due to the Second World War , the fourth edition of the competition, which this time was organized by the Finnish association SPL , lasted the longest with a total of eleven years.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the competitions played a central role in preparation for the upcoming World and European Championships . The games with Swedish participation attracted particularly large audiences.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Nordic Championship lost its importance, with Sweden trying to break away from the competition as the national team should play against stronger opponents given recent international successes. In view of the growing number of qualifying matches, it was also becoming increasingly difficult to coordinate the dates between the individual teams. Because of this, the regular events were stopped in 1983 and the last game, which no longer had any influence on the winner of the last competition, was canceled.

In 2000 there was a one-time new edition, in which the national teams from the Faroe Islands and Iceland also took part for the first time. Most of the games took place in Spain, with two matches played indoors. Denmark played the first three games with a league selection, Sweden played exclusively with players from domestic leagues in 2001 and Finland played all matches with players from the Nordic countries except for the game against Norway .

mode

The teams played the tournament winner according to the “everyone against everyone” mode. In the first edition from 1924 to 1928, each team played five times against each other, from 1929 to 1977 four times. For the years 1978 to 1983, the number of games was halved, so that now each team had to play twice against each other. In the last edition this was again reduced and only one game was played between the individual participants. The team that had the most points or, if there was a tie, the better goal difference at the end of all games, won the tournament.

The tournaments at a glance

year	Host	Final stands
		winner	2nd place	3rd place	4th Place
1924-28 details	DBU	Denmark	Sweden	Norway	three participants
1929-32 details	SFF	Norway	Sweden	Denmark	Finland
1933-36 details	NFF	Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1937-47 details	SPL	Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1948-51 details	DBU	Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1952-55 details	SFF	Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Finland
1956-59 details	NFF	Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Finland
1960-63 details	SPL	Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1964-67 details	DBU	Sweden	Denmark	Finland	Norway
1968-71 details	SFF	Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1972-77 details	no organizer	Sweden	Denmark	Norway	Finland
1978-80 details	no organizer	Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Finland
1981-83 details	no organizer	Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Finland
2000-01 details	no organizer	Finland	Iceland	Denmark	Norway

Ranking list

rank	country	title	Year (s)	2nd place	3rd place	4th Place
1	Sweden	9	1936, 1947, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971, 1977	4th	0	0
2	Denmark	3	1928, 1980, 1983	7th	4th	0
3	Norway	1	1932	2	9	2
4th	Finland	1	2001	0	1	11
5	Iceland	0		1	0	0

statistics

Eternal table

The three-point rule was applied.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Sweden	146	88	26th	32	381: 198	+183	290
2.	Denmark	147	75	23	49	323: 218	+105	248
3.	Norway	145	52	31	62	265: 300	−35	187
4th	Finland	137	21st	24	92	150: 401	−251	87
5.	Iceland	5	3	1	1	007: 500	+2	10
6th	Faroe Islands	4th	0	1	3	002: 600	−4	01

Record player

Top scorer season player Gates 1924-28 Sven Rydell 15th 1929-32 Jørgen Juve 17th 1933-36 Bertil Ericsson 8th Pauli Jørgensen 8th 1937-47 Gunnar Nordahl 7th 1948-51 Egon Jonsson 7th 1952-55 Nils-Åke Sandell 10 1956-59 Agne Simonsson 7th 1960-63 Ole Madsen 11 1964-67 Erik Dyreborg 5 Ole Madsen 5 Tom Turesson 5 1968-71 Odd Iversen 6th 1972-77 Conny Torstensson 4th 1978-80 Pål Jacobsen 4th 1981-83 Frank Arnesen 2 Lars Bastrup 2 Ulf Eriksson 2 Preben Elkjær Larsen 2 Tom Lund 2 Hannu Turunen 2 Ari Valvee 2 2000-01 Ríkharður Daðason 4th

Record player rank player Calls Playing times 1 Thorbjørn Svenssen 41 1937–47 to 1960–63 2 Orvar Bergmark 33 1948-51 to 1968-71 3 Björn Nordqvist 30th 1960–63 to 1978–80 Voitto Peltonen 30th 1952–55 to 1968–71 5 Pauli Jørgensen 29 1924-28 to 1937-47 Stig-Göran Myntti 29 1937-47 to 1956-59 7th Kai Pahlman 28 1952–55 to 1968–71 8th Svend Jensen 27 1924-28 to 1937-47 Gunnar Thoresen 27 1937-47 to 1956-59 Arto Tolsa 27 1964-67 to 1978-80

Record goal scorers rank player Gates Playing times 1 Pauli Jørgensen 30th 1924-28 to 1937-47 2 Jørgen Juve 20th 1924-28 to 1937-47 3 Ole Madsen 18th 1956–59 to 1968–71 4th Sven Rydell 17th 1924-28 to 1929-32 5 Harald Hennum 14th 1948–51 to 1960–63 6th Gunnar Nordahl 12 1937-47 to 1948-51 7th Rune Börjesson 11 1956–59 to 1960–63 Erik Persson 11 1929-32 to 1937-47 Nils-Åke Sandell 11 1952–55 to 1956–59 10 Agne Simonsson 10 1956–59 to 1964–67 22nd Nuutti Lintamo 7th 1929-32 to 1937-47 Kai Pahlman 7th 1952–55 to 1968–71

Most successful goalscorer for Iceland in the only participation 2000-01 is Ríkharður Daðason with four goals, in the Faroe Islands Allan Mørkøre and Todi Jónsson 2000-01 scored the only two goals.

Victories / defeats

• Biggest victories: Finland – Sweden 1:10 (August 15, 1954), Norway – Finland 9: 0 (June 17, 1938)
• Most goal-scoring games: Finland – Sweden 1:10 (August 15, 1954), Norway – Sweden 3: 7 (23 August 1925), Sweden – Finland 8: 2 (3 July 1931), Denmark – Finland 9: 1 (15 August 1925) October 1961)
• Longest winning streak: 7 games (Sweden, June 9, 1939– September 19, 1948 and August 26, 1970– September 17, 1972)
• Longest run without a loss: 26 games (Sweden, September 18, 1966– August 11, 1976)
• Longest run without a win: 24 games (Finland, August 16, 1953– August 28, 1960)
• Longest losing streak: 13 games (Finland, September 16, 1956– August 28, 1960)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nordic Championships 2000-01 at rsssf.com (English), January 12, 2002. Accessed June 18, 2011.

Web links

• Men on Nordic Football Championship rsssf.com (English)