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.[1]

Nordic Football Championship
Founded1924
Abolished2001
RegionEurope (UEFA)
Number of teams4 (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 which 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. The tournament was won by Finland for the first time.[2]

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 (2)  Denmark  Norway  Finland
1948–51
Details		 DBU's Vase  Sweden (3)  Denmark  Norway  Finland
1952–55
Details		 SvFF:s pokal  Sweden (4)  Norway  Denmark  Finland
1956–59
Details		 Eventyr og Lek  Sweden (5)  Norway  Denmark  Finland
1960–63
Details		 SPL's Pokal  Sweden (6)  Denmark  Norway  Finland
1964–67
Details		 Fodboldspillere  Sweden (7)  Denmark  Finland  Norway
1968–71
Details		 SvFF:s pokal  Sweden (8)  Denmark  Norway  Finland
1972–77
Details		 —  Sweden (9)  Denmark  Norway  Finland
1978–80
Details		 —  Denmark (2)  Sweden  Norway  Finland
1981–85
Details		 —  Denmark (3)  Sweden  Norway  Finland
2000–01
Details		 —  Finland  Iceland  Denmark  Norway

Medals
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Sweden94013
2 Denmark37414
3 Norway12912
4 Finland1012
5 Iceland0101
Totals (5 entries)14141442

Summary

Source: https://www.rsssf.org/tablesn/nordic.html

RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints
1 Sweden14147892632382198+184293
2 Denmark14147752349323218+105248
3 Norway14145523162265300–35187
4 Finland13137212492150401–25166
5 Iceland1531175+210
6 Faroe Islands1401326–41

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

All-time top scorers
Player Team Goals Tournaments
1 Pauli Jørgensen  Denmark 30 (1924-28(3), 1929-32(15), 1933-36(8) and 1937-47(4))
2 Jørgen Juve  Norway 20 (1929-32(17) and 1933-36(3))
3 Ole Madsen  Denmark 18 (1956-59(2), 1960-63(11) and 1964-67(5))
4 Sven Rydell  Sweden 17 (1924-28(15) and 1929-32(2))
5 Harald Hennum  Norway 14 (1948-51(1), 1952-55(5), 1956-59(6), 1960-63(2))
6 Gunnar Nordahl  Sweden 12 (1937-47(7) and 1948-51(5))
Rune Börjesson (1956-59(6) and 1960-63(6))
8 Erik Persson 11 (1933-36(5) and 1937-47(6))
Nils-Åke Sandell (1952-55(10) and 1956-59(1))
10 Agne Simonsson 10 (1956-59(7), 1960-63(1) and 1964-67(2))
11 Jens Peder Hansen  Denmark 9 (1948-51(2), 1952-55(5), 1956-59(2))
Kaj Uldaler (1929-32(5) and 1933-36(4))
Gunnar Thoresen  Norway (1937-47(1), 1948-51(3), 1952-55(4) and 1956-59(1))
14 Finn Berstad  Norway 8 (1924-28(8))
Bertil Ericsson  Sweden (1933-36(8))
Michael Rohde  Denmark (1924-28(7) and 1929-32(1))
Gunnar Gren  Sweden (1937-47(2) and 1956-59(6))
Henning Enoksen  Denmark (1956-59(3) and 1960-63(5))
Knut Kroon  Sweden (1924-28(2), 1929-32(5), 1933-36(1))
Harry Bild (1956-59(3), 1960-63(3) and 1964-67(2))
Odd Iversen  Norway (1964-67(1), 1968-71(6), 1972-77(1))

Hat-tricks

Since the first official tournament in 1924–28, 41 hat-tricks have been scored in over 100 matches of the 14 editions of the tournament. The first hat-trick was scored by Sven Rydell of Sweden, playing against Norway on 21 September 1924; and the last was by Pål Jacobsen of Norway, playing against Finland on 21 August 1980. The record number of hat-tricks in a single Nordic Football Championship is ten, during the 1929-32 edition. The only player to have scored four hat-tricks is Jørgen Juve, three in 1929-32 (in which he was the top goal scorer with 17 goals) and one in 1933–36. He is closely followed by Sven Rydell who has three (all of whom came in the inaugural edition of the competition), and the next closest are Pauli Jørgensen, Erik Persson and Gunnar Nordahl with two hat-tricks each. The record for the most goals scored in a single Nordic Championship game is 5, which has been achieved on two occasion: by Gunnar Nordahl when he scored 5 for Sweden in a 5-3 win over Norway and by Erik Dyreborg when he scored his side's 5 goals in a 5-0 win over Norway. Sweden holds the record for most hat-tricks scored with 23, which is more than half of all hat-tricks. Finland holds the record for most hat-tricks conceded with 26, having conceded more than half of all the hat-tricks scored in the competition.

List
Nordic Football Championship hat-tricks
# Player G Time of goals For Result Against Tournament Date FIFA
report
1. Sven Rydell 3 66', 78', 89'  Sweden 6–1  Norway 1924–28 Nordic Football Championship 21 September 1924 Report
2. Sven Rydell (2) 4 22', 42', 44', 62' 7–3 23 August 1925 Report
3. Sven Rydell (3) 3 18', 23', 65' 5–3 26 June 1927 Report
4. Jørgen Juve 3 8', 15', 73'  Norway 4–0  Finland 1929–32 Nordic Football Championship 18 June 1929 Report
5. Pauli Jørgensen 3 11', 41', 73'  Denmark 8–0 13 October 1929 Report
6. Jørgen Juve (2) 3 17', 42', 66'  Norway 6–2 1 June 1930 Report
7. Pauli Jørgensen (2) 3 16', 65', 88'  Denmark 6–1  Sweden 22 June 1930 Report
8. Jørgen Juve (3) 3 16', 42', 47'  Norway 3–6 6 July 1930 Report
9. Harry Lundahl 3 5', 13', 48'  Sweden 6–3  Norway
10. Lauri Lehtinen 3 9', 40', 41'  Finland 4–4  Sweden 28 September 1930 Report
11. Bertil Karlsson 3 26', 53', 64'  Sweden 4–4  Finland
12. Sune Zetterberg 4 18', 25', 30', 55' 8–2 3 July 1931 Report
13. Evert Hansson 3 35', 65', 73' 8–2
14. Jørgen Juve (4) 3 20', 36', 46'  Norway 5–1 1933–36 Nordic Football Championship 3 September 1933 Report
15. Bertil Ericsson 4 7', 34', 61', 62'  Sweden 5–3  Denmark 17 June 1934 Report
16. Erik Persson 3 6', 42', 87' 4–5  Finland 23 September 1934 Report
16. Odd Hoel 3 23', 52', 62'  Norway 5-1 8 September 1935 Report
17. Arne Brustad 4 11', 22', 25', 33' 9–0 1937–47 Nordic Football Championship 17 June 1938 Report
18. Erik Persson (2) 3 30', 64', 67'  Sweden 5–1 9 June 1939 Report
19. Oskar Theisen 3 39', 57', 89'  Denmark 8–1 17 September 1939 Report
20. Gunnar Nordahl 3 39', 57', 89'  Sweden 7–0 24 August 1947 Report
22. Gunnar Nordahl (2) 5 24', 44', 62', 74', 80' 5–3  Norway 1948–51 Nordic Football Championship 19 September 1948 Report
23. Egon Jönsson 3 7', 9', 17' 8–1  Finland 2 October 1949 Report
24. Ingvar Rydell 3 24', 75', 83' 8–1
25. Kjell Kristiansen 3 36', 47', 75'  Norway 7–2 1952–55 Nordic Football Championship 31 August 1952 Report
26. Lars Råberg 3 10', 48', 58'  Sweden 8–1 21 September 1952 Report
27. Hasse Persson 3 24', 50', 83' 8–1
28. Birger Eklund 3 7', 30', 48' 10–1 15 August 1954 Report
29. Kurt Hamrin 3 6', 71', 80' 10–1
30. Nils-Åke Sandell 3 12', 38', 60' 5–2  Norway 10 October 1954 Report
31. Gunnar Gren 3 18', 50', 77' 5–1  Finland 1956–59 Nordic Football Championship 22 September 1957 Report
32. Torbjörn Jonsson 3 39', 50', 69' 7–1 20 August 1958 Report
33. Harald Nielsen 3 20', 22', 53'  Denmark 4–0 4 October 1959 Report
34. Rune Börjesson 3 26', 48', 75'  Sweden 6–2  Norway 18 October 1959 Report
35. Jørn Sørensen 3 7', 52', 85'  Denmark 9–1  Finland 1960–63 Nordic Football Championship 15 October 1961 Report
36. Ole Madsen 3 31', 44', 87' 6–1  Norway 11 June 1962 Report
37. Tom Turesson 3 60', 63', 70'  Sweden 4–2 1964–67 Nordic Football Championship 18 September 1966 Report
38. Erik Dyreborg 5 40', 41', 57', 60', 63'  Denmark 5–0 24 September 1967 Report
39. Tommy Troelsen 3 22', 24', 77' 5–1 1968–71 Nordic Football Championship 23 June 1968 Report
40. Bent Jensen 3 12', 14', 43' 5–2  Finland 10 September 1969 Report
41. Pål Jacobsen 4 30', 39', 73', 83'  Norway 6–1 1978–80 Nordic Football Championship 21 August 1980 Report

See also

References
  1. "Nordic Championships - Overview". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  2. "Nordic Championships 2000-01". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  3. Nordic Nordic Cup (Women U-20/U-21/U-23)
  4. 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.
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