Inside The Copenhagen Derby
“Inside the stadium it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen watching football and I include Boca Juniors at the Bombonera in that” is how one supporter described the Copenhagen derby to me. And ever since I had my first taste of Danish football, this particular fixture has been at the forefront of my attempts to persuade anyone who will listen to watch the Superliga. An intoxifying, raucous atmosphere, punctuated by pyro and iconic tifos, set in the two biggest stadiums in the country. As a sales tool for Danish football, it doesn’t get more compelling.
But despite having watched this spectacle play out multiple times from afar, I felt there was a limit to what I could understand on my own as a non-Dane, outside of Denmark. So I set out to truly get under the skin of the Copenhagen derby by reaching out to supporters on both sides of the divide in an attempt to feel the pulse of this iconic rivalry.
In London or Rome geography is the primary driver of support, at least historically. In Milan it’s family connection more than anything, with no area of the city distinctly favouring one side or another. But how does it work in Copenhagen? How do people become supporters of Brøndby or FC København (FCK) in the first place? The narrative I’d heard before beginning this piece was that Brøndby was the working class club from the suburbs and FC København was the club of the more affluent city-centre Copenhageners. As with everything, there was unsurprisingly more nuance to it. Geography still certainly plays a part - in the western suburb of Vestegnen you will struggle to find very many FCK supporters - but Brøndby’s supporter base goes well beyond the island of Sjælland, stretching deep into Jylland, a consequence of their notable success throughout the 80s and 90s. It’s for this reason that Aarhus v Brøndby is such a formidable rivalry to this day. In fact it was the derby before FCK arrived in 1992 and announced their ambitions to dominate Danish football.
Brøndby and its supporters are proud of the working class roots of the club. When Rasmus began supporting Brøndby, he was bucking the trend amongst many of his friends. “I felt that coming from a working class environment it was the club I could mirror myself in, with a lot of shared values. The idea of being hard working, the feeling of shared unity, of helping one another for the sake of the club. As I was growing up it made me feel more and more a part of the club.”
Brøndby supporters rib FCK captain Zeca for losing a boot during the derby (Photo: Rasmus A)
Brøndby’s famed Sydsiden, the stand behind the goal where the most passionate and vociferous supporters reside, was what drew in Morten, another Brøndby supporter, who first went to Brøndby aged 8. “The atmosphere at the stadium is why I fell in love with the club. The history of success we’ve had and the community behind the club is something special.”
For many FCK fans, they see the club as a manifestation of the city itself: cosmopolitan, diverse and accepting. “We’re an inclusive and progressive group of fans. I want the world to see that,” said Asger, an FCK supporter. He went on to talk about how proud he was that this attitude of inclusivity and opposition to things like homophobia, sexism and racism was something fans policed and propagated in the stadium.
Pablo, an FCK supporter from the club’s inception in 1992, agrees. “Especially where I stand in the stadium in Nedre C, we don’t care about colour or sexual orientation, it’s more diverse, more open for people. For me FC København really stands for Copenhagen, it’s where the majority of the supporters are from, whereas Brøndby’s support is spread across the whole country.” Like many, Asger & Pablo’s ties with their team began long before 1992, when two clubs, B 1903 and KB merged to form FCK.
A sea of FCK flags at the 2017 Danish Cup final at Parken (Photo: Pablo B)
Asger explained, “both my great grandfather and uncle were big supporters of B 1903. For them the formation of FCK was a bit weird at first as it was mostly B 1903 players but with the colours of KB.”
Kasper, founder of FCK supporter channel Kvart I Bold, also came to support the team through his links with B 1903, his father being a member of the side that won the 1969 championship. For him, the club’s ambitions broke the mould for a team from Denmark. “FCK are not very Danish in their approach. In Denmark you normally say ‘this season I hope to win’. In Copenhagen we say ‘we want to play in Champions League every season and we are only satisfied if we’re number one’. I love that big club mentality. We had an assistant manager who described the club as the Real Madrid of Scandinavia. I love that, it’s how I see it.”
Whichever of the teams you support, the likelihood is you’ll have friends, colleagues or even family on the other side of the divide. So how do they think of one another?
“Hate is a strong word. But on derby days it’s hate. Never to the point of fighting but in terms of a feeling,” was how Rasmus summed up the overwhelming emotion. And it was one mirrored on the blue & white side of Copenhagen, “Most of the first derbies we played, if we excuse the one where we became champions, Brøndby would win. It was really terrible each time we had to meet them. In that period my feeling towards them was really hate,” Pablo added. The early years of the derby also created similar emotions for Kasper, “when I was younger the derby meant more than anything. It wasn’t just important that FCK won every week, Brøndby also had to lose. But as I got older, my love for FCK became stronger than my hatred for Brøndby. I still hate them but not in the same way.” Rasmus also was not content just seeing his side succeed, “I support two clubs. Brøndby and whoever FCK are playing,” he laughed.
Off the pitch the story is slightly different. For Pablo, there is a chance to put club loyalties aside at the Østerbro stadium, right next to Parken where B93, a Copenhagen side in the third tier play their matches. “Half of the guys I watch B93 with are Brøndby supporters and there’s no problem there.” Asger also has many friends in blue and yellow on derby days but relishes that fact, “lots of my good friends support Brøndby. It doesn’t affect our friendship, it just adds a nice spice to it.” One such friend, Morten, said that teasing his FCK supporting friends came with the territory, although they had in recent years been able to congratulate one another when the other side won, albeit through gritted teeth. “We don’t talk on derby days though!”
Kasper explained that every office in Copenhagen has a similar dynamic. “On one side of the office there will be Brøndby supporters, and on the other FCK supporters. So after a derby it’s nice to be able to arrive with a smile.” The proximity of supporters of the two clubs in the capital is another reason why the derby can often define a season. Mikkel, an FCK supporter explained, “If FCK has a bad season, some of it can be saved if the team wins the derbies.”
Sektion 12 creating an iconic atmosphere in the B Stand at Parken during a derby (Photo: Asger B)
Historically the size and spectacle of Brøndby’s support is famous not just within Denmark but across Europe. The net that covers the away section at stadiums across the country is even colloquially called ‘the Brøndby net’. But there are signs over the past few seasons that FCK are prepared to challenge that position. Asger explained, “Brøndby fans were always historically louder than FCK fans, but in recent years it’s been a tight battle on that front. Last season we sold out almost every away game in Jutland so post-corona I’d say we have been the loudest and best fans in Denmark.”
On the blue and yellow side of the divide there was some praise for how FCK’s supporters have risen to the challenge of meeting Brøndby’s reputation for having the best fan scene in the country. “Credit to them, they’ve been building their fan group a lot over the last 6-7 years. Now at a derby there is a crazy good atmosphere at both ends with huge noise, drums, flares, tifos,” said Rasmus. Who has the best fans may well be subjective, but one thing both can boast is an incredible matchday experience on derby day.
Mikkel has witnessed the spectacle of the derby grow and grow, “over the past decade probably the biggest change I’ve seen has been that the derby has grown into something really impressive in terms of huge complex tifos, pyrotechnics, smoke, flags, chants, the fan march. The whole atmosphere feels almost Argentinian.”
Unfortunately not all the changes have been positive. The last two derbies of the 2021-22 season were played with no away fans present at either fixture. A consequence of trouble at the earlier games and a move that prompted both sets of supporters to stage periods of silence in protest during the opening 20-30 minutes of the two matches.
Rasmus is frustrated that the majority are being punished for the actions of the minority. “[The derby] has become more filled with hate and fear. You hear stories about guys getting jumped in the metro, you had police pulling a gun recently, it’s f*****d up to be honest because I feel all of us football fans share the same passion and love for the sport, no matter which team we support. It’s very much a minority spoiling it - I know a lot of families who won’t come to the games because of this.”
Asger has also noticed this change. “I’ve been to all the away derbies in the past 10 years and I’ve enjoyed most of them, but in the past few years taking the road to the game with all supporters is not worth it any more with all the trouble that comes with it. It was exciting when I was younger, then it became something to live with and now I’ve decided I don’t need to live with it.” Both he and Pablo have found a solution: the supporters’ bus, an official coach put on by the club that takes away supporters to and from the entrance at the stadium, bypassing the need for a walk from the station.
Once safely inside the stadium however, the experience as an away fan is one to be savoured. “For me it’s definitely more fun to go to the away matches where you feel the excitement of being a smaller group in a hostile environment,” Morten says.
Despite incidents off the pitch, the encounters on it remain electric. The change in league structure from a traditional system where everyone plays each other twice to one where the league splits for the final ten games into a championship and relegation group, has meant that four derbies a year has become the norm, with the potential for six if the teams draw each other in the cup. Fans are divided over whether more derbies takes away from the spectacle or adds to it but certainly the extra fixtures have not lacked anything in atmosphere or intensity.
Brøndby supporters in full voice (Photo: Rasmus A)
In 2020-21, Brøndby won the title, ending a 16 year wait for the championship. FCK replied by winning the title in the following season and for Kasper, having Brøndby return to being a competitive force is essential for a healthy rivalry. “It’s important that my enemy is playing for the championship. Although it’s not as crazy as it used to be when they were first or second every year. Since then they have lost a little of their ability to compete.”
Indeed between 1993-2007, FCK and Brøndby won 11 of the 15 championships on offer. Those years where derby victories often meant more than just bragging rights but a body blow in the title race hold a firm place in supporters’ hearts. “In the early years it was just us and Brøndby fighting for the championship. Those derbies gave me some of the best and the worst memories of that era. The newer derbies can’t compete with that,” Asger says.
Some derby memories burn brighter than others. I asked the various people I spoke to to pinpoint a favourite moment from the derby, one that stands out above all others in their minds. For Pablo it was easy. In 2001, with FCK approaching a decade without a title and the championship set to be decided by the derby, South African Subusiso Zuma produced a bicycle kick goal so outrageous it still defies belief. “I was in the perfect spot for that goal and I’ve never exploded so much in the stadium. That was the moment because it was the start of a golden era.” Kasper agreed, “I’ve never seen anything like that in football, before or since.”
For Rasmus, one goal really stands out: a Hany Mukhtar free kick at Brøndby Stadion, deep into added time to seal a 2-1 win in 2018. “I was in Sydsiden for that goal and had a perfect view of it going into the top corner. Just incredible.”
Mikkel took it back to 2003 and Hjalte Nørregaard’s championship winning goal deep into stoppage time at Brøndby Stadion. “In the 93rd minute Ole Tobiasen hit a flat cross into the penalty area straight into the path of Nørreaard and then it all went berserk. Absolute scenes! I ended probably 5 rows further down from where I was standing when the goal went in, on top of people I’ve never meet before, screaming like a mad man, hugging everyone. I’ll remember that moment until the day I die.”
Morten’s favourite memory was one that combined emotions of jubilation and relief, pinpointing a 1-0 away win in 2017 courtesy of a goal from Christian Nørgaard, now of Brentford. “It was 1-0 and the first time we’d won at Parken for over a decade. That was a crazy, crazy experience to be there for that.”
Asger highlighted the Danish Cup final in 2017, where the venue, Parken, was split 50-50 between FCK and Brøndby fans. “It was a crazy atmosphere, Brøndby were good that year and we had one of our best teams ever. It was a sunny day, with an early kick off, football shirts everywhere in the city. We scored the first goal Andreas Cornelius, then Mukhtar equalised with a free kick. The Brøndby fans let off pyro all along the entire side stand, and almost as soon as they all lit up, we played a long ball and Cornelius scored again. We won 3-1 and it might be the drunkest I’ve been after a football game.”
Even in a relatively short space of time, the Copenhagen derby feels like it has unearthed so many storylines and created so much feeling amongst the supporters of the two teams that it’s inevitably the first fixture that people look for when the fixtures are announced each season. “It means absolutely everything. The derby is the first fixture you put in your calendar and you make sure to free yourself from work that day,” says Morten. Rasmus agrees, adding “the day of a derby feels significantly longer than any other day of the year. You can’t get your mind off it, it just feels very long.”
Win, and the celebrations go long into the night. But lose, and the weight of the fixture takes its toll. “It’s the only game where when we lose I need to be alone,” says Pablo. As someone who’s experienced my own highs and lows as a football supporter, I can very much relate.
I realise I’ve probably only scratched the surface of this particular rivalry, but with my flights booked for the next Copenhagen derby in August, the passion and enthusiasm of the people I’ve spoken to for this fixture has filled me with excitement to experience it for myself. Copenhagen, here we come.
