It was all a dream…how my love for Danish football began
The man who started it all - Thomas Delaney - in action for Denmark (Photo: Marco Iabucci Epp / Shutterstock)
It all started at the back end of 2018. Tirelessly flicking through YouTube I chanced upon a 45 minute documentary on Thomas Delaney that would begin a love affair with Danish football. Until that point my knowledge of Danish football was - as an Arsenal supporter - largely centred around Nicklas Bendtner, John Jensen and both good (1994 Cup Winners’ Cup) and bad (2000 UEFA Cup) memories from European finals at Parken. But here I was, thrust into the midst of Delaney’s final season at FC København, captivated by the cauldron-like atmosphere of the derby, the scale of the tifos on show, the passion of the players and supporters and the backdrop of a league I knew I had to discover more about.
When I discover something that interests me, I become hell bent on learning everything I can about that subject, almost to the point of exhaustion. Whether it’s a sport, a musician or a new gadget, my friends know that if it’s piqued my interest then coming to me will save them hundreds of hours of research.
But when it came to Danish football I faced a challenge unlike anything previous. Information in English was extremely thin on the ground. I found articles about FC Nordsjælland’s Right To Dream academy-led approach. Articles about derbies, from the Copenhagen derby to the ‘Battle Of The Bridge’ (FC Copenhagen’s European tussle with Swedish neighbours Malmö). But little else of note. It was the same with books - the brilliant Danish Dynamite, but that was about it. It felt strange to me that the Danish Superliga - a league that blooded many of the stars of the current national team - could have so much to offer and yet very little coverage outside of the region.
Even watching Superliga matches was a challenge. The only places that showed them were betting websites, meaning the experience of watching a game was sitting in front of a laptop, squinting at a window the size of a postage stamp, painfully attempting to decipher who was who.
Fast forward a few years and Superliga games are streamed in all their glory in full HD on not one but three free-to-air platforms in the UK (OneFootball, Eleven Sports and Fifa+). The Twitter account I set up in May 2021 has enabled me to tap into a wealth of Danish football knowledge (much of which I have attempted to share for anyone who finds themselves in the same position as me). And as Randers stepped out onto the pitch at Leicester City in February I even felt a tinge of pride as a team from the Superliga touched down on UK soil.
My interest in Danish football is often first met by surprise - I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked “but why?” - the truth is there is no scientific answer. Only that it began with a Thomas Delaney documentary, which ignited a curiosity that still fills me with energy and enthusiasm on a daily basis. And almost always the follow-up to the initial surprise is an overwhelming generosity to help me understand the world of Danish football better and bring me closer into it. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere and is part of what makes it so much fun to follow the league.
So whether you’re a Superliga veteran or just dipping your toe in the water for the first time, join me for the journey, I promise you won’t regret it.
