Nordic Football Championship

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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)

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]

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]

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

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 entries)		14	14	14	42

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

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
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

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 (2)	Denmark
	Tom Turesson	Sweden
1968–71	Odd Iversen	Norway	6
1972–77	Conny Torstensson	Sweden	4
1978–80	Pål Jacobsen	Norway	4
1981–85	Seven different players	Various	2
2000–01	Ríkharður Daðason	Iceland	4

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	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))

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.

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

Competition	Year	Champions	Runners-up	Next edition
National teams (Men's)
Nordic Football Championship	2020-21	Finland	Iceland	TBD
Nordic Under-17 Championship	2024	Sweden	Denmark	TBD
Nordic Futsal Cup	2023	Denmark	Latvia	TBD
National teams (Women's)
Women's Nordic Football Championship	1982	Denmark	Sweden	TBD
Women's Nordic U20 - U21 - U23 Football	2009	Sweden	Germany	TBD
Nordic U16 - U17 Women's Football	2024	Netherlands	Finland	TBD

• Women's Nordic Football Championship
• Nordic Under-20, Under-21 and Under-23 Women's Football Championship^[3]
• Nordic Under-17 Football Championship
• Nordic Under-17 Women's Football Championship^[4]
• Nordic Futsal Cup
• Royal League

Cited sources

Further reading

• Nordic Championships at RSSSF