Nordic Football Championship

The Nordic Football Championship (, , , , 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.

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.

Results YearTrophyWinnerRunner-up3rd Place4th Place1924–28DetailsJubilæumspokalOnly three participants1929–32DetailsGuldkrus1933–36DetailsNordiske Pokal1937–47DetailsSuomen Karhut (2)1948–51DetailsDBU's Vase (3)1952–55DetailsSvFF:s pokal (4)1956–59DetailsEventyr og Lek (5)1960–63DetailsSPL's Pokal (6)1964–67DetailsFodboldspillere (7)1968–71DetailsSvFF:s pokal (8)1972–77Details— (9)1978–80Details— (2)1981–85Details— (3)2000–01Details—

Medals

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

RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints114147892632382198+184293214147752349323218+105248314145523162265300–35187413137212492150401–2516651531175+21061401326–41

Top scorers per tournament TournamentNameTeamGoals1924–1928 Sven RydellSweden151929–1932 Jørgen JuveNorway171933–1936 Pauli JørgensenDenmark8 Bertil EricssonSweden1937–1947 Gunnar NordahlSweden71948–1951 Egon JönssonSweden71952–1955 Nils-Åke SandellSweden101956–1959 Agne SimonssonSweden71960–1963 Ole MadsenDenmark111964–67 Erik DyreborgDenmark5 Ole Madsen (2)Denmark Tom TuressonSweden1968–71 Odd IversenNorway61972–77 Conny TorstenssonSweden41978–80 Pål JacobsenNorway41981–85Seven different playersVarious22000–01 Ríkharður DaðasonIceland4

All-time top scorers

PlayerTeamGoalsTournaments1Pauli Jørgensen30(1924-28(3), 1929-32(15), 1933-36(8) and 1937-47(4))2Jørgen Juve20(1929-32(17) and 1933-36(3))3Ole Madsen18(1956-59(2), 1960-63(11) and 1964-67(5))4Sven Rydell17(1924-28(15) and 1929-32(2))5Harald Hennum14(1948-51(1), 1952-55(5), 1956-59(6), 1960-63(2))6Gunnar Nordahl12(1937-47(7) and 1948-51(5))Rune Börjesson(1956-59(6) and 1960-63(6))8Erik Persson11(1933-36(5) and 1937-47(6))Nils-Åke Sandell(1952-55(10) and 1956-59(1))10Agne Simonsson10(1956-59(7), 1960-63(1) and 1964-67(2))11Jens Peder Hansen9(1948-51(2), 1952-55(5), 1956-59(2))Kaj Uldaler(1929-32(5) and 1933-36(4))Gunnar Thoresen(1937-47(1), 1948-51(3), 1952-55(4) and 1956-59(1))14Finn Berstad8(1924-28(8))Bertil Ericsson(1933-36(8))Michael Rohde(1924-28(7) and 1929-32(1))Gunnar Gren(1937-47(2) and 1956-59(6))Henning Enoksen(1956-59(3) and 1960-63(5))Knut Kroon(1924-28(2), 1929-32(5), 1933-36(1))Harry Bild(1956-59(3), 1960-63(3) and 1964-67(2))Odd Iversen(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 Time of goals For Result Against Tournament Date FIFAreport .Sven Rydell 3 ', 78', 89' 6–11924–28 Nordic Football Championship21 September 1924Report .Sven Rydell (2) 4 ', 42', 44', 62' 7–323 August 1925Report .Sven Rydell (3) 3 ', 23', 65' 5–326 June 1927Report .Jørgen Juve 3 ', 15', 73' 4–0 1929–32 Nordic Football Championship18 June 1929Report .Pauli Jørgensen 3 ', 41', 73' 8–013 October 1929Report .Jørgen Juve (2) 3 ', 42', 66' 6–21 June 1930Report .Pauli Jørgensen (2) 3 ', 65', 88' 6–122 June 1930Report .Jørgen Juve (3) 3 ', 42', 47' 3–66 July 1930Report .Harry Lundahl 3 ', 13', 48' 6–3 .Lauri Lehtinen 3 ', 40', 41' 4–428 September 1930Report .Bertil Karlsson 3 ', 53', 64' 4–4 .Sune Zetterberg 4 ', 25', 30', 55' 8–23 July 1931Report .Evert Hansson 3 ', 65', 73' 8–2 .Jørgen Juve (4) 3 ', 36', 46' 5–1 1933–36 Nordic Football Championship3 September 1933Report .Bertil Ericsson 4 ', 34', 61', 62' 5–317 June 1934Report .Erik Persson 3 ', 42', 87' 4–523 September 1934Report .Odd Hoel 3 ', 52', 62' 5-18 September 1935Report .Arne Brustad 4 ', 22', 25', 33' 9–0 1937–47 Nordic Football Championship17 June 1938Report .Erik Persson (2) 3 ', 64', 67' 5–19 June 1939Report .Oskar Theisen 3 ', 57', 89' 8–117 September 1939Report .Gunnar Nordahl 3 ', 57', 89' 7–024 August 1947Report .Gunnar Nordahl (2) 5 ', 44', 62', 74', 80' 5–3 1948–51 Nordic Football Championship19 September 1948Report .Egon Jönsson 3 ', 9', 17' 8–12 October 1949Report .Ingvar Rydell 3 ', 75', 83' 8–1 .Kjell Kristiansen 3 ', 47', 75' 7–2 1952–55 Nordic Football Championship31 August 1952Report .Lars Råberg 3 ', 48', 58' 8–121 September 1952Report .Hasse Persson 3 ', 50', 83' 8–1 .Birger Eklund 3 ', 30', 48' 10–115 August 1954Report .Kurt Hamrin 3 ', 71', 80' 10–1 .Nils-Åke Sandell 3 ', 38', 60' 5–210 October 1954Report .Gunnar Gren 3 ', 50', 77' 5–1 1956–59 Nordic Football Championship22 September 1957Report .Torbjörn Jonsson 3 ', 50', 69' 7–120 August 1958Report .Harald Nielsen 3 ', 22', 53' 4–04 October 1959Report .Rune Börjesson 3 ', 48', 75' 6–218 October 1959Report .Jørn Sørensen 3 ', 52', 85' 9–1 1960–63 Nordic Football Championship15 October 1961Report .Ole Madsen 3 ', 44', 87' 6–111 June 1962Report .Tom Turesson 3 ', 63', 70' 4–2 1964–67 Nordic Football Championship18 September 1966Report .Erik Dyreborg 5 ', 41', 57', 60', 63' 5–024 September 1967Report .Tommy Troelsen 3 ', 24', 77' 5–1 1968–71 Nordic Football Championship23 June 1968Report .Bent Jensen 3 ', 14', 43' 5–210 September 1969Report .Pål Jacobsen 4 ', 39', 73', 83' 6–11978–80 Nordic Football Championship21 August 1980Report

Other Competencies

Competition Year Champions Runners-up Next editionNational teams (Men's) Nordic Football Championship 2020-21 TBD Nordic Under-17 Championship 2026 TBD Nordic Futsal Cup 2023 TBDNational teams (Women's) Women's Nordic Football Championship 1982 TBD Women's Nordic U20 - U21 - U23 Football 2009 TBD Nordic U16 - U17 Women's Football 2026 TBD

See also Women's Nordic Football Championship Nordic Under-20, Under-21 and Under-23 Women's Football ChampionshipNordic Nordic Cup (Women U-20/U-21/U-23) Nordic Under-17 Football Championship Nordic Under-17 Women's Football ChampionshipNordic Cup (Women U-17) Nordic Futsal Cup Royal League

References Cited sources

Further reading

External links Nordic Championships at RSSSF