List of Danish football champions

The Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913,[1] in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga championship. The Danish football championship is governed by the Danish Football Association (DBU).

The early Danish football championships were decided in a single game, and the competition was not nationwide until its structure was altered before the 1927–28 season. Until the 1950s, the winners' list included teams exclusively from the Copenhagen area. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) thus won 12 of its record 15 Danish championships before the 1954–55 season, when Køge Boldklub became the first non-Copenhagen team to be crowned Danish football champions.

A Danish champion has been found every year since 1913, except for 1915 and 1928. In 1915, the tournament was not played because of World War I. In 1928, there was no rule defined for the possibility that two or more teams had the same number of points at the end of the tournament, when three clubs all ended in first place.

History

Upon its founding in 1889, the Danish Football Association (DBU) inaugurated The Football Tournament contested by Copenhagen clubs only, though the winners are not considered official Danish champions. Upon the creation of the Copenhagen Football Association (KBU) in 1903, The Football Tournament folded, and KBU went on to arrange yearly Copenhagen football championships until 1936.

The first Danish championship, the "National Football Tournament", was played from 1912 to 1913. Through to 1927, the championship was decided in a single final match,[1] with the winner of KBU's Copenhagen football championship directly qualified to play the winner of a series of play-off games between the regional champions from the rest of Denmark.[2] From 1914 to 1917, the runner-up team from the KBU tournament played a semi-final game against the best team from the rest of Denmark, with the winner facing the KBU champions in the Danish championship final. As the Copenhagen clubs were stronger than the provincial teams, this meant the final game ended up being contested by two clubs from Copenhagen.

Before the 1927–28 season, the first nationwide tournament, the "Denmark Tournament", was inaugurated.[1] 20 teams were divided into five groups of four teams. They played each other once, and the five group winners qualified for a championship deciding group. Here they again played each other once, and the top placed team was declared champions after seven games in all. This lasted only two years before the league system was changed and the tournament renamed to the "Championship League" for the 1929–30 season.[1] The teams were divided into two leagues, a championship series of ten teams and a promotion series with a varying number of clubs each year. This meant that the number of teams competing for the championship was fixed for the course of the tournament, and that every team played each other. The lowest placed team in the championship series and the top placed team in the promotion series would swap places between each season.[3] From the start of the competition in 1929–30, the clubs played each other once to give a total of nine games a season, but from 1936–37 they met twice in a season for a total of 18 games.[1]

A match between Frem (horizontal stripes) and AB (vertical stripes), circa 1940. 1937 top goalscorer Pauli Jørgensen is on the far left, jumping.

During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II from 1940–45, the championship was again decided in a single final.[1] The format varied throughout the occupation, as a differing number of teams played in three separate tournaments. The best placed teams in each tournament would go on to a string of play-off games, before two teams met in the final.

From the 1945–46 season, the competition reverted to the "Championship League" format, with the tournament now named the "1st Division".[1] There were 10 teams in the top division once again, playing each other twice, with the lowest team being relegated.[4] The 1953–54 season saw the first non-Copenhagen team win the Danish championship, when Køge Boldklub won the title.[5] The championship title was not reclaimed by a Copenhagen team in more than ten years, until Akademisk Boldklub (AB) won the 1967 season.

From 1958, the Danish championship was arranged through one calendar year,[1] and the 1956–57 season lasted 18 months with the teams playing each other thrice for a 27 games total.[6] From 1958 to 1974, the tournament was expanded to 12 teams,[1] playing each other twice for 22 games per season each, but now the bottom two teams faced relegation.[7] The number of teams was increased to 16 for the 1975 season,[1] which resulted in 30 games per season.[8] In 1986, the number of participants was altered once more, this time decreasing the number of teams to 14,[1] and the number of games to 26.[9]

In 1991, the 1st Division was replaced by the "Danish Superliga",[1] with only 10 teams participating. The opening Superliga season was played during the spring of 1991, with the ten teams playing each other twice for the championship title.[10] For the following seasons the tournament structure was once more stretched over two calendar years. In the summer and autumn of 1991, the 10 teams played each other twice in the regular season of the tournament.[1] In the following spring, the bottom two teams would be cut off, while the remaining eight teams entered the post-season tournament with their points cut in half and played each other twice once more, for a total of 32 games in a season.[11] This practice was abandoned before the 1995–96 season,[1] when the number of teams competing was increased to 12, playing each other thrice for 33 games per Superliga season.[12]

Champions

National Football Tournament (1913–1927)

Year Winner (titles)[13] Runners-up[13]
1912–13 KB (1) B 1901
1913–14 KB (2) B 93
1914–15 no competition held due to World War I
1915–16 B 93 (1) KB
1916–17 KB (3) AB
1917–18 KB (4) Randers Freja
1918–19 AB (1) B 1901
1919–20 B 1903 (1) B 1901
1920–21 AB (2) AGF
1921–22 KB (5) B 1901
1922–23 Frem (1) AGF
1923–24 B 1903 (2) B 1913
1924–25 KB (6) AGF
1925–26 B 1903 (3) B 1901
1926–27 B 93 (2) Skovshoved

Denmark Tournament (1928–1929)

Year Winner (titles)[14] Runners-up[14] Top scorer
1927–28 none[15] not available[16]
1928–29 B 93 (3) KB

Championship League (1930–1940)

Year Winner (titles)[14] Runners-up[14] Top scorer (club) (goals)[17]
1929–30 B 93 (4) Frem not available[16]
1930–31 Frem (2) KB
1931–32 KB (7) AB
1932–33 Frem (3) B 93
1933–34 B 93 (5) B 1903
1934–35 B 93 (6) Frem
1935–36 Frem (4) AB
1936–37 AB (3) Frem Pauli Jørgensen (Frem) (19)
1937–38 B 1903 (4) Frem Knud Andersen (B 1903) (23)
1938–39 B 93 (7) KB Erik Petersen (B 93) (27)
1939–40 KB (8) Fremad Amager Frede Jensen (Køge) and Kaj Hansen (B 93) (12)

War Tournaments (1941–1945)

Year Winner (titles)[14] Runners-up[14]
1940–41 Frem (5) Fremad Amager
1941–42 B 93 (8) AB
1942–43 AB (4) KB
1943–44 Frem (6) AB
1944–45 AB (5) AGF

1st Division (1946–1990)

Year Winner (titles)[14] Runners-up[14] Top scorer (club) (goals)[17]
1945–46 B 93 (9) KB Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (B 93) (16)
1946–47 AB (6) KB Helge Broneé (ØB) (21)
1947–48 KB (9) Frem John Hansen (Frem) (20)
1948–49 KB (10) AB Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (OB) (16)
1949–50 KB (11) AB James Rønvang (AB) (15)
1950–51 AB (7) OB James Rønvang (AB), Henning Bjerregaard (B 93)
and Jens Peter Hansen (Esbjerg) (11)
1951–52 AB (8) Køge Valdemar Kendzior (Skovshoved) and Poul Erik Petersen (Køge) (13)
1952–53 KB (12) Skovshoved Valdemar Kendzior (Skovshoved) (17)
1953–54 Køge (1) KB Jens-Carl Kristensen (AB) (12)
1954–55 AGF (1) AB Henning Jensen (Frem) (17)
1955–56 AGF (2) Esbjerg Gunnar Kjeldberg (AGF) (18)
1956–57 AGF (3) AB Søren Andersen (Frem) (27)
1958 Vejle (1) Frem Henning Enoksen (Vejle) (27)
1959 B 1909 (1) KB Per Jensen (KB) (20)
1960 AGF (4) KB Harald Nielsen (Frederikshavn) (19)
1961 Esbjerg (1) KB Jørgen Ravn (KB) (26)
1962 Esbjerg (2) B 1913 Henning Enoksen (AGF) and Carl Emil Christiansen (Esbjerg) (24)
1963 Esbjerg (3) B 1913 Mogens Haastrup (B 1909) (21)
1964 B 1909 (2) AGF Jørgen Ravn (KB) (21)
1965 Esbjerg (4) Vejle Per Petersen (B 1903) (18)
1966 Hvidovre (1) Frem Henning Enoksen (AGF) (16)
1967 AB (9) Frem Leif Nielsen (Frem) (15)
1968 KB (13) Esbjerg Niels-Christian Holmstrøm (KB) (23)
1969 B 1903 (5) KB Steen Rømer Larsen (B 1903) (15)
1970 B 1903 (6) AB Ole Forsing (B 1903) (18)
1971 Vejle (2) Hvidovre Uffe Brage (KB) and John Nielsen (B 1901) (19)
1972 Vejle (3) B 1903 Karsten Lund (Vejle) and John Nielsen (B 1901) (16)
1973 Hvidovre (2) Randers Freja Hans Aabech (Hvidovre) (28)
1974 KB (14) Vejle Niels-Christian Holmstrøm (KB) (24)
1975 Køge (2) Holbæk Bjarne Petersen (KB) (25)
1976 B 1903 (7) Frem Mogens Jespersen (AaB) (22)
1977 OB (1) B 1903 Allan Hansen (OB) (23)
1978 Vejle (4) Esbjerg John Eriksen (OB) (22)
1979 Esbjerg (5) KB John Eriksen (OB) (20)
1980 KB (15) Næstved Hans Aabech (KB) (19)
1981 Hvidovre (3) Lyngby Allan Hansen (OB) (28)
1982 OB (2) AGF Ib Jacquet (Vejle) (20)
1983 Lyngby (1) OB Vilhelm Munk Nielsen (OB) (20)
1984 Vejle (5) AGF Steen Thychosen (Vejle) (24)
1985 Brøndby (1) Lyngby Lars Bastrup (Ikast) (20)
1986 AGF (5) Brøndby Claus Nielsen (Brøndby) (16)
1987 Brøndby (2) Ikast fS Claus Nielsen (Brøndby) (20)
1988 Brøndby (3) Næstved Bent Christensen (Brøndby) (21)
1989 OB (3) Brøndby Miklos Molnar (Frem), Flemming Christensen (Lyngby)
and Lars Jakobsen (OB) (14)
1990 Brøndby (4) B 1903 Bent Christensen (Brøndby) (17)

Danish Superliga (1991–present)

Year Winner (titles)[14] Runners-up[14] Top scorer (club) (goals)[17]
1991 Brøndby (5) Lyngby Bent Christensen (Brøndby) (11)
1991–92 Lyngby (2) B 1903 Peter Møller (AaB) (17)
1992–93 FC København (1) OB Peter Møller (AaB) (22)
1993–94 Silkeborg (1) FC København Søren Frederiksen (Silkeborg) (18)
1994–95 AaB (1) Brøndby Erik Bo Andersen (AaB) (24)
1995–96 Brøndby (6) AGF Thomas Thorninger (AGF) (20)
1996–97 Brøndby (7) Vejle Miklos Molnar (Lyngby) (26)
1997–98 Brøndby (8) Silkeborg Ebbe Sand (Brøndby) (28)
1998–99 AaB (2) Brøndby Heine Fernandez (Viborg) (23)
1999–2000 Herfølge (1) Brøndby Peter Lassen (Silkeborg) (16)
2000–01 FC København (2) Brøndby Peter Graulund (Brøndby) (21)
2001–02 Brøndby (9) FC København Peter Madsen (Brøndby) and Kaspar Dalgas (OB) (22)
2002–03 FC København (3) Brøndby Søren Frederiksen (Viborg) and Jan Kristiansen (Esbjerg) (18)
2003–04 FC København (4) Brøndby Steffen Højer (OB), Mohamed Zidan (FC Midtjylland),
Tommy Bechmann (Esbjerg) and Mwape Miti (OB) (19)
2004–05 Brøndby (10) FC København Steffen Højer (OB) (20)
2005–06 FC København (5) Brøndby Steffen Højer (Viborg) (16)
2006–07 FC København (6) FC Midtjylland Rade Prica (AaB) (19)
2007–08 AaB (3) FC Midtjylland Jeppe Curth (AaB) (17)
2008–09 FC København (7) OB Morten Nordstrand (FC København) and Marc Nygaard (Randers) (16)
2009–10 FC København (8) OB Peter Utaka (OB) (18)
2010–11 FC København (9) OB Dame N'Doye (FC København) (25)
2011–12 FC Nordsjælland (1) FC København Dame N'Doye (FC København) (18)
2012–13 FC København (10) FC Nordsjælland Andreas Cornelius (FC København) (18)
2013–14 AaB (4) FC København Thomas Dalgaard (Viborg) (18)
2014–15 FC Midtjylland (1) FC København Martin Pusic (FC Midtjylland) (17)

Total titles won

The following 19 clubs have won the top league in Danish football.

Club Winners Runners-up Winning years
KB[18] 15 13 1912–13, 1913–14, 1916–17, 1917–18, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1931–32, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1952–53, 1968, 1974, 1980
Brøndby 10 9 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2004–05
FC København[18] 10 6 1992–93, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13
AB 9 10 1918–19, 1920–21, 1936–37, 1942–43, 1944–45, 1946–47, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1967
B 93 9 2 1915–16, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1938–39, 1941–42, 1945–46
B 1903[18] 7 4 1919–20, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1937–38, 1969, 1970, 1976
Frem 6 9 1922–23, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1940–41, 1943–44
AGF 5 8 1954–55, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1960, 1986
Vejle 5 3 1958, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1984
Esbjerg 5 3 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1979
AaB 4 1994–95, 1998–99, 2007–08, 2013–14
OB 3 6 1977, 1982, 1989
Hvidovre 3 1 1966, 1973, 1981
Lyngby 2 3 1983, 1991–92
Køge[19] 2 1 1953–54, 1975
B 1909 2 1959, 1964
FC Midtjylland 1 2 2014–15
FC Nordsjælland 1 1 2011–12
Silkeborg 1 1 1993–94
Herfølge[19] 1 1999–2000

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Historien om Danmarksmesterskabet i fodbold" (in Danish). Danish Football Association. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  2. The winners of the regional JBU (Jutland), FBU (Funen), SBU (Zealand), LFBU (Lolland-Falster) and BBU (Bornholm) competitions.
  3. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN – 1929/1930". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  4. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN – 1945/1946". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  5. "Køges første DM-titel blev til på "Ungarsk Rapsodi"" (in Danish). Køge Boldklub. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  6. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN 1956/1957 – 1. DIVISION". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  7. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN 1958 – 1. DIVISION". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  8. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN 1975 – 1. DIVISION". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  9. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN 1986 – 1. DIVISION". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  10. "Danmarksturneringen 1991, Superligaen, resultater". DanskFodbold.com. Danish Football Association. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  11. "DANMARKSTURNERINGEN – 1991/1992". Haslund.info. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  12. "Superligaen (Coca-Cola Superligaen) 1995/96". DanskFodbold.com. Danish Football Association. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  13. 1 2 Denmark – København A-Raeken and National Playoffs 1889–1927 at RSSSF
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Danish) End tables of the Danish football championships since 1927–28 by the Danish Football Association
  15. No rule was defined for the possibility of two or more teams finishing the tournament with the same number of points. B 93, Frem and B 1903 all ended equal at 6 points, and DBU proposed rematches. When B 93 and Frem refused, B 1903 forfeited the championship, and no champion was chosen. Danish League Tables 1927–1998 by RSSSF.
  16. 1 2 No sources chronicle the top goal scorers of the earliest league championships.
  17. 1 2 3 Denmark – List of Topscorers at RSSSF
  18. 1 2 3 KB and B 1903 merged to form FC København in 1992.
  19. 1 2 Herfølge BK and Køge BK merged to form HB Køge in 2009.

Sources

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