Soccer in Copenhagen

To complete my vacation and to celebrate my last night in Copenhagen Chris and I decided to attend a local soccer match between F.C. Copenhagen and F.C. Nordsjaelland. The stadium was some 45 minutes from his apartment so we took the most logical form of transportation, the train. I was a little disappointed in the attendance, being only 8,091 people present, the stadium looked somewhat empty. Without a lot of scoring taking place the singing fans seemed to be the most promising entertainment. Heading into the second half after a scoreless first F.C. Copenhagen’s Jesper Gronkjaer managed to score the only goal of the night, ultimately leading to F.C. Copenhagen’s victory of 1-0. Little did we know the most interesting part of the night still lay ahead...

Awaiting the train at the station flocks of F.C. Copenhagen fans started filling the sidewalks and yelling synchronized chants and fight songs lead by dedicated “yell leaders” with mega phones. I thought to myself these guys know how to support their team and was grateful to be a part of it. The thing is they never stopped. When the train arrived and we crammed in we just sat there…until the police with their riot helmets affixed to their belts soon climbed in too. Their weak attempts at settling this crowd was just enough to get the train rolling. Chris and I got “lucky” and had the privilege of sitting right next to the “yell leader” with the megaphone and all his rowdy friends. These fans chanted, sang, jumped, broke the ceiling, chanted, sang, and jumped all the way back to Copenhagen in pure victorious bliss.

-CB