Violence & Brawls ·
The pitch invasion that stopped Denmark–Sweden
With the score 3–3, a spectator ran toward referee Herbert Fandel after a late penalty decision. Players intervened, the match was abandoned, and UEFA later awarded Sweden a 3–0 win.
Denmark had recovered from three goals down against Sweden when its Euro 2008 qualifier at Copenhagen’s Parken stadium unravelled in June 2007. With the score 3–3 in the 89th minute, referee Herbert Fandel sent off Christian Poulsen and awarded Sweden a penalty. Before the kick could be taken, a spectator ran onto the pitch toward Fandel. Danish players intervened; the referee walked off and abandoned the match.
The penalty followed Poulsen’s punch to Sweden striker Markus Rosenberg’s stomach inside the penalty area. Poulsen acknowledged what he had done while saying he felt Rosenberg had provoked him. “I was involved in a tussle with the Swedish player, who I felt had provoked me twice. I saw red and I hit him,” he said. He apologised to his team-mates and the public, calling it “the most stupid thing I’ve ever done.”
Denmark defender Michael Gravgaard helped protect Fandel as the spectator approached. Contemporary accounts described an attempted attack; a later AFP/WebNews account reported that the supporter admitted being drunk and entering the pitch illegally but denied the violence charge. The intervention brought the match to an abrupt end, with the penalty untaken.
Fandel said he remained in shock for several minutes. “It was clear very quickly that I had to stop the match in order to highlight the violence of the players and the spectators,” he said. He also said he had received apologies from Danish football authorities, including coach Morten Olsen. Olsen called it “a black day for Danish football” and said that although Poulsen was not the only person to blame for the episode, that did not excuse what he had done.
UEFA subsequently awarded Sweden a 3–0 victory. It also fined the Danish Football Association 100,000 Swiss francs and ordered Denmark’s next four home qualifiers to be played more than 250 kilometres from Copenhagen, with the first, against Liechtenstein, behind closed doors. Poulsen received a separate three-match suspension for punching Rosenberg.
The Danish association appealed the ruling but not Poulsen’s suspension. Its general secretary, Jim Stjerne Hansen, called the sanctions unusually harsh and noted that Denmark had no UEFA-approved stadium more than 250 kilometres from Copenhagen. UEFA later dropped the distance requirement.
In the immediate aftermath, the unidentified supporter offered an apology of his own. “It was incredibly stupid of me,” he said. “I want to apologize to Denmark, Sweden and the referee for my inhuman behavior.”