Danish League - SAS Ligaen - FMFormation.net - Football Manager

johnireland · 07-04-08, 03:37 PM

The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest league of football (soccer) in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year. Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) is the main sponsor of the Superliga, and the official name of the tournament is SAS Ligaen

Competition Format

Since 1996, 12 clubs have played in the league, playing each other thrice. Each team meets each one of the other teams one time at home, one time away, plus one more time home or away dependent of the clubs placement in the previous season. The two teams with the fewest points are relegated to the Danish 1st Division.

The Danish champion will play in the UEFA Champions League in the upcoming season where they will start in the 2nd qualifying round. The runner-up will play the UEFA Cup along with the winner of the Danish Cup. Both teams will start in the 2nd qualifying round. The third-placed team will play in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in the upcoming season and will start in the 2nd round. Teams finishing 1st to 4th are all qualified for the Royal League

A Brief History

Founded in 1991, the Danish Superliga replaced the Danish 1st Division as the highest league of football in Denmark.
From the start in 1991, 10 teams were participating. The opening Superliga season was played during the spring of 1991, with the ten teams playing each other twice for the championship title. From the summer of 1991, the tournament structure would stretch over two years. The 10 teams would play each other twice in the first half of the tournament. In the following spring, the bottom two teams would be cut off, the points of the teams would be cut in half, and the remaining eight teams would once more play each other twice, for a total of 32 games in a season.

This practice was abandoned before the 1995-96 season, when the number of teams competing were increased to 12, playing each other thrice for 33 games per Superliga season. For the first season of this new structure, Coca-Cola became the name sponsor of the league, which was then named Coca-Cola Ligaen. After a single season under that name, Faxe Brewery became sponsors and the league changed its name to Faxe Kondi Ligaen. Before the 2001-02 season, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) became the head sponsor, and the name of the tournament changed to SAS Ligaen

Clubs

Aalborg BK - Esbjerg fB -Lyngby BK - Aarhus GF - F.C. Copenhagen -
Odense BK - AC Horsens - FC Midtjylland - Randers FC - Brøndby IF -
FC Nordsjælland - Viborg FF

Previous winners

91 Brondby
92 Lyngby
93 FC Copenhagen
94 Silkeborg
95 Aalborg
96 Brondby
97 Brondby
98 Brondby
99 Aalborg
00 Herfolge
01 FC Copenhagen
02 Brondby
03 FC Copenhagen
04 FC Copenhagen
05 Brondby
06 FC Copenhagen
07 FC Copenhagen

Conclusion

In the history of this league, it has only ever been won by 6 clubs and over the last 7 years it has been dominated by Brondby and Copenhagen.
This league would not be regarded as the strongest of European leagues but it is far from the worst. Over the last few years we have seen the Danish clubs represent them self well in European football and although a lot of the top Danish players play their football in other European countries, the standard of football in Denmark is not bad.
Financially the big 3 clubs have average bank balances and can attract half decent Eastern European and South American players.
This is a good challenging league and a challenge to take on one of the smaller clubs and brake the dominance of the big 2 clubs. Also could you guide a Danish club back to the top in European football

**Hartynips** · 07-04-08, 03:40 PM

Interesting stuff there again john. Another league that most wouldnt really consider, now made more accesible by your hard work

Well done