sport
FC Copenhagen and Parken: A Guide to the City's Top Football Club
F.C. København play at Parken in Østerbro, the ground that also hosts Denmark's national team. Here is how the club and its stadium fit into the city.
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Football in Copenhagen centres on one club above all: F.C. København, usually written FC Copenhagen in English and often shortened to FCK. It plays in the Danish Superliga, the top tier of the Danish game, and it has been one of the most successful Danish clubs of the modern era, with a long run of league titles and regular appearances in European competition.
The club is younger than its stature might suggest. FC Copenhagen was formed in 1992 through a merger of two older Copenhagen clubs, Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and B 1903, with the aim of creating a single strong side capable of competing at the highest level from the capital. That origin explains why a club with such a prominent place in Danish football has a relatively recent founding date.
FCK's home is Parken, in the Østerbro district a little north of the city centre. The stadium opened in 1992 and holds in the region of 38,000 spectators for football. It is not only the club's ground: Parken is also the national stadium, where the Denmark men's national team plays its home internationals, which means the same arena stages both weekly league football and major qualifiers. The venue has a retractable roof and is used for large concerts as well as sport.
The fixture that generates the most heat is the meeting with Brøndby IF, the club from the western suburbs of the capital. Known as the Copenhagen derby, or sometimes the New Firm, it is the biggest rivalry in Danish football and brings a charged atmosphere to Parken and to Brøndby's ground when the two meet.
For visitors who want to see a match, the Superliga season runs across the autumn, winter and spring rather than the summer, so checking the fixture list is the first step. Parken is easy to reach from the centre using the public transport network, and tickets are sold through the club in Danish kroner. On non-match days the stadium has run tours and houses other facilities, making it a point of interest even outside the football calendar for anyone curious about the home of the Danish game.