SfB-OureGround: Høje Bøge Stadion Visits: 1 Date: 11th May 2024 Match: SfB-Oure - Holstebro 2-1 (3. Division, relegation group) Attendance: 270 In early April I collided with a fox and although my car was still drivable I avoided long trips until the car had been repaired. This week I could finally hand in my car and on Friday morning the repairs were complete. Having not been to Denmark in 2024 I decided it was time for a long trip again and my destination would be Svendborg in southern Fyn. At 08.45 on Saturday morning I set off and after enjoying lunch overlooking the impressive bridge over Store Bælt I arrived in Svendborg around 12.45. The local football team, SfB-Oure, plays in 3. Division (level 4) and their ground has been on my “to do'' list for quite a while. SfB-Oure was founded in 2018 as a merger of Svendborg fB and Oure FA and they play at Høje Bøge Stadion, one of the most idyllic grounds in Denmark. With kick-off being at 14.00 I had no problems finding a parking spot right next to the ground and when the turnstiles opened an hour prior to kick-off I entered. Once inside the ground was as idyllic as I had expected and it actually felt like a privilege being at the ground when the weather was as nice as it was today. I was even given a free coffee from the kiosk and as the game started I found a spot in the covered stand. The record attendance at Høje Bøge Stadion is 8,000 from a game against OB in 1975. Today the official attendance was given as 270 and among those was Danish groundhopper Michael. He nowadays lives in Odense but grew up in Svendborg and as usual it was nice to meet up with a fellow hopper. He told me several stories about the club and city but since we had problems communicating in Danish/Swedish we switched to English! 3. Division has a promotion group (6 teams) and a relegation group (6 teams). SfB-Oure v Holstebro was an important game in the relegation group and with three teams being relegated the home team, in 5th position, really had to win today. It didn't start well for them though, early on it was 0-1 and in the 1st half Holstebro also hit the woodwork twice. The half-time talk must have been something extra and SfB-Oure looked like a transformed team in the 2nd half. They equalised from the penalty spot and then scored a screamer to make it 2-1. In the closing stages Holstebro had several really good chances to find an equaliser but the game at Høje Bøge Stadion ended 2-1 to SfB-Oure. It will be an exciting end to the season and hopefully SfB-Oure will stay up. After the final whistle I said good-bye to Michael and a few minutes later I parked the car outside my hotel in central Svendborg. As the weather was really nice I went down to the harbour area where the ferry to/from Ærø had started to unload its passengers. It takes an hour by ferry to reach Ærø and on the island there is actually a team playing at level 6. After a while I was back at my hotel where I enjoyed a delicious dinner.
Harbour Harbour Entrance East side South End West Stand West Stand West Stand ![]() West Stand North End Players and officials entering Kick-off East side East side Penalty, SfB-Oure (scored) West Stand West Stand View of play |