Odense Atletikstadion

Ground: Odense Atletikstadion

Visits: 1

Date: 31st October 2024

Match: Næsby BK - Viborg FF 1-4 (DBU Pokalen)

Attendance: 1 337

Being free from work for a couple of days I planned a trip to Denmark by car and the idea was to attend three matches, including two of my three missing grounds in 2. Division (level 3). Unfortunately my car suffered a broken coil spring and I was not able to use my car for this trip. In the end I decided to go by train but only to the first of my planned matches, Næsby v Viborg in the Danish Cup. I have already been to Næsby’s ground but the cup game was scheduled to be played at Odense Atletikstadion, a ground rarely used for football.

At 09.24 the train departed Kristianstad C and 11.15 I was at København H. I had a baguette for lunch and at 12.04 my journey continued towards Odense. Unfortunately I couldn´t find any hotels in Odense with a spare room and I had to stay in Nyborg, next to Store Bælt and the stop right before Odense. I checked in without any problems but once back at the train station I noticed lots of people on the platform. Due to “police work” the rail line between Nyborg and Odense had been closed and even though I had time to spare I was starting to feel a bit nervous. We were promised replacement buses but when I spotted a local bus heading for Odense I decided to board this bus instead. The bus stopped everywhere and instead of 13 minutes by train it took an hour before the bus finally arrived in Odense. I knew this when I boarded the bus but at least I knew when I would arrive and there was still an hour to kick-off. I quickly purchased something to eat at Odense station before finding the tram bringing me to the ground.

Odense Atletikstadion is situated right next to the main football ground in Odense (the home of OB) and there can´t be many proper grounds being so close to each other. Odense Atletikstadion has a seated main stand with 1,200 seats but also plenty of terracing. Viborg brought around 150 fans to Odense for this round of 16 cup tie and they were in the left part of the seated stand. The official attendance was later given as 1,337 which is a very good attendance for a club like Næsby BK. With Viborg being in Superligaen and Næsby in 3. Division (level 4) the visitors were strong favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.

Viborg made it 0-1 early on but a few minutes later Næsby nearly equalised when they hit the inside of the post. Instead Viborg scored two more goals before the break, 0-3 at half-time. The cup tie was by now over and there was not much to be excited about in the 2nd half. Two late goals meant the final score was 1-4 and Viborg are through to the quarter finals. My journey back to Nyborg went as planned and I could look back on a nice day out in Denmark. When I found out one of my originally planned matches had been moved to an artificial pitch I was not too disappointed I had to make this a one match trip instead of a three match trip!