SønderjyskE

Ground: Sydbank Park (Haderslev Fodboldstadion)

Visits: 1

Date: 24th July 2015

Match: SønderjyskE - Midtjylland 1-2 (Superligaen)

Attendance: 5 245

After two weeks without football it was time to go on tour again. I was choosing between Denmark and Germany but once fixtures for Superligaen, the top division in Denmark, were confirmed the choice was quite easy. This weekend I could visit 3 of the 5 grounds I was missing in Superligaen. First up was SønderjyskE vs Midtjylland on Friday evening. Sønderjysk Elitesport is a company, founded in 2004, with teams in football, ice-hockey and handball. The football team is a continuation of Haderslev FK and the team play at Haderslev Fodboldstadion (nowadays Sydbank Park). Kick-off this Friday evening was at 20.00 and shortly after 10 am I set off from Kristianstad. After a short break for lunch I then arrived in Haderslev around 3pm. With nothing else planned for the afternoon my first stop in Haderslev was the football ground. As expected I had no problems getting inside and I could take a few pictures of the empty stands. The ground has a capacity of around 9 000 of which 4 500 are seated. The newest addition to the ground is the 3 000 all-seater stand in the west side of the ground. This stand was opened in March 2014. The East Stand is for VIP and sponsors and has 1 500 seats. The two end stands are open terraces and all in all a good ground for a club like SønderjyskE. My hotel was only a kilometer away from the ground and being tired from the driving I rested in my room before having something to eat and drink. Around 7pm, an hour before kick-off, I was then back at the ground.

Midtjylland were, for the first time in their 15-year history, crowned champions of Denmark last season. It is still not a big club though and only 150 or so fans travelled to Haderslev for the first away game of the season. In total more than 5 000 turned up for SønderjyskE´s first home game of the season. I was only expecting around 3 000 and was positively surprised as I noticed the two seated stands filling up to (more or less) capacity. In the first half SønderjyskE had several good chances but it was the visitors who scored the only goal. A deflected free-kick meant 0-1 at half-time. Hardly fair on SønderjyskE as this was Mitjylland´s only chance in the first 45 minutes. The second half started with SønderjyskE scoring a really nice goal, 1-1 after 47 minutes. Most of the home fans expected SønderjyskE to press on for the winner. That was not to be the case though. A defensive mix-up from SønderjyskE meant Midtjylland could score in the 73rd minute and 1-2 was to be the final score. Disappointment for the home fans but quite an entertaining match for me. There had been a few heavy rain showers during the game but the rain stayed away as I walked back to my hotel. It was downhill most of the way and shortly after 10pm I was back in my room.

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