Another Danish double weekend, FC Roskilde v FC Helsingør

FC Roskilde 0-1 FC Helsingør
Friday 20 March 2026, 19:00 kick-off
Danish division 2 (3rd tier)
Roskilde Idrætspark
Attendance: 681

With the Swedish league season still a couple of weeks away I decided on another weekend over in Denmark with one new ground, Roskilde, and a return visit to Fremad Amager the follwoing day. 

Roskilde is a beautiful historical city about 30 km west of Copenhagen and famous for its 11th century cathedral and the incredible viking ship museum, more of that below. The football club, now called simply FC Roskilde, was formed in 2004 with a merger of three local clubs.They were relegated from Division 1 last season and are hoping to bounce back up again. They play in sky blue and white with the Eagles as their nickname and a mascot known as Ørnen Jørgen (Jørgen the Eagle) who I saw but did not capture on film. They have done well so far and are sitting in third place so this match against FC Helsingør, currently firmly aty the bottom of the league, would surely be a formality for the hosts. I've seen Helsingør a few times and the two clubs have several similarities  both sky blue home shirts and rather similar grounds. They are also inhabitants of the same leagues, moving up and down between divisions 1 and 2, but I can imagine that they will not relish the prospect of falling down to the lowest league of the Danish senior set-up.

Fans gathering before kick-off. Usual barbeque tent does very good business

The ground

The totem pole of fame

Like so many other lower league grounds in Denmark, Roskilde Idrætspark has a main stand on one side, low terracing on the other side and just fencing at the ends. The main stand is modern and offers clear views for all. On the top level is the clubhouse and members' lounge and bar. You pay a standard entry fee (I paid 50 DKK concession) and you can sit in the stand or join the hardy souls on the terracing. The atmosphere is friendly and most people seem to know each other. There's a good mix of young and old, men and women. Very Danish really, even if that description doesn't mean so much if you don't know the place so well.

One curiosity was a sort of totem pole with an eagle on top and metal plaques with the names of the players of the year.

Food and drink

Same as at every ground round here. Open-air barbeques with big sausages, popcorn, beer in abundance, coffee etc. The evening was distinctly chilly (verging on freezing) so I didn't really fancy a cold beer. As usual, there was no tea on offer so I settled on a hot chocolate and that did the trick. Since going veggie I always eat before a match so I can't comment on the food but I remember Danish sausages as being very tasty (in stark contrast to the tasteless things they serve in Sweden).

The match

Top versus bottom but you couldn't have guessed that. Roskilde dominated most of the match but most attacks fizzled out or were well dealt with by the Helsingør defence who played very well and deserved their clean sheet. The first half had very few chances and the hosts couldn't seem to outwit the guests dogged defenders. Then just before half time, against the run of play, the guests had a short period of pressure and won a corner on the left. It was headed back from the near post and was nodded home by Sebastian Slettegaard Petersen.

Everyone hoped a rousing half-time talk from the manager would fire up the hosts in the second half. They created more chances and one effort was cleared off the line. The guests defended resolutely soaking up the pressure until the 94th minute when Freitag shot home what seemed to be the equaliser. But to general consternation the referee signalled for a free kick to Helsingør and that was that. 

Did Roskilde underestimate their opponents or was it a case of Helsingør going all out in a last ditch survival attempt. A bit of both probably. Anyway, I headed briskly back to my hotel well chilled but glad to have another ground ticked off!

If you can read Danish or use a translation tool there's a match report on the club site.

Helsingør defence deals with another home attack near the end.

Mug shot

More than football

The city of Roskilde is one of Denmark's most popular tourist destinations. I have been here several times over the years but there are always new things to see. I wandered around in warm spring sunshine and admired the snowdrops, crocuses and even dafodils in full bloom. Spring hasn't come this far at home in Sweden yet. The magnificent 13th century cathedral is a UNESCO heritage site and houses the graves of 40 Danish kings and queens.Close by is the bishop's residence and the convent, both still in use and not open to the public. 

The other big attraction is the Viking Ship Museum. In the 1950s five viking ships were discovered buried in the mud in Roskilde fjord and were recovered after years of painstaking archaeological work. The ships are now displayed in the museum hall. Some are relatively complete whilst others only have about 30% or their original timbers. There is a real longship built for warfare and able to travel over the stormy seas of the north Atlantic and there are several wider cargo ships as well as a fishing boat. Outside are replica versions of the five that have been built using the same type of tools as the vikings used. These boats have been successfully sailed as far as Scotland and Ireland.