Most Londoners know about the capital’s numerous Premier League football, but few are aware of the Scandinavian derbies taking place in the city parks.

One of the Scandinavian clubs in London is Team Denmark FC, and as the name may reveal is a club bringing the Danish Vikings to London’s 5-a-side tournaments. However, according to the team’s coach, Phillip Sode, other nationalities can join the club.

“The idea with the club was to gather Danes in London, who perhaps do not have anything to do with Denmark in their everyday life. Our guideline is Danish speaking, but it is not a must – we are open minded,” Sode said.

Throughout history, there have been numerous clashes between the three brother nations; Denmark, Norway and Sweden – both on and off the pitch. Now, London’s Danish Church has brought the battle to London as they hold a yearly tournament for teams and organisations from the three countries.

“There is at least one ‘national team’ from each country, and people know each other, so there is of course some extra interest in winning against the other brother nations,” Philip Sode said.

Team Denmark FC was founded in 2004 and has added running and golf to their sport society. Today, more than 100 Danes have joined TDFC, but the amount of numbers varies . Ulla Vitting, Chairperson in Team Denmark FC said:

“We have 85 members shared across football and running, and around 153 members in all. However, it goes up and down as some of the members, at times, are in Denmark for several months.”

When the football section was started, one of the targets was to be the all-Danish professional club within five years. However, as time has gone by the dream has been on a hold as the club has developed to be more social than professional.

Despite the relaxed atmosphere around the club, Team Denmark FC, at times, sees some young talented Danes take to the pitch. One of the TDFC-players, Martin Andersen, is trying to help these talents to a career in an English club through his company Nordic Football Agency.

“We try and gather some young talents and place them in English clubs, mainly in London. We are working together with Hummel [Danish sportswear] and they provide us with player’s clothes and boots,” Andersen said.

Nordic Football Agency mainly aims to represent Scandinavian players, which they try and promote by playing 5-a-side tournaments in and around London.

Team Denmark FC will be meeting a German team at the beginning of March. Until then, the Danish men and women are training near the Glouster Gate in Regent’s Park every Saturday at 11 am.