Pride and excitement ‘goes beyond football’ for Denmark fans heading to Wembley

A UK-based Danish football fan who secured tickets to see the team take on England in the Euro 2020 semi-final has said she believes the side has united Danes the world over with their performances since Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest.

Alessandra Helstrup Norreriis, 26, bagged one of 5,000 tickets made available for Danes living in the UK.

“I feel really lucky that I’ve managed to get one, but I think DBU (Danish Football Association) have been really helpful in reaching out to the Danes to let us know how to do it,” she told the PA news agency.

“I watched the Denmark game against the Czech Republic in a pub in Manchester with other Danes. As soon as I got home I started researching how to get the tickets – there was a lot of frantically refreshing my email yesterday.”

Ms Helstrup Norreriis will be attending the match with her English boyfriend, who will be cheering for Denmark alongside her in the stands.

She told PA the way the side had responded to Eriksen’s shock collapse in Denmark’s opening match on June 12 has made her “unbelievably proud to be Danish”.

“Considering what happened in the first game with Christian Eriksen, I’m just in complete awe of the resilience and strength the whole team and all staff have shown. It makes me so unbelievably proud to be Danish.

“The togetherness this tournament and the team have created, not only in Denmark but between Danes all over the world, has been one of the most amazing things in a long time. It goes beyond football at this point.”

With Denmark on the UK Government’s amber list for travel, and Danes required to quarantine for 10 days on arrival in the country, fans will not be able to travel to attend the game, with the 5,000 tickets for fans in the UK providing the majority of Denmark’s support.

Nathalie Gordon, a creative director living in London said she managed to buy tickets for herself and her mother.

“I’m going with my mum and we’re really excited to be able to be there for all of our family back home who can’t be,” she said.

Ms Gordon added: “I think the want to support Denmark has only increased as the competition has continued and we’ve progressed through the rounds.

“I think it’s really lovely that tickets have been made available, but it’s not been widely publicised so lots of Danes don’t know, but then I think that’s what England want – they’re on home turf and of course want to only see and hear England fans.

“Either way, our boys will at least see flecks of red in the crowd and know there’s people there for them too.”

Bette Petersen Broyd, 68, also managed to bag three tickets to the game and described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime situation”.

Born in Skanderborg, Denmark, the honorary secretary for the Anglo-Danish society, a charity which organises social and cultural events, lives in Croydon.

Mrs Petersen Broyd said: “I feel I’m not just there for me, I’m there for lots of other people.

“I’m there for the players, to make them feel they’re being backed up by their almost-home crowd, but also for lots of others.

“I saw that there were emails from people saying ‘I’ve now got tickets, I’ve got four tickets for the family’, so they’re all excited and reporting back that a lot of them have been successful already.”

Denmark will play England at 8pm on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium in London.