Winter has arrived in Denmark, and unfortunately this has caused the pitch at Helsingør Stadium to freeze over. The long period of frost has meant that the cover we bought for the pitch has not been able to keep the pitch frost-free. Therefore, Helsingør Municipality has assessed that the pitch is very likely not to be ready for the match on Sunday.
FC Helsingør has spent the whole day yesterday and today working to find a solution so the match could be played. An offer to borrow Gentofte Stadium had to be declined, as it does not meet the Divisionsforeningen's requirements for spectator seating. FC Helsingør had also offered to stage the match in Horsens, but it was assessed that this would give Horsens too great a sporting advantage to play two home matches against the same opponent.*
That leaves the remaining proposed solution that the match is played at an alternative "home ground" at FC Nordsjælland's Right to Dream Park in Farum.
FC Helsingør's director Janus Kyhl states:
We are of course very, very sorry that the match cannot be played in Helsingør. There should be no doubt that we would stretch very far not to disappoint our home crowd, especially when it concerns our spring opener at home. Unfortunately, despite how much we have moved forward over the past year, we are still challenged by the physical facilities. The solutions we have worked on have not been able to be approved by the Divisionsforeningen, so we are renting Right to Dream Park instead.
I would like to urge as many of our fans as possible to make the trip south to Farum. Not only to support the team, although of course that is the most important thing. But also because the rental of Right to Dream Park entails a fairly significant additional expense for the club. Simply having people turn up and buy a ticket will make a very big difference for us, so I would like to say to our fans: We need you! Come and support the team and the club. The more, the better, so that we can stand together to avenge the weekend's defeat and show that Helsingør stands behind its football team.
All already purchased tickets as well as season tickets grant access to the match. If you buy tickets via our website, they are also valid for the match.
For Sunday's match, 3 stands will be opened.
AC Horsens fans will be placed in their own section behind the goal (the B stand)
FC Helsingør's fans will be placed behind the goal in the D stand
VIP guests will be placed in a separate section in the A stand
Neutral guests and others will be placed in the A stand
Guests to the VIP arrangement before the match are kindly asked to use the entrance at Farum Park Hotel. The event will be held in Sepp Lounge.
*CORRECTION. FC Helsingør worked with various scenarios in which the match was moved to one of the backup stadiums FC Helsingør had submitted to the Divisionsforeningen, including Casa Arena and Right to Dream Park. We were also in dialogue with several other clubs, including Lyngby Boldklub and HIK. We agreed with the Divisionsforeningen that moving the match to Casa Arena would give Horsens an unfair advantage (the word "offered" should probably instead have been "proposed", and it was only in the event that other scenarios could not be brought into play), and we were primarily working with solutions on Zealand, also for the sake of our fans, before the choice fell on Right to Dream Park. We apologize if this does not come across clearly enough in the original article.
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
