World Footy News

The 2010 European Championship in Australian Football opened today with the first round of pool matches at Stefan Boldklub in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clear skies and sunny weather greeted the teams as they assembled in front of a crowd of more than 700 spectators for an historic opening day's play in the first ever championships in Europe.

Co-hosts Sweden opened their account in a commanding fashion against a committed Croatian side, who were keen to leave a positive initial impression in their first ever full-format match. In the end, the Swedes ran out comfortable winners by 96 points: Sweden 16.17 (113) d Croatia 2.5 (17)

Great Britain took on Finland in the second game and were well held for the first three quarters, before kicking away to a comfortable 74 point win: Great Britain 11.16 (82) d Finland 1.2 (8)

Tournament favourites Ireland were never in doubt in their tie against Germany. In an often fast paced and highly skilled encounter, Ireland showed their pedigree against a tiring German side: Ireland 18.10 (118) d Germany 0.0 (0)

The day's final encounter featured home team, Denmark, against North Atlantic neighbours and newcomers Iceland. Despite a quick opening goal by the Icelanders, Denmark was never troubled for the rest of the day and finished clearly ahead: Denmark 19.16 (130) d Iceland 2.1 (13)

“We couldn’t be more satisfied with the opening day's play in these inaugural European Championships” said AFL Sweden President Jörg Pareigis.

“Even though there were some comfortable wins for the higher ranked teams”, stated DAFL President Daniel McClaer, “each team played some strong, committed football in a tremendous spirit”.

The tournament continues with a split round of games in Stenvadskole in Farum, Denmark and at Limhamnsfältet in Malmö, Sweden on Tuesday, August 1 , 2010 at 17:00 noon. The gold medal game will take place on Saturday, August 7 , at 5:00 p.m. (GMT+1) in Limhamnsfältet, in Malmö, Sweden, with the Awards ceremony taking place thereafter.

Finland vs Great Britain

Ireland vs Germany

Croatia vs Sweden