Brøndby dominant in Denmark

With the second qualifying round of the UEFA Women's Cup starting next week, uefa.com is taking a detailed look at each of the 16 clubs looking to progress to the quarter-finals and beyond. Today, Group D top seeds Brøndby IF

Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening were founded in December 1964 as a merger between Brøndbyøster Idrætsforening and Brøndbyvester Idrætsforening, with football, handball, gymnastics and badminton as the sports at that time.

Late development
In 1967, the football team were separated from the rest of the club but kept the name Brøndby Idræts Forening and activities were concentrated in and around the present Brøndby Stadion, which has been modernised and extended several times to its current capacity of 31,000. However, it was not until the 1980s that women's football entered the club and the current level of popularity the game enjoys has only been apparent in recent years.

Domestic dominance
The male Superliga team are still the flagship, though the women's team can draw respectable crowds of up to 3,000, particularly at UEFA Women's Cup matches. Over time, a more professional attitude has made it more possible to attract more of Denmark's best female footballers to Copenhagen, where Brøndby are situated. In 2003, Brøndby won the Danish title for the first time. This triumph was followed by retaining the championship for the last four seasons. In addition, Brøndby also won the Danish Cup in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

European desire
While the Brøndby women have been dominating the domestic league, they are still hungry for success in Europe. They hope to match Fortuna Hjørring's achievement in 2003 when the team from the far north of Denmark reached the UEFA Women's Cup final. The next season, Brøndby made the semi-finals only to be knocked out by title holders Umeå IK from Sweden. The following year they failed to get past the qualifying stages, despite home advantage in their group, and in 2005/06 they lost in the quarter-finals to French side Montpellier HSC. However, last season they progressed to the semis again, only to fall 5-2 on aggregate to Arsenal LFC, who like Umeå three years before went on to win the final.

International standing
It comes as little surprise that the club have had a dominant role within the national team set-up, with Brøndby's women making a major contribution to Kenneth Heiner-Møller's squad, none more so than midfielder Anne Dot Eggers, who has made more than 100 international appearances.