FC Copenhagen Women: “We knew from the start that everything we did was historic”

Beginning in Denmark’s third-tier league might seem like a humble beginning, but for a club with aspirations as lofty as FC Copenhagen, the story is anything but ordinary: Not only do the international ambitions flow in the corridors of their training ground and boardroom. The club’s cultural impact is just about as crucial and ambitious.

As near neighbors in Copenhagen, we in Veo have naturally followed the club’s first half-season closely. When the club wrapped up their inaugural fall season, securing a spot in the promotion games, we wanted to learn more about the project.

We’ve met with Rebecca Steele, Head of Women’s Football in FC Copenhagen, and Kasper Klarskov Nielsen, Head Coach of FC Copenhagen Women, for a conversation about how they’re building a new team, managing the expectations that follow with being part of a club with ambitions of being European elite, and impacting football culture in Copenhagen and Denmark.

“We have a vision to take football somewhere else”‍

In early 2023, Rebecca Steele was appointed Head of Women’s Football at FC Copenhagen. With her, she brought experience from DBU (the Danish FA) and the board of HB Køge, who had disrupted Danish women’s football with three championships in a row (2021–23) after almost 20 years of two clubs sharing the championships between them; Fortuna Hjørring and Brøndby.

“FC Copenhagen have a dream of uniting Copenhagen. That’s our ultimate mission. And if you want to unite Copenhagen, then naturally, you have to do it for both boys and girls, men and women. So that’s where we start. That strategy was launched a couple of years before I started here. And, of course, it follows that you also need to have a women’s team,” says Steele.

All she had was a vision to create a women’s team for the biggest club in the Nordics – on the men’s side. She has been the prime mover in creating the vision, building the organization, and recruiting the right people. From the beginning, it was clear that the position wouldn’t only be about getting results on the field.

“If we are going to rethink the concept of a football team in 2024, then it has to be much more than just football and what happens on the field. And when I say that, I always add a disclaimer that what happens on the field is, of course, the most important because without that, none of the other things would exist. But it’s important to say that we think of it as much more than two halves of 45 minutes,” she says and adds:

“We have a vision to take football somewhere else. Football originates from a world of boys and men to an almost tangible degree – on the field, in the stands, and in the corridors. There’s a lot of focus on equality and that agenda these days, and I think we’ve managed to carry it from the field out into the city, where girls should also have role models. Girls playing football need someone to look up to. I didn’t have that when I was young, so that’s one of my clearest goals. But it’s also in the hallways, in the coaching staff, and throughout the organization.”

“It was crucial that women’s football came first”

Building a strong foundation for the ambitious project meant recruiting people genuinely dedicated to the sport – and with ambitions on and off the field. For FC Copenhagen, hiring a profile from men’s football who saw women’s football as a secondary pursuit wasn’t an option. It was crucial that women’s football came first, Steele says.

Enter Kasper Klarskov Nielsen. With extensive experience from FC Nordsjælland and Denmark’s national teams for girls and women, he brought precisely the experience and perspectives needed for the role of Head Coach of FC Copenhagen Women. He shares Rebecca Steele’s vision of a two-legged strategy to fully support their ambitions.

“Why me? I often respond from a sporting perspective, and that’s also what comes first to mind – the sports side and how I can contribute to achieving our goals there. But when you’ve been involved in girls’ and women’s football for over 10 years, you notice the changes. When I first started coaching girls, the players might have been able to name two [Danish] national team players, Nadia Nadim and Pernille Harder, and very few international players. That’s where we started. Now, they can name all the national team players, and young girls are also starting to know the names of FC Copenhagen’s women’s team. I think that’s fantastic,” says Klarskov Nielsen and adds:

“It’s also about the city of Copenhagen having FC Copenhagen with women’s football, with players to look up to – something young girls can dream about when they start playing football. It’s just as important as the sports aspect, and hopefully, they go hand in hand. As we improve in sports, we create stronger role models, which makes it even bigger. So it all goes hand in hand, but I don’t think one is more important than the other.”

(Not quite) starting from scratch

While it’s obviously a privilege to commence the work with a big and established organization with offices in the Danish national stadium and training ground in the middle of Copenhagen, it also comes with immense expectations to start up a first team in a club used to playing on the biggest stages. Kasper Klarskov Nielsen tells about his first day in the club:

“It is an enormous club, and that’s what I felt on my very first day here. You can just sense that this is an impressive club. In terms of stature, it’s leading in the Nordic region in terms of sports,” he says.

The ambitions are clear. Within a few years, FC Copenhagen’s women should be part of the best league in Denmark, and within a decade, they have qualified for international tournaments. The club has a deep-rooted ambition in its culture, which means playing with the absolute best, including on the European stage. And it won’t be easy. Most of Europe’s big football clubs have invested heavily in ambitious projects to reach the top of women’s football as fast as possible. 

“We need to be careful that this doesn’t sound too arrogant. But in 10 years, we’re hopefully the locomotive pulling the train in Danish women’s football. And when I say that, it’s about many different factors. It’s about thinking differently and innovatively. We can already see it happening. The way we approach branding – we bring so many people to the stadium [FC Copenhagen had more than 5,000 spectators for the first home game, which is unheard of in Danish third-tier football] – we’re starting to see other clubs think, ‘Oh, well, it is possible if you really make an effort,’” Steele reflects.

Building a brand in a brand

Speaking of branding, Rebecca Steele and the team weren’t only tasked with assembling a team of great players who could compete on the pitch. They had a rare opportunity to define the team’s identity from the ground – within the framework of an already established club. 

In branding terms, a football club’s essence often boils down to three key assets: the colors, the name, and the logo. That meant the challenge was to tackle a couple of big questions: What should the team represent? And what image would resonate with fans of the club and Copenhagen locals and set them apart while still being unmistakenly part of FC Copenhagen? Rebecca Steele uses an analogy from a completely different industry.

“It’s like Coke Zero and Coca-Cola: It’s one club, it’s one entity – it’s FC Copenhagen. But you also know that they’re two different brands. That’s why we decided to have our own jersey. We added a purple color and kept the logo because we felt that was important. It’s called FC Copenhagen, and so is the women’s team. We’ve also added an alias, ‘The Lionesses’ [FC Copenhagen are known as “The Lions”]. So, we constantly thought about how we could give it a twist – just a little – without losing the unity of the club. And that has been the foundation of it all.”

Another way to stand out and distinguish the FC Copenhagen Women’s brand has been to embrace the connection between football and fashion. Collaborations with local brands and the creation of a unique shirt with the main kit sponsors, Adidas, not only support commercial growth but also foster a sense of pride among players and coaches.

“I’m incredibly proud to be the coach of a team that has its own unique jerseys. And now we have some really awesome commercial partnerships, the latest being with Planet Nusa [Danish sportswear brand], which makes life pretty great for an FC Copenhagen player on the women’s side as well. It’s truly unique, and I don’t see anything like it anywhere else,” says Kasper Klarskov Nielsen.

“It elevates everything”

Building a new team with many new players who had to get together quickly and play a dominating playing style required as many evaluation tools as possible. Most players are visual learners, so recording games and training sessions was a clear objective from the beginning.

“We have decided that we need to be ambitious when it comes to video because we know it elevates everything. In other areas, we might say, ‘Well, right now, we’re more like a second-division team.’ But in this area, we’ve prioritized it because it also projects something important. We know that women’s football, especially at the girls’ and women’s levels, is hungry for video, as that element is just missing in so many clubs. And talent development simply isn’t the same without the ability to optimize through video,” says Rebecca Steele.

Kasper Klarskov Nielsen knew Veo from his former clubs. So when he started in FC Copenhagen, a Veo Cam was one of the first things he asked for. Filming games is obviously important, but they also use Veo for training sessions.

“I’ve used Veo before in other clubs and utilized some of the features, like the ability to clip footage during the game and show clips during halftime. But I’d say what stands out most is how quickly you get the match afterward and how Veo automatically generates clips. This allows you to review highlights quickly. Of course, I also spend time going through the entire match, but it’s helpful to be able to look at key moments first, thanks to the artificial intelligence integrated into the system,” says Klarskov Nielsen and explains why it should be a Veo;

“Veo is incredibly user-friendly, first and foremost. It’s used all over Denmark, from under-8 matches to old boys’ games and even down to Serie 5 [the lowest tier in Danish football]. That’s proof that it’s a product most people can engage with – both in terms of cost and usability. I think that’s been key for us; it’s something we were familiar with and could easily access.”

Elite development in a democratic tradition

The wish to think differently also reflects the club’s work on the training ground. For Kasper Klarskov Nielsen, it’s easy to find inspiration from his office on FC Copenhagen’s training ground, where the women, the men’s first team, and the entire youth department share the facilities.

“I don’t need to look far for inspiration. I just need to open the door to my office at the training ground, and there’s so much inspiration right there. Both from our talent department and, of course, when I can look directly out at the Superliga team’s [men’s first team] training. That’s where I find the most inspiration. At the moment, I’m actually just staying in-house, talking to all the talented people here, learning from how they approach training. Their methodology, playing style, and everything about it really fascinates me,” he reflects.

In Denmark and other Nordic countries, football on all levels is highly organized. Clubs and leagues are almost all organized under the DBU, the Danish FA, and all clubs are member organizations. That means the democratic values flow all the way from the club to the local FAs and all the way to the top of the Danish football hierarchy. When parents enroll their children in a football club, they have a say: They’re members, not customers. It means the entire football community is, despite rivalry and competition, a united community. Without the grassroots, there’d be no elite. And vice versa. 

Rebecca Steele is fully aware of the bigger picture and the responsibilities that come with FC Copenhagen’s role as a top-tier participant in the football community.

“We are working with a three-step approach. Beyond the goal of competing with and being the best, which is a given when you’re part of FC Copenhagen, we also have the ambition to get more girls playing football and to create a stronger foundation for women’s football. The next step is to develop better talent environments. A lot is already happening, and we’re not doing this alone. Of course, we have many other clubs in Denmark that are very skilled, but we need to be excellent at providing the best girls with the best opportunities to succeed,” says Rebecca Steele.

“It’s that cultural mindset we’re trying to challenge”

In recent years, Danish children and youth football has seen a new tendency where the watertight shutters between girls’ and boys’ football are being removed. The philosophy is simple: Girls get better from playing with boys. And boys get better from playing with girls. The “shared football” approach is an important part of FC Copenhagen Women's newly established youth football. 

“There’s no reason to think of girls and boys separately in the world of football. It’s something that stems from cultural norms. But when you enter a football club, girls go to the left, and boys go to the right. Now, if you enter a public school, everyone is in the same class. It’s that cultural mindset we’re trying to challenge. We’re not alone in this, but we focus a lot on shared football. We want our young talents to train with the boys because it gives them the best opportunities – not just on the pitch but also in ensuring they receive the same conditions across the board. That’s the mindset, and it’s a good example of how we’re doing things differently,” says Rebecca Steele.

Basically, talent development is all about matching players on the right level at the exact point in their development. And as mentioned, it goes two ways. When the level of the girls’ teams is elevated, so is the level of the boys’. 

“We have some fantastic girls in our talent department, and right now, they’re also inviting boys to join their training sessions, and the boys get to train with them because they’re good. Fundamentally, it’s all about matching children where they should be matched. And for that, we can simply follow DBU’s [the Danish FA] guidelines, which are based on the 25-50-25 rule. That’s 25 % of the time matching above level, 50 % at level, and 25 % slightly below level. It’s just easier when you have more kids – when you have both boys and girls. It makes it easier to create good matches, especially when they’re the same age,” says Kasper Klarskov Nielsen.

“How do we ensure we capture that first goal for FC Copenhagen?”

The first half-season in FC Copenhagen Women’s history is played with no defeats in either league or cup games and a successful qualification to the promotion games in the spring. Adding to this, they’ve managed to attract over 1,000 spectators for every home game and even broke the stadium record in the first one. All in all a success. On and off the pitch.

Even if playing in the Danish second division, the team has been able to handle the immense pressure from ambitions and external expectations. And in the organization, they’ve been aware of the cultural impact and historical significance of establishing FC Copenhagen’s first women’s team. This, naturally, includes the importance of documenting everything on the way.

"We knew from the start that everything we did – from the day we stepped onto the field, including the day we hit the training ground – was historic: This is the first women’s team at FC Copenhagen. We were also aware that it wouldn’t be filmed to the same extent as on the men’s side. We discussed this a lot. ‘How do we ensure we capture that first goal for FC Copenhagen? How do we make sure we document all these historic moments?’ As our CEO said, ‘It won’t do if, 30 years from now, we don’t have the first goal recorded on video. We need to have that.’ So, what do you do when you don’t have a big TV broadcast or major production? Now we have it on Veo, in case one day we want to say, ‘This was the first goal scored by the women’s team.’ To me, at the very least, we have those video recordings as historical documentation of our, well, part in history," says Rebecca Steele.

When talking with Rebecca Steele and Kasper Klarskov Nielsen, it’s evident that the goals and aspirations are deeply embedded in every aspect of the club and team. 

“My ultimate dream is to fill Parken Stadium for a women’s match. When that will happen, I don’t know. But it would be fantastic to check that off the list. We see it happening abroad in so many places, so why shouldn’t we be able to do it here at home, too?” ends Steele.