Danish football bet settled after 26 years

A friendly wager between two Danish football fans over which team would win the league title first has finally been resolved after 26 years, DR reports.

In the year 2000, Hans-Christian Lauritzen and Jonas Nyrup made a bet on whether AGF (Aarhus Gymnastikforening) or Lyngby BK would claim the Danish Superliga championship first. The question was answered on Sunday when AGF secured the title with a 2–0 victory over Brøndby IF, making Lauritzen the winner.

“I’ve talked about this bet so many times over the years,” said Lauritzen, a lifelong AGF supporter. His friend Nyrup, a Lyngby fan, now faces paying up on their long-standing agreement.

The bet nearly ended prematurely in 2001 when Lyngby BK went bankrupt and were relegated to Denmark’s fourth tier. Lauritzen offered Nyrup a way out, but Nyrup refused. “No way was he getting off that easily! Once you’re in, you’re in,” Nyrup said.

While the exact terms of the original wager have faded with time, both remember it involved a paid night out. “Back then, we could get by on four cheeseburgers for 40 kroner and cheap drinks,” Lauritzen recalled. Now in their late 40s, they admit their drinking capacity has diminished—but the cost of food has risen. “We’ll have to negotiate the details,” Lauritzen added.

Nyrup, though the loser, took the outcome in stride, posing in a 2020 photo with Lyngby legend Henrik “Store” Larsen after the club avoided relegation. Meanwhile, Lauritzen celebrated AGF’s victory by donning a vintage 1990s team jersey.

The two friends first met as students in Aarhus in the late 1990s, bonding over football despite supporting rival clubs. Their bet, made at the turn of the millennium, has outlasted careers, marriages, and Lyngby’s financial collapse—proving some friendly rivalries never truly end.