Denmark wins European Ch'ship

Denmark has triumphed in the European Championship 2013 by defeating France in the grand final on LAN with a 3-1 score (12-16 on de_inferno, 16-11 on de_train, 16-4 on de_dust2, 16-5 on de_nuke) to win $2,000 and another ~$2,500 worth of hardware prizes.

The final of Electronic Sports European Championship took place today in Belgrade, Serbia where France and Denmark were brought to play their best-of-five match on LAN. Hotel Crystal hosted the national teams, and the show began with the national anthems of both squads being played for the attendees and the audience.

National anthems were played before the match

Match started on de_inferno after the veto process, with Denmark winning the knife round and thus the chance to start on the CT side. Despite dropping the pistol round, the Danes quickly replied, as they almost won the following eco had it not been for Fabien "KIOSHIMA" Fiey's 1-on-3.

It was a sign of things to come, as the next eco went a similar way, only this time Kenny "kennyS" Schrub was unable to clutch in the B bombsite.

Some great play by Nicolai "device" Reedtz and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth followed, and Denmark quickly took control and went up 7-2. The half ended 11-4, as the French were never able to get into the game, seeing their economy reset after winning both of those buy rounds.

Xyp9x was a key player for Denmark in the first couple of maps 

However, they found their way back in by winning the second pistol round after two key kills by Fiey in the B bombsite, and the result was soon 11-6. France stormed over their opponents in the next few rounds, winning flawlessly and accumulating money, and soon making it 11-11.

Despite getting their lead back at 12-11, Denmark was unable to find a way into the bombsites as the Frenchmen, led by the frags of Schrub, denied everything to win the map 16-12.

As the rules said, each following map would be loser's pick, so Denmark decided de_train was the best choice for them to equalize the score.

And it turned out they were right, as they once again won the knife round and took an early lead of 3-0 on the CT side. With some help from Schrub's AWP, France made it 3-2, but they were unable to do much more by the end of the half, ending up with two more round for another 11-4 deficit.

This time though the pistol round didn't go their way and the Danes seemed to be on the verge of victory. Yet out of nowhere, France managed to win the following eco round and the match was back on.

KIOSHIMA was in good form for France 

A 4-kill by Fiey and later a 3-kill round by Dan "apEX" Madesclaire brought the French to just an 11-13 deficit. But, Denmark's star of the map, Højsleth, made 3 great AK-47 headshots in the outside bombsite in a 3-on-4 situation to turn the momentum back to his team's favor. It took them only two more rounds to close the map, with another 3K by Højsleth in the last one for 16-11.

France's pick for map three was de_dust2, and they started on the favored T side. It was Denmark though that took the lead, getting to an impressive 8-1 score thanks to solid play by the über Geekz trio of Højsleth, Reedtz and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen.

The last six rounds of the half were exchanged, and for the third time in a row the sides changed at 11-4 for Denmark. However, this time there was no room for a comeback and Denmark closed off their opponents' map pick convincingly, 16-4.

A longer break ensued before map four, which was to be de_nuke, as two French players had problems with their mice. Fiey's 1-on-3 knife round allowed his team to start on the CT side, but Denmark continued in their form from dust2, and they won another pistol leading to a 3-0 lead for them.

It was all about Denmark from that point on, as they won the half convincingly on the T side 10-5, and brought the map and the match to a close with a 16-5 score.

Danish players with their check and trophy

Final standings of European Championship 2013

1. Denmark - $2,000 + hardware
2. France - $1,000 + hardware
3-4. Sweden
3-4. Kazakhstan
5-8. Russia
5-8. Netherlands
5-8. Belgium
5-8. Serbia
9-16. Germany
9-16. Hungary
9-16. Finland
9-16. Turkey
9-16. United Kingdom
9-16. Poland
9-16. Italy
9-16. Bosnia & Herzegovina 

Denmark earned a cheque for $2,000 and hardware prizes from CM Storm, while France will receive one half of that amount.

You can check out some photos from the LAN final in Belgrade, Serbia in our gallery here.