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Danish fan fined for attacking referee in 2007

The 33-year-old man must pay the sum to the Danish Football Association (DBU), the High Court in Copenhagen ruled on Tuesday.

The fan had appealed against a 2009 decision by the Copenhagen City Court which had ordered him to pay the DBU 900,000 crowns, but the High Court doubled the amount.

"The person in question's acts represent the biggest attack on Danish football's integrity," Jim Stjerne Hansen, secretary-general of the DBU, said in a statement.

"His violent assault on the referee cost us an almost spotless reputation within the football world and 2.2 million crowns," Hansen said.

The match on June 2 2007, at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen was abandoned in the final minutes when the fan rushed on to the field and tried to hit German referee Herbert Fandel who had just sent off Denmark's Christian Poulsen and awarded the guests a penalty with the score at 3-3.

The court's award was lower than the DBU's claim because the court deemed the number of spectators who would have attended a match against Lichtenstein to be lower than the DBU's estimate.

Danish football fans have created groups on social network Facebook to raise funds to help the fan pay the damages. Poulsen has also said he would be willing to contribute financially 'as it was basically my fault'.