Sweden · Norway · Denmark
First team
Tommy Christensen arrived from AGF with a goalscorer's reputation. During his second spell in Aarhus, the Danish forward scored 35 league goals in 66 appearances and made his senior international debut for Denmark.
His Elche spell was shorter: six league appearances in Primera in 1984/85. He later played for Leicester City, Portsmouth, Brøndby and Vejle, among others, with Elche remaining his only Spanish club.
Midfielder Jan Berg joined from Molde and became a Norwegian pioneer in Spain's top flight. He made 13 league appearances for Elche and scored once in 1988/89.
Elche's own historical archive recalls that Berg was the player who genuinely troubled Andoni Zubizarreta at Camp Nou on 12 February 1989, and that Ladislao Kubala was criticised for substituting him.
Stockholm-born Dani Olsson came through AIK's youth system, broke into Djurgården's first team and made eleven appearances for Sweden at U17 level. He was also part of the Djurgården side that won promotion back to Allsvenskan in 1994.
After Racing de Ferrol, he joined Elche in 1996. BDFutbol records 14 league appearances and 753 minutes in Elche's 1996/97 promotion-winning season in Segunda División B. Elche's own archive also records him as a substitute in the 1–2 away win at Sabadell.
A historic photograph taken at Estadio Martínez Valero on 22 July 1996 survives in a local Elche archive. We do not reproduce it here because a free licence for reuse has not been verified.
Nicki Bille Nielsen joined on loan from Villarreal and played a major role: 37 league appearances and 11 goals in Segunda División.
He became one of the most recognisable Danish players to wear Elche's green stripe. His later career included spells at Rosenborg, Esbjerg and Lech Poznań.
Elbasan Rashani almost embodies the Scandinavian connection by himself. Born in Värnamo, Sweden, he grew up in Norway and holds Norwegian and Kosovan citizenship. From U17 through U21 he made 33 youth appearances and scored three goals for Norway. At club level he represented Norwegian sides Odd and Rosenborg as well as Danish club Brøndby.
After a spell with BB Erzurumspor in Turkey, he joined Clermont Foot in France in 2021 and made 85 Ligue 1 appearances. In the summer of 2024 his career continued in Spain with Elche CF, where he became part of the 2024/25 promotion side. On 2 February 2025 he also scored the only goal as Elche beat FC København 1–0 in a closed friendly at Estadio Martínez Valero.
Cantera
Jack Karl George Stenström was part of Elche CF's Cadete A squad. In March 2023, he was selected for a Sweden P16 national-team camp for players born in 2007 at Bosön, with Elche listed as his club.
The 19-year-old Dane joined Elche Ilicitano from FC København. Elche noted that he had represented Denmark from U16 through U20 level, and he received another Denmark U20 call-up while at the club.
A Swedish midfielder with roots at Elfsborg and Norrby, Osmanagić spent time with Elche Ilicitano. He later completed a long Norrby career with 289 competitive first-team appearances.
Born on 25 June 2008, the Norwegian midfielder moved from Åsane's academy to Elche's youth setup ahead of 2022/23. Transfermarkt's 2024/25 record then shows him moving from Elche's academy to Molde. Molde FK now lists him as Alex Szamboti, a midfielder, while the Norwegian FA records appearances for both Molde 2 and the club's U19 side in 2026.
Beyond the players
A prominent figure at Elfsborg, Miljanović coached Elche CF Infantil A. Elche's own season review records the team climbing from tenth to sixth in Liga Autonómica. He later returned to Elfsborg as an assistant first-team coach.
After winning the Swedish title with AIK in 2009, Mauro Iván Óbolo later returned to Elche as part of the club's sporting department alongside Sergio Mantecón and Antonio Barragán, working on the sporting project and scouting structure.
The Norwegian attacker represented Elche CF Femenino in 2023/24 and the first half of 2024/25. She returned for 2026/27 after a spell back in Norway.
The Argentine forward spent 2004/05 on loan at Elche and later played for AIK in Sweden from 2007 to 2008.
The Guinean forward joined Elche's development setup in 2016, broke into the first team and later played for FC Midtjylland.
The Polish striker played for Elche Ilicitano in 2007 and later became a prolific goalscorer for Brøndby.
Club to club
From 7 to 9 March 2016, Elche Ilicitano coach Vicente Parras and Elche CF Femenino coach Quique Cano travelled to Sweden for three days of practical training and classroom sessions. Elche's own website described the stay as Stockholm, while Radio Elche placed the activities in Örebro. The purpose was explicitly to share Elche's academy values and methodology with Swedish players and coaches.
During Alleskolan's five-day stay in the Torrevieja area in October 2014, nine boys and three girls from the Swedish Alleskolan Elite Football Academy visited Estadio Martínez Valero. They watched first-team training, toured areas including the press room, presidential box, hospitality, media booths, stands and pitch, and then trained with Elche youth teams and Elche CF Femenino. It was a genuine academy exchange, not merely a study visit.
As far as we have been able to establish, this is the only documented first-team match between Elche CF and a Scandinavian club. Elbasan Rashani scored the winner in the 30th minute.
Danish sportswear company Hummel became Elche CF's technical supplier across the club – from the first team and academy to the women's side, futsal and football school. The partnership lasted two seasons, encompassing the 2020 promotion and the club's subsequent LaLiga survival.
Elche · January–February 2011
Matches played at Estadio Martínez Valero included Tromsø–IFK Göteborg, Molde–Karpaty Lviv, Rosenborg–Spartak Moscow and FC Nordsjælland–Shakhtar Donetsk.
The story draws primarily on Elche CF's own archive and official reporting, supplemented by football associations, club archives and historical match databases. Where older information is less firmly documented, we say so rather than fill the gaps with assumptions.