in 1901. The final match in 1901 was the second real bandy match played in Sweden. The first took place between the same teams earlier the same year and was won by Stockholm 4-1. As many as 16 teams took part in the 1905 game. In the 1909 game, AIK participated as "Swedish Football Association A", while the "B-team" was beaten in the final which consisted of players from IFK Uppsala, Djurgårdens IF, IFK Gävle, IFK Stockholm and The Sea Cadets. On the way to the final, AIK defeated the Copenhagen Skating Association 3-0. In 1913, seven teams participated and IFK Helsinki was responsible for the non-Swedish element. The Finns lost however, already in the quarterfinals with 4-2 against the final winners AIK. Even a German team, Leipziger HK, would have participated in 1913, but was absent because the event clashed with the 1913 European Bandy Championships (Bandy-EM) in Switzerland. The 1913 European Bandy Championships had been won by England and had six more participating nations: Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium and Holland. Denmark's Bandy Union participated in the 1917 tournament and came fourth (out of six teams) after losing their matches with 0-13 (Stockholm, semifinals) and 0-16 (Västmanland, match for third prize). The Danes were also invited to the 1922 game, but despite an unusually bandy-friendly winter in Denmark that year, they abstained. During the Nordic Games in 1917, the bandy SM semi-finals and final were also decided as part of the arrangements. In 1922 it was a national team tournament and Sweden beat Norway 13-1 in the semifinals in the first meeting between the two countries. Because the Norwegians at that time played 7-man a side bandy, a match was also arranged between Norway and a Stockholm by combining it into a smaller one, the variant. It was this match that Stockholmers won 7-2. In the last Nordic Games in 1926, the bandy tournament existed between provincial teams with Norway as foreign element. Ties to Winter Olympics The Nordic Games were one of the first to lead to international championships in winter sports. For example, the skating championships raised the international appeal of the Nordic Games. Viktor Balck, the founder of the Nordic Games, was also a charter member of the International Olympic Committee and a president of the International Skating Union. He is credited with holding the ISU together through the end of World War I. He