It is Tuesday morning, the day before a midweek cup tie, and only one local journalist has turned up on FC Copenhagen's doorstep. Even he is there only because he had been commissioned to do interviews for Scottish Television.

It is a long yawn of a morning made interesting only by the sight of Jesper Gronkjaer jogging several times around the pitch . . . looking suspiciously mobile for someone supposedly injured for the entire group stage . . . and the sight of a pornographic DVD on the back seat of the groundsman's Saab.

Then the sky darkens and it begins to rain, so the scene feels complete. A drab September morning in Copenhagen seems as far removed as it is possible to be from the glamour of European football's blue riband event.

Underneath it all, of course, the apparent apathy is misleading. Danes are not conditioned to be too expressive and do not generate the sort of noise, colour and passion 60,000 Celtic supporters will when the teams meet at Parkhead this Tuesday.

But being in the Champions League means as much to FC Copenhagen as it does to the Scottish champions, if not more. Maybe the locals are too sensible or busy to watch them training, but more than 40,000 fans, almost double their average attendance, were there when it counted for the opening match, a goalless draw at home to Benfica.

All of the Scandinavian countries have had their moments in international football but Sweden and Norway were, for years, the only nations from that part of the world which also had club sides capable of making an impression.

FC Copenhagen . . . known as FCK . . . were not formed until a 1992 merger between two smaller clubs, but they have emerged to become pre. . . eminent, replacing Brondby as Denmark's most powerful side.

After a couple of false starts . . . including a last hurdle defeat against Rangers which denied them a place three years ago . . . their victories over MyPa and Ajax in this season's qualifiers brought the reward of a first berth in the Champions League proper. Gothenburg's Uefa Cup elimination by Derry City confirmed the supplanting of the Swedes by the Danes.

"It's important there is a Scandinavian influence in the Champions League, " says Tobias Linderoth, their Swedish captain. "It's important we can bring players back from big clubs outside Scandinavia. What we can do is bring the talents here, develop them and maybe sell them on."

Copenhagen chairman Flemming Ostergaard, a 63year-old nicknamed "Don O", envisaged the club being preeminent as soon as he took it over in 1997. He transformed them into a progressive club capable of tempting back heavyweight Scandinavian expatriates such as former Chelsea winger Gronkjaer, Linderoth (once of Everton) and the Swedish World Cup striker Marcus Allback.

For FCK to become larger still they will have to show themselves capable of signing known players with no previous link to Scandinavia, but that can wait.

For the time being they already have the potential to make life difficult for Celtic with a cocktail of assets which are as familiar as they are effective: sound and wellorganised defending, athleticism, physical strength and meticulous structure and organisation.

Even so, the Champions League is a punishing classroom for new pupils. Benfica twice struck the woodwork in the opening game, and the Danes seemed dead and buried in the third qualifying round when they lost 2-1 at home to Ajax only to resurrect themselves with a 2. . .0 second leg win in Amsterdam.

They drew 1-1 at Ibrox in 2003 (only to lose the second leg 2. . .0 at home) and winning in Amsterdam also took steel.

"We have heard about the noise in Glasgow, " says Michael Gravgaard, their international centre half. "We had a lot of noise and a full house in the Parken Stadium for the Benfica game, 40,000, and I have never experienced anything like it. But it is more fun to play at a big stadium with a full house. In Amsterdam the ground was almost full too, but I think the Dutch fans are not as noisy as the Scottish ones."

Allback, who was close to joining Rangers before Dick Advocaat was replaced by Alex McLeish, maintains if the move had gone through he would have been joining Glasgow's second club. "If you talk about Scotland I feel Celtic is a step bigger than Rangers. It seems like a very big club. Celtic is well known all over the world." He is belatedly ready for his Champions League debut on Tuesday having been suspended for the Benfica match.

Celtic are favourites but gone are the days when FC Copenhagen lost a 1993 Champions League qualifier 6-0 against AC Milan in the San Siro.