UEFA took the decision after the match had to be stopped at the end of the match last Saturday when the German referee Herman Fander was assaulted by a spectator with the score at 3-3.

UEFA also imposed a 100,000 Swiss francs (60,000 euro/81,000 dollars) fine on the Danes, who must also play their next four home matches more than 250km from Copenhagen with the next one behind closed doors.

Veteran Danish international Christian Poulsen also received a three match suspension, the first of which he served against Latvia last Wednesday, for the red card he received from Fandel in the 89th minute of the match for punching Swedish rival Markus Rosenberg in the stomach.

UEFA's decision means Sweden lead their Euro 2008 group from Spain by three points with Denmark in fourth place, eight points adrift but with a game in hand.

The Danish Football Federation (DBU) said they would appeal against what they considered particularly harsh sanctions.

"They are especially harsh, given the previous decisions in such cases by UEFA," said Jim Stjerne Hansen, the DBU general-secretary.

"With my 17 years of experience in this arena (he is a UEFA Cup vice-president of discipline and control) I believe I have good reasons to appeal this decision which will hit us hard, both financially and sportswise," he added.

Fandel confessed to having been left in a state of shock for several minutes after the incident.

"It was clear very quickly that I had to stop the match in order to highlight the violence of the players and the spectators," said Fandel, who revealed that he had received apologies from several Danish football authorities including coach Morten Olsen.

The assailant was arrested by the security guards at the stadium, was released on Sunday and apologised in the Danish press on Monday, explaining that he had drunk between 15-18 beers on the day of the match.

"I still cannot quite believe what happened," he said.

"I am an idiot," added the supporter, who broke a finger when he punched a wall on hearing that the referee would be recommending awarding the match to Sweden as a result of what he had done.