FC Midtjylland
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| Full name | Football Club Midtjylland | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Ulvene (The Wolves) | |||
| Short name | FCM | |||
| Founded | 2 February 1999 | |||
| Ground | MCH Arena, Herning | |||
| Capacity | 11,800 | |||
| Owner | FC Midtjylland A/S | |||
| Chairman | Johnny Rune | |||
| Manager | Glen Riddersholm | |||
| League | Danish Superliga | |||
| 2014–15 | Danish Superliga, 1st | |||
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FC Midtjylland is a professional Danish football team from Herning and Ikast. The team was a result of a merger between Ikast FS (which also includes tennis, badminton and handball clubs) and Herning Fremad. FC Midtjylland plays in the Danish Superliga.
Club history
FC Midtjylland was founded by Johnny Rune, a carpenter and owner of a private business in the wood-supply industry, and Steen Hessel, an authorized Mercedes Benz dealer.
The two men wanted to unite the football clubs Ikast FS (founded 1935) and Herning Fremad (founded 1918) – clubs that for decades had been strong rivals, but had never played any significant role in Danish football. Ikast FS had some success in the late 70s and 80s, but that was about it. At least 10 years had passed with the two clubs being unable to agree on a merger, but on 6 April 1999, a deal was finalized and announced at a press conference the next day.
In 2000 FC Midtjylland were promoted to the Danish Superliga, after a season in which the team had gathered more points than any other team in the history of the 1st division.
In 2011 Dempo SC invested in the club, buying a 34 percent stake.[citation needed] In July 2014, Matthew Benham (owner of English Championship side Brentford) became the majority shareholder of FC Midtjylland's parent company FCM Holding.[1]
Scouting and developing
FC Midtjylland have generally built a reputation of finding and developing promising talents.
In July 2004, FC Midtjylland was the first Danish club to have its own football academy, similar to that of French side FC Nantes Atlantique. The academy attracts players from throughout Denmark, as well as players from a partnering club in Nigeria – FC Ebedei. The club has developed a network of over 100 clubs located in the western part of Jutland.
In 2008 Simon Kjær, a talent of the academy, was sold to U.S. Città di Palermo in Italy. The transfer fee was approximately DKK 30 million, equal to 4 million €.[2] In 2010 Sune Kiilerich, another talent of the academy, was sold to U.C. Sampdoria and Winston Reid, an academy product and New Zealand international, was sold to West Ham United F.C. for DKK 32 million, equal to 4.26 million € [3][4]
Achievements
In the 2014/2015 season of the Danish Superliga, FC Midtjylland were able to win their first major trophy as they took home the Danish Championship. During the season FC Midtjylland achieved an impressive 15 straight home ground victories on MCH Arena.
Prior to the 2014/2015 season, the club had two 2nd place finishes and and four 3rd place finishes in the Superliga and had been runner-up four times in the Danish Cup final. The club's best international result was in the 2002–03 season when the team reached the 2nd round of the UEFA cup, losing to RSC Anderlecht of Belgium.
In the 2008-09 season they reached the second qualifying round of the competition, beating Manchester City 1–0 in Manchester in the first leg of the tie, with Danny Olsen scoring a first half goal.[5] It was Manchester City's first ever loss at home to a foreign team, having only ever lost at home in European Competition to Chelsea. Manchester City won the return leg in Denmark 1–0 after Danny Califf scored a last minute own-goal. Neither team was able to score in extra time and Midtjylland eventually lost the tie on penalties.[6]
Stadium
In 2004 the team moved to a new stadium in Herning with a capacity of approximately 12000 spectators. FC Midtjylland was the first Danish club to sell the stadium name to a sponsor, resulting in the name MCH Arena.
The opening match on 27 March proved to be a success with FC Midtjylland beating AB 6–0. Five of the goals were scored by Egyptian striker, former AB player Mohamed Zidan and the stadium has been nicknamed the Zidan arena.
Supporters
Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland.[7] It was founded in the beginning in August 1999, as the official fanclub of Ikast FS 1993 "Yellow Flames" changed their name at an extraordinary general meeting. Ultra Boys Midtjylland is the first ultra firm in Midtjylland. It was established in 2007 and later renamed to Ultras Midtjylland.
Satellite clubs
The following clubs are affiliated with FC Midtjylland:
Recent history
Season Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Cup Notes 2008–09 SL 4 33 16 7 10 55 46 55 3rd Round 2009–10 SL 6 33 14 5 14 41 41 47 Finalist 2010–11 SL 4 33 13 10 10 50 42 49 Finalist 2011–12 SL 3 33 17 7 9 50 40 58 1/16 Finals 2012–13 SL 6 33 12 11 10 51 47 47 quarter-final 2013–14 SL 3 33 16 7 10 61 38 55 Fourth round 2014–15 SL 1 33 22 5 6 64 34 71 Fourth round
Players
Current squad
- As of 11 March 2015[8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Youth team
Former Players
Managers
Ove Pedersen (1 July 1999 – 30 June 2002)- Troels Bech (1 July 2002 – 31 Dec 2003)
- Erik Rasmussen (1 Jan 2004 – 30 June 2008)
- Thomas Thomasberg (1 July 2008 – 11 Aug 2009)
- Allan Kuhn (12 Aug 2009 – 15 April 2011)
- Glen Riddersholm (16 April 2011– 25 June 2015)
FCM in Europe
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | UEFA Cup | QR |  Glentoran F.C.
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1–1 | 4–0 | 5–1 |
| 1R |  Sporting Lisbon
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0–3 | 2–3 | 2–6 | ||
| 2002–03 | UEFA Cup | QR |  FK Pobeda
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3–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 |
| 1R |  NK Varaždin
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1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | ||
| 2R |  RSC Anderlecht
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0–3 | 1–3 | 1–6 | ||
| 2005–06 | UEFA Cup | 1Q |  B36 Tórshavn
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2–1 | 2–2 | 4–3 |
| 1R |  PFC CSKA Moscow
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0–3 | 2–3 | 2–6 | ||
| 2007–08 | UEFA Cup | 1Q |  Keflavík ÍF
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2–1 | 2–3 | 4–4 |
| 2Q |  FC Haka
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5–2 | 2–1 | 7–3 | ||
| 1R | Lokomotiv Moscow
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1–3 | 0–2 | 1–5 | ||
| 2008–09 | UEFA Cup | 1Q |  Bangor City F.C.
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4–0 | 6–1 | 10–1 |
| 2Q |  Manchester City F.C.
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0–1 | 1–0 | 2–4(p) | ||
| 2011–12 | UEFA Europa League | 2Q | The New Saints
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5–2 | 3–1 | 8–3 |
| 3Q | Vitória S.C.
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0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | ||
| 2012–13 | UEFA Europa League | PO |  Young Boys Bern
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0–3 | 2–0 | 2–3 |
| 2014–15 | UEFA Europa League | PO |  Panathinaikos F.C.
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1–4 | 1–2 | 2–6 |
| 2015–16 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q |  Lincoln Red Imps or FC Santa Coloma
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– | – | – |
Honours
- 1st Division
- Winner (1): 1999/00
Achievements
- 12 seasons in the Highest Danish League
- 1 season in the Second Highest Danish League
Superleague Formula
FC Midtjylland has a team in the Superleague Formula race car series where football teams lend their name to cars. They made their debut in the 2009 season. Hitech Racing has operated the car and Kasper Andersen is the driver. FC Midtjylland and Andersen have been plagued by reliability problems and accidents. They have had 1 pole position, pipping Rangers F.C. to the honour at Circuit Zolder.
In spring 2010 FC Midtjylland closed FCM Racing, due to lack of sponsors.[9]
References
- ^ http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/benham-remains-fully-committed-bees-7359189
- ^ Tipspladet
- ^ Indkast transferes summer 2010
- ^ New Zealand international Winston Reid joins West Ham, BBC sport, 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
- ^ Man City 0-1 FC Midtjylland, BBC sport, 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
- ^ Midtj'land 0-1 Man City (agg 1-1), BBC sport, 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
- ^ Black Wolves homepage
- ^ http://fcm.dk/superligatruppen
- ^ TV2 Sport – 31 March. 2010
External links
- Official website
- Ikast FS's website
- Herning Fremad's website
- Black Wolves – Official fanclub
- Messecenter Herning's website
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