| Full name | Football Club Midtjylland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Ulvene (The Wolves) | |||
| Short name | FCM | |||
| Founded | 2 February 1999 | |||
| Ground | MCH Arena, Herning (Capacity: 11,800) |
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| Owner | FC Midtjylland A/S | |||
| Chairman | Bo Olesen | |||
| Manager | Glen Riddersholm | |||
| League | Danish Superliga | |||
| 2010–11 | Danish Superliga, 4th | |||
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FC Midtjylland is a professional Danish football team from Herning and Ikast. The team is a result of a merger between Ikast FS (which also includes tennis, badminton and handball clubs) and Herning Fremad. Currently FC Midtjylland play in the Danish Superliga.
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FC Midtjyllands was founded by Johnny Rune, a carpenter and owner of a private business in the wood-supply industry, and Ejner 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 April 6, 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.
FC Midtjylland in 2007 made a financial expansion in the region of 10 million EUR, to secure its current status as a challenger to the national football throne of Brøndby IF and F.C. Copenhagen.
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 all of Denmark, as well as players from a partnering club in Nigeria – FC Ebedei. FC Midtjylland have also gained support from a network of over 100 clubs predominantly situated in the western part of the Jutland peninsula.
In 2008 Simon Kjær, a talent of the academy, was sold to U.S. Città di Palermo in Italy. The transfere fee was approximately DKK 30. mio equal to 4.000.000 €.[1]
In 2010 Sune Kiilerich another talent of the academy was sold to U.C. Sampdoria.
In 2010 Winston Reid who also was an academy player and an New Zealand national player, was sold to West Ham United F.C.. The transfere fee was DKK 32. mio equal to 4.26 mio € [2]
On the pitch the Club has been runner-up twice in the Danish Cup final, and finished second twice and third twice in the Superliga.
The best international result was in the 2002–03 season, where the team reached the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA cup, but lost to RSC Anderlecht of Belgium.
On 14 Aug 2008 they beat Manchester City 1–0 in Manchester, in the 2nd Qualifying Round 1st leg of the UEFA cup. 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.
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 March 27 proved to be a success with FC Midtjylland beating AB 6–0. Five of the goals were scored by Egyptian striker, former AB player and 2008 & 2010 African nations cup winner for Egypt Mohamed Zidan. He was later involved in a record breaking transfer from FC Midtjylland to SV Werder Bremen in Germany valued at around 4 million Euros, and was one of the top scorers in the German Bundesliga 2006–07 season, scoring 13 goals while being on loan at FSV Mainz 05.
Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland.[3] 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. FC Midtjylland has one unofficial "fraction" called Ultra Boys Midtjylland, who was founded in 2007.[4]
The following clubs are affiliated with FC Midtjylland:
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Q= Qualifying
| Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | UEFA Cup | 1 | Glentoran F.C. | 1–1 | 4–0 | 5–1 | |
| 2 | Sporting Lisbon | 0–3 | 2–3 | 2–6 | |||
| 2002–03 | UEFA Cup | 1 | FK Pobeda | 3–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | |
| 2 | NK Varaždin | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | |||
| 3 | RSC Anderlecht | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–6 | |||
| 2004–05 | UEFA Cup | 1 | B36 Tórshavn | 2–1 | 2–2 | 4–3 | |
| 2 | PFC CSKA Moscow | 0–3 | 2–3 | 2–6 | |||
| 2007–08 | UEFA Cup | 1 | Keflavík ÍF | 2–1 | 2–3 | 4–4 | |
| 2 | FC Haka | 5–2 | 2–1 | 7–3 | |||
| 3 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–5 | |||
| 2008–09 | UEFA Cup | 1 | Bangor City F.C. | 4–0 | 6–1 | 10–1 | |
| 2 | Manchester City F.C. | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–4 (Penalty) | |||
| 2011–12 | UEFA Europa League | Q2 | The New Saints | 5–2 | 3–1 | 8–3 | |
| Q3 | Vitória S.C. | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-2 |
| Country | Club | Home | Away | Group 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammarby IF | 4–1 | 2–2 | ||
| Vålerenga | 4–0 | 1–0 | ||
| IK Start | 1–1 | 1–1 |
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.[6]
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