FC Midtjylland

FC Midtjylland

Full name	Football Club Midtjylland
Nickname(s)	Ulvene (The Wolves)
Short name	FCM
Founded	2 February 1999 (2 February 1999)
Ground	MCH Arena, Herning
Ground Capacity	11,800
Owner	Matthew Benham
Chairman	Rasmus Ankersen
Manager	Jess Thorup
League	Danish Superliga
2016–17	Danish Superliga, 4th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours European away colours

FC Midtjylland (Danish: [ˈmidjylanˀ], "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the midwestern part of Jutland. The team was a result of a merger between Ikast FS (which also includes tennis, badminton and handball clubs) and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which it won for the first time in 2015.

Club history

Stadium of FC Midtjylland. MCH Arena

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 1970s and '80s, but that was about it. At least ten 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, Midtjylland were promoted to the top-flight Danish Superliga after a season in which the team had gathered more points than any other team in the history of the first division.

In July 2014, Matthew Benham (owner of English Championship side Brentford) became the majority shareholder of Midtjylland's parent company FCM Holding.^[1] In the 2014–15 season, they won the championship in the Danish Superliga.

Scouting and developing

Midtjylland have generally built a reputation of finding and developing promising talents.

In July 2004, Midtjylland was the first Danish club to have its own football academy, similar to that of French side Nantes. The academy attracts players from throughout Denmark, as well as players from a partnering club in Nigeria – F.C. Ebedei. The club has developed a network of over 100 clubs located in the western part of Jutland.

In 2008, Danish centre-back Simon Kjær, a talent of the academy, was sold to Palermo for a transfer fee of approximately DKK30 million (€4M).^[2] In 2010, Sune Kiilerich, another talent of the academy, was sold to Sampdoria, while Winston Reid, an academy product and New Zealand international, was sold to West Ham United for DKK32 million (€4.26M).^[3][4] In 2016, vice-captain Erik Sviatchenko was sold for £1.5 million to Celtic.^[5]

Stadium

In 2004, the team moved to a new stadium in Herning with a capacity of approximately 12,000 spectators. Midtjylland was the first Danish club to sell the stadium naming rights to a sponsor, resulting in the name "SAS Arena" which has since been changed to MCH Arena. The stadium's opening match was on 27 March; it proved to be a success, with Midtjylland beating AB 6–0. Five of the goals were scored by Egyptian striker former AB player Mohamed Zidan.

Supporters

Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland.^[6] 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, established in 2007 and later renamed Ultras Midtjylland. In 2014, Midtjyland got its second ultra firm, a youth department called Midtjylland Ungdom.

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	UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round
2012–13	SL	6	33	12	11	10	51	47	47	quarter-final	UEFA Europa League Playoff Round
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	UEFA Europa League Playoff Round
2015–16	SL	3	33	17	8	8	57	33	59	Fourth round	UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round, UEFA Europa League Round of 32
2016–17	SL	5	36	15	9	12	67	53	54	Semi-finals	UEFA Europa League Playoff Round
2017–18	SL	X	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		UEFA Europa League First Qualifying Round

Honours

• Danish Football Championship
  • Winner: 2014–15
  • Runner-up: 2006–07, 2007–08
• 1st Division
  • Winner: 1999–2000
• Danish Cup
  • Runner-up: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2009–10, 2010–11

Players

Current squad

As of 16 July 2017^[7][8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Jesper Hansen 2 DF Kian Hansen 3 MF Tim Sparv 4 DF Zsolt Korcsmár 5 DF Marc Dal Hende 6 DF Markus Halsti 7 MF Jakob Poulsen (captain) 8 MF Rafael van der Vaart 9 MF Janus Drachmann 11 MF Jonas Borring 13 DF Alexander Munksgaard 14 MF Simon Kroon 15 MF Bozhidar Kraev 17 MF Michael Baidoo 18 DF Kristian Riis 19 FW Alexander Sørloth 20 DF Rasmus Nicolaisen

No. Position Player 21 MF Kaan Kairinen 22 MF Mikkel Duelund 28 DF André Rømer 29 MF Frederik Brandhof 30 GK Oliver Ottesen 31 GK Michael Falkesgaard 33 FW Paul Onuachu 34 MF Mikael Anderson 35 MF Glorie Rutikanga 36 MF Rilwan Hassan 38 MF Frank Onyeka 40 DF Andreas Poulsen 43 DF Rasmus Nissen 70 DF Filip Novák 88 FW Gustav Wikheim — FW Jakup Thomsen — FW Martin Pušić

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 24 FW Mads Døhr Thychosen (at AC Horsens until 31 december 2017) — MF Babajide David (at FK Jerv until 31 December 2017)

No. Position Player — MF Gloire Rutikanga (at Ringkøbing IF until 31 December 2017) 45 MF Awer Mabil (at Paços de Ferreira until 30 June 2018)

Youth team

See: FC Midtjylland Academy

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)
• Jess Thorup (12 July 2015 –

FC Midtjylland in European Competition

FC Midtjylland's first competitive European match was on August 9, 2001, in the 2001-02 UEFA Cup, playing to a draw with Northern Ireland's Glentoran F.C. 1-1 in the first leg of the Qualifying Round, before ultimately advancing to the First Round, where it was eliminated by Sporting CP. Since then, the club has been a consistent participant in European competition, reaching as far as the Round of 32 in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League.

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 06.06.2017, Source:

Rank	Team	Points
118	FC Astana	16.800
119	Hull City AFC	16.692
120	FC Midtjylland	16.300
121	FK Partizan	16.075
122	Osmanlıspor	15.840

References

External links

• Official website
• Ikast FS's website
• Herning Fremad's website
• Black Wolves – Official fanclub
• Messecenter Herning's website