FC København
is a professional football club from the Danish capital of Copenhagen that was
formed on July 1st1992, following the merger of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and Boldklubben 1903.
Kjøbenhavns Boldklub
Kjøbenhavns
Boldklub (KB) had been formed as a sports club on April 26th 1876, on
the outskirts of the city at Fælledparken. The club had sections in cricket,
tennis, badminton, swimming and pétanque. The football section would become
extremely successful, winning fifteen national titles.
The Landsfodboldturneringen, as the championship was initially called, was lifted in 1912-13, 1913-14,
1916-17, 1917-18, 1921-22 and 1924-25. The league was renamed Mesterskabsserien
as Kjøbenhavns Boldklub won the title in 1931-32 and 1939-40.
The 1st Division was initiated after World War Two with KB winning three consecutive
titles in 1947-48, 1948-49 and 1949-50. Per Jensen and Jørgen Ravn banged in
the goals in the late 1950s and the early part of the sixties at their Frederiksberg
I P Opvisning home ground. The league
was won once again in 1967-68.
A solitary Landspokalturneringen, Danish
Cup triumph followed in 1968-69 with a 3-0 victory over BK Frem at Idrætsparken, with Flemming Pedersen starring. Preben
Elkjær had a spell with KB in the 70’s after a fourteenth league win in
1973-74. A final title arrived in 1979-80 as Hans Aabech ended as top scorer,
before Michael Laudrup had two years at the club.
Boldklubben 1903
Boldklubben
1903 (B 1903) played at Gentofte Sportspark after being formed in 1903.
Throughout their history, they have been crowned as Danish champions on seven
occasions. In the Landsfodboldturneringen years, the club won the title in
1919-20, 1923-24 and 1925-26.
‘3'erne’
were Mesterskabsserien champions in 1937-38 with Knud Andersen ending as top
scorer. A long period without trophies followed before the goals of Per
Petersen cheered the home fans, before another period of success arrived at the
club.
Consecutive 1st Division titles followed in 1968-69 and 1969-70, with Steen Rømer
Larsen and then Ole Forsing topping the goal charts. The seventh league win
came in 1975-76 before B 1903 won two Landspokalturneringen Danish Cups.
FC København
FC København
(FCK) moved into the newly built Parken Stadium and was an instant success
following the merger, while Kjøbenhavns Boldklub continued as the team’s reserve
side. The top flight had been renamed the Danish Superliga with Benny Johansen
leading FCK in their debut season.
His side
lifted the title at the first attempt before the manager returned after a short
spell away to see København lift the Landspokalturneringen in 1994-95 with a
5-0 win against Akademisk Boldklub and then a 2-0 victory against Ikast fS in
1996-97 with Kim Brink in charge of the team.
Managerial spells of Kent Karlsson, Christian Andersen and a couple of caretaker periods under Brink followed before Roy Hodgson arrived in July 2000 to lead the side to the Superliga in 2000-01. Karlsson returned for a second spell before being replaced by Niels-Christian Holmstrøm.
The Swede Hans Backe was appointed in September 2001 in a move that brought
success to Parken in his four-year spell at the club. The
Superliga was won in 2000-01 and 2002-03, while the Cup was secured after a 1-0
win against Aalborg BK, with Hjalte Bo Nørregaard playing a starring role in
2003-04, as Christian Lønstrup and then Peter Nielsen skippered the team.
Norwegian boss Ståle Solbakken took over from Backe in January 2006 to herald even greater triumphs for FCK, leading his team to five Superliga championships in 2005-06, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. Thomas Augustinussen starred in the Danish Cup win against Aalborg BK thanks to a solitary William Kvist goal in 2008-09.
The domestic successes were not emulated in European competition. FCK failed to get past the group stages of the Champions League until the 2010-11 campaign, when they went further than any Danish side in the past, reaching the Round of 16 before going out to Chelsea.
Other
starring players in the Solbakken era included Tobias Linderoth, Brede
Hangeland, Zdeněk Pospěch, Jesper
Grønkjær, Oscar Wendt, Michael Gravgaard, Ulrik Laursen and Hjalte Nørregaard. Carsten V. Jensen took over team affairs in January 2012 after a spell under the reigns of Roland Nilsson.
Jenson’s side won the Landspokalturneringen in 2011-12 as AC Horsens were beaten 1-0 thanks to a Claudemir goal and a starring role from Bryan Oviedo as Dame N'Doye starred throughout the season. Ariël Jacobs took København to the Superliga title in 2012-13 with Andreas Cornelius ending as top league scorer.
The team finished league runners-up for two consecutive seasons but had reasons to be cheerful in the Danish Cup with a 3-2 extra-time win against FC Vestsjælland as Thomas Delaney starred in midfield alongside Christian Poulsen. Solbakken returned to the club after the board sacked Jacobs in August 2013.
FCK went on
to lift the league and cup double in 2015-16. The cup was secured with a 4-2
win against AGF Aarhus, while the goals of Nicolai Jørgensen and Federico
Santander were too much for the opposition in the league triumph. The feat was
repeated in 2016-17 as Mathias Jørgensen captained the team to the Superliga
title that was won by twelve points.
The Cup was lifted thanks to a 3-1 victory
over arch rivals Brøndby IF, with Stephan Andersen the man of the match. FCK finished
in a disappointing fourth position in 2017-18 despite the goals of Pieros
Sotiriou and Santander. However, amends were made in 2018-19 as the club were crowned as league champions with Zeca as skipper, with the strike partnership of Robert Skov and Dame N'Doye scoring the goals.
København finished second in the Superliga in 2019-20 before the arrival of new manager Jess Thorup, who took the team to the title in 2021-22, thanks in part to the goals of Pep Biel. Jacob Neestrup was appointed as København manager in September 2022, as the team retained the Danish title, with Viktor Claesson starring up front.
AaB were defeated 1-0 in the final of the Pokalen to complete the double. The 2024-25 season also saw the league and cup double being collected, with Silkeborg being defeated 3-0 in the Pokalen final, while the performances of goalkeeper Diant Ramaj were a standout.
FC København will play in the Danish Superliga in the 2020-21 season.
My visit
FC København
6 Odense Boldklub 1 (Sunday 10th February 2019) Danish Superliga
(att: 15,164)
I’d been
keen to return to beautiful Copenhagen, as Danny Kaye called it, to complete
visiting the top two in Danish football after a trip to experience the Brøndby
IF v FC København in November 2015. A long weekend off work offered me the
opportunity.
I’d
travelled to Dorset to see an entertaining 3-3 draw between Wimborne Town and
Hendon on the Saturday before taking an early night to be up bright and early
to head to Finchley Road, where a coach took me to Luton Airport for my Ryan
Air flight across the water.
I think that
the flight was good, but I was oblivious to the world, to be honest, waking as we
landed. Leaving the airport took longer than it should have, as I got lost, missing
the steps downstairs to the exit on a couple of occasions. Not that I
was too perturbed. The weather was grey and wet, though not too cold. There
were no football fixtures of any note in the vicinity to fill in the afternoon.
A visit to the horse trotting at Charlottenlund Travbane or visiting a few
stadia in the hope of getting photos were options. Instead, I
decided to kick back, which is something of a rarity on one of my whistle-stop
trips. I was going to visit a few bars and have a walk in between. Kick off at
Telia Parken wasn’t until 6pm, five hours away, so I was going to have to take
it steady if I was to remember the game.
Copenhagen,
like many tourist destinations, can be as expensive or cheap as you want to
make it. Sit in a bar/restaurant overlooking a sight and you pay top premium.
Living like a local offers far better value and offers you a true insight into a
city.
Obviously,
I’d done a bit of pre-flight research, and once again it was to pay dividends.
I’d bought an Inner City Pass for about a tenner to cover my travel for the day
and alighted from the Metro at Christianshavn St. with the rain teeming down.
I’d received
further help and advice before departure from replies to my post in the
European Football Weekends group on Facebook. This page continued to be a great
aid when travelling overseas, and I thank all who offered input.
My first port of call was the down-to-earth, unpretentious and smoky Eiffel Bar, immediately put in a good mood by a sign on
the day stating, “No Stupid People.” A bottle of
Tuborg cost me 18DKK, around £2. The place was rough and ready but fine for
what I required. It must have been alright, as I had a second bottle before
braving the elements.
I took a walk along the waterfront of the harbour
and Nyhavn. Despite the
weather, there were still some fine photo opportunities. Some of the
establishments along the side of Nyhavn were attractive, and I dare say I’d
have given them a go if I were in a group, but I wanted a budget afternoon.
The Wall
Street Pub had been recommended for cheap beer and showing of sports on the
TVs. However, I committed the schoolboy error of not checking opening times.
They were closed all day on a Sunday. Never mind, there should always be a Plan
B. Sheltering
from the rain, I checked down my list and Google Maps to find the nearest place
to my location.
I decided to walk ten minutes to Borgerkroen, which was in the
direction of the stadium as well. It proved a wise choice. It was a
proper corner pub, with the option of the more opulent Black Swan opposite if I
fancied some craft ale. The pint of Tuborg was decent, good value at 32DKK and
definitely better than the stuff sold under the same name in the UK back in the
80s.
It was a
warm and friendly place with a mixed age group. The Danish Superliga match
between AaB and Randers was being shown on the large TV projector screen before
they switched to Spurs v Leicester City. Middle-of-the-road music of the '70s
and '80s was piped in the background.
Any thoughts
of a wander were soon diminished. I was warm, my clothes were drying out, and
there was live football. Absolutely perfect. Some local lads arrived and sat
around me, ready to watch the next Superliga game between Nordsjælland and Brøndby.
That was the
seal of a proper boozer to me. They turned over before the end of a foreign
game despite its popularity to show the local stuff. Respect. Three steady
pints later, it was time to head towards my game if I wanted one last drink on
route.
Again,
Google Maps was my friend, as it indicated that I could catch the 1A bus from a
stop a few minutes away by the stunning Frederiks Kirke. The service stopped to
let people off, but didn’t open the front doors because it was full of
fans. This wouldn’t do! I reasoned
that if I walked further back towards its starting point, I’d have a better chance
of getting on the next one.
The 1A pulled in at Amalienborg stop. If anything,
it was busier than the previous one, but I was prepared. I jumped on halfway
up when a couple got off. It was very
cosy, but it wasn’t a very long journey. A local was chatting to me, but I got
by on smiles and nods, which seemed to satisfy him. Nearly everyone got off at Trianglen,
the nearest stop to Parken. I walked back a few hundred yards for my pre-match
pint.
Holstein - Bodega
was another place that had been recommended. It wasn’t too busy but contained a
down-to-earth crowd, good value Carlsberg and music more to my liking. The
gent’s toilets had an amusing cartoon mural depicting an innocent Tintin finding more than he bargained for when in the bedroom with a companion.
It was a ten-minute walk to the stadium, where the stewards gave a cursory pat-down. I’d
bought and printed my ticket online some weeks previously. It cost me 120DKK,
around £14, for a seat upstairs down the side towards the goal line. The steps
were steep and plentiful to my place.
Telia
Parken, to give the national stadium its sponsored title, was an impressive
arena that reminded me of a larger version of the GelreDome in Arnhem, aside
from the roof being retractable rather than permanently closed. It was open for
the match with rain still falling.
Three sides
had steep two-tiered stands, with the fourth being a single level with offices
and corporate facilities above. My only criticism, like Arnhem, was that the
corners were filled in with buildings you couldn’t see, but only hear, fans in
the next stand if you sat near the end.
The stewards
were chilled, and the stand was nowhere near full, so I moved to get a better angle
once it was obvious everyone was in for kick off.
The FCK ultras were in the
lower tier behind the goal to my left, with the upstairs section closed. OB’s
travelling support from Odense was in a couple of blocks opposite in the only
upstairs section open. Fans made a decent enough noise, even if it was a
little constant. I must admit I enjoy the peaks and troughs of spontaneous
support, but appreciate the ultras' efforts.
FCK fans have an
anthem to the tune of ‘I Don’t Like Monday’s’ by the Boomtown Rats. The teams
entered one after the other, which is something I’d not seen for some time,
from the tunnel in the far corner. There was a
short period of applause held before kick-off for a Danish referee who had
recently lost his life to cancer.
Home Ultras remained silent for the first
minute to remember a fellow fan who had died in a car crash. Thanks, FCK fan Tim
Lemmon, for the info. The hosts
created a couple of opportunities in the opening stages before OB had a decent
spell from the eighth minute onward. A decent move and defensive howler nearly
led to them taking the lead in fourteen minutes.
København
began to take the ascendancy and it was no surprise when they took the lead in
twenty-two minutes. The visitors' defence failed to deal with a low cross in the
box from the energetic Rasmus Falk. It fell to Nicolaj Thomsen, who smashed home
from eight yards.
Robert Skov
played a pass to Peter Ankersen on the half-hour mark, who cut inside to beat
his man and curl the ball beyond keeper Sten Grytebust into the far corner to
make it 2-0. The noise was ramped up with fans behind either goal chanting FC
Ko in turn to each other.
It was 3-0
on the stroke of half-time as Skov scored a beautiful left-footed free kick
from outside the box. I initially thought that OB’s Janus Drachmann had been
pushed over in the wall, when in fact he dived as Skov released to try and
block any low shot. It didn’t work!
At the
interval, I had a stretch and good exercise up and down the steep steps of the
top tier to get some extra photo albums and to get my legs moving. Normally, I’m glad of a rest at the end of a day, but I’d done my fair share of pleasant
lazing throughout the afternoon. Seven
minutes after the break, striker Zeca went on a mazy run past a couple of
defenders before overrunning the ball.
Jacob Laursen tried to pass back to his
goalie, Grytebust, but underhit it. A combination of Zeca’s bravery and
determination, and the keeper lacking those qualities, led to the Greek sliding
in to score.
At 4-0, the
OB management and fans must have feared the worst. However, they kept going and
got their reward after an hour. A corner from Julius Eskesen was flicked on by
Jeppe Tverskov. Marco Lund nodded the ball back down at the back post for Ryan
Johnson to volley home.
On both my
visits to the city, I’d been impressed by the place and most of all the calm and
friendly people. But like most cities, there was bound to be a few wrong uns. A
small group in front of me were being a pain in the arse, with one in
particular a prize idiot. Stewards get
plenty of unfair stick. They carry out a thankless task for little money.
One
came up to tell the clown he couldn’t smoke in the stand and to moderate his
behaviour. His reward? Ridicule and abuse. The poor lad was distraught. Some
people, eh? For a short
while after the goal, OB pressed. Would another goal for them make it
interesting? Skov put pay to any ideas along those lines when he scored an even
better free kick past a flying Grytebust with twelve minutes remaining.
Midfielder
and my man of the match, Falk, departed a couple of minutes later. His energy,
skill, ball retention, and always making himself available were top-class. I
thoroughly enjoyed his all-action performance. The board
went up to show an additional four minutes of stoppage time. I departed after one
of them and heard huge cheers once outside, as I missed Skov completing his hat
trick from the penalty spot.
Not to worry. I’d enjoyed a good game and an excellent home performance. The idea of
my making my exit was that I still wasn’t quite sure how I’d get back to the
airport. Walking to Østerport station and then taking a couple of trains was one
option. Then I saw the 1A bus approaching, and there was not too big a waiting
crowd. That would do for me.
It took me
to Kongens Nytorv Metro station near some of the sights I’d taken in earlier
to catch a train directly. I’d ample time on arrival to grab some comfort food at
Burger King and listen to commentary of the West Indies v England Test match. The only
downer on the day came when my flight was delayed for forty minutes.
Again, I
slept all the way before catching a train to Victoria and then a couple of
night buses home. The poor drivers who did that job. Drunk French rugby fans,
down and outs and those getting home after work. I was a
tired lad when I eventually got to bed at 3am after a bite to eat and didn’t
leave the flat until night shift later that day. It was worth every second and
slight inconvenience.
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