FC Midtjylland

Midtjylland
Full name	Football Club Midtjylland
Nickname(s)	Ulvene (The Wolves)
Short name	FCM
Founded	2 February 1999; 22 years ago
Ground	MCH Arena
Capacity	11,432
Owner	Matthew Benham
Chairman	Rasmus Ankersen
Head coach	Bo Henriksen
League	Danish Superliga
2020–21	Danish Superliga, 2nd
Website	Club website
	Current season

FC Midtjylland (Danish: [ˈmitjyˌlænˀ], "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the midwestern part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they have won three times, most recently in 2020.

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.^[1]

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 and made three Danish Cup final appearances, but had never been a top team in the Danish league. 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 finalised and announced at a press conference the next day.^[2]^[3]

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 club Brentford) became the majority shareholder of Midtjylland's parent company FCM Holding.^[4] In the 2014–15 season, they won the Danish football championship for the first time. Later on, they won two league titles in 2017–18 and 2019–20, then qualified to the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.^[5]

Scouting and developing[]

Midtjylland have built a reputation of finding and developing promising talents, and have a highly regarded youth academy.^[6]

In July 2004, Midtjylland was the first Danish club to establish their own football academy, similar to that of French side Nantes.^[7] The academy attracts players from throughout Denmark, as well as players from FC Ebedei, a partnering club in Nigeria. The club has developed a network of over 100 clubs located in the western part of Jutland.^[8]

In 2008, Danish centre-back Simon Kjær, a talent of the academy, was sold to Palermo for a transfer fee of approximately DKK30 million (€4 million).^[9] 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 (€4.26 million).^[10]^[11] In 2016, vice-captain Erik Sviatchenko was sold for £1.5 million to Celtic.^[12]

Other notable sales of academy products include Pione Sisto to Celta Vigo, Rasmus Nissen to Ajax, Andreas Poulsen to Borussia Mönchengladbach and Mikkel Duelund to Dynamo Kyiv.

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 Mohamed Zidan.

Supporters[]

Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland.^[13] It was founded in the beginning of 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.

The club's main rival is Viborg FF, the derby is claimed to be the second biggest in Denmark after FC København and Brøndby IF.

Recent history[]

Season	League	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe
2008–09	SL	4	33	16	7	10	55	46	55	Third 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-finals	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	4	36	15	9	12	67	53	54	Semi-finals	UEFA Europa League Playoff Round
2017–18	SL	1	36	27	4	5	80	39	85	Semi-finals	UEFA Europa League Playoff Round
2018–19	SL	2	36	21	8	7	76	43	71	Champion	UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round, UEFA Europa League Playoff Round
2019–20	SL	1	36	26	4	6	61	29	82	Third Round	UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round
2020–21	SL	2	32	18	6	8	57	33	60	Semi-finals	UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round

Honours[]

Danish Superliga
- Winners (3): 2014–15, 2017–18, 2019–20
- Runners-up (4): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2018–19, 2020–21
1st Division
- Winners (1): 1999–2000
Danish Cup
- Winners (1): 2018–19
- Runners-up (4): 2002–03, 2004–05, 2009–10, 2010–11

Players[]

Current squad[]

As of 20 August 2021^[14]^[15]

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	DEN	Jonas Lössl
2	DF	MAS	Dion Cools
5	DF	DEN	Daniel Høegh
6	DF	SWE	Joel Andersson
7	MF	DEN	Pione Sisto
9	FW	GUI	Sory Kaba
10	MF	BRA	Evander
11	MF	AUS	Awer Mabil
14	DF	DEN	Henrik Dalsgaard
16	GK	ISL	Elías Ólafsson
24	MF	DEN	Oliver Sørensen
28	DF	DEN	Erik Sviatchenko
29	DF	BRA	Paulinho
30	GK	NIR	Jared Thompson
34	MF	ISL	Mikael Anderson
35	MF	BRA	Charles
36	FW	DEN	Anders Dreyer


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
37	MF	NGA	Raphael Onyedika
38	FW	BRA	Marrony
39	MF	DEN	Victor Torp
40	MF	SWE	Jens Cajuste
43	MF	DEN	Nicolas Madsen
44	DF	DEN	Nikolas Dyhr
45	FW	DEN	Gustav Isaksen
47	FW	DEN	Frederik Heiselberg
48	FW	DEN	Mads Hansen
50	DF	AUS	Hosine Bility
53	FW	DEN	Victor Lind
54	MF	DEN	Oscar Fraulo
55	DF	DEN	Viktor Bak
58	FW	DEN	Aral Simsir
73	DF	BRA	Juninho
74	FW	BRA	Júnior Brumado
90	GK	DEN	Valdemar Birksø

Other players under contract[]

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
13	DF	DEN	Søren Reese
15	MF	BUL	Bozhidar Kraev


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
61	FW	NOR	Chuma Anene
—	FW	DEN

Out on loan[]

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	DEN	(at Fredericia until 30 June 2022)
—	DF	DEN	Oliver Olsen (at Fredericia until 30 June 2022)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	DEN	(at Fredericia until 30 June 2022)
—	FW	GER	Luca Pfeiffer (at Darmstadt until 30 June 2022)

Youth team[]

See: FC Midtjylland Academy

Notable former players[]

1990s

Søren Skriver (1994-2004)

2000s

Mohamed Zidan (2003-2005)
Danny Califf (2008-2009)
Mads Albæk (2004-2013)
Winston Reid (2005-2010)

2010s

Petter Andersson (2012-2016)
Rafael van der Vaart (2016-2018)
Rasmus Nissen (2012-2018)
Bill Hamid (2018-2020)
Tim Sparv (2014-2020)

Coaches[]

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 – 10 October 2018)
Kenneth Andersen (10 October 2018 – 19 August 2019)
Brian Priske (19 August 2019 – 29 May 2021)
Bo Henriksen (31 May 2021 – Present)

FC Midtjylland in European competition[]

FC Midtjylland's first competitive European match was on 9 August 2001 in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup, playing Northern Ireland's Glentoran to a 1–1 draw in the first leg of the Qualifying Round before ultimately advancing to the First Round where they were eliminated by Sporting CP. In 2016 Midtjylland reached the Round of 32 of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, where they achieved a 2–1 home victory over Manchester United but would end up losing 6–3 on aggregate following the second leg.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2001–02	UEFA Cup	QR	Glentoran	1–1	4–0	5–1
2001–02	UEFA Cup	1R	Sporting CP	0–3	2–3	2–6
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Pobeda	3–0	0–2	3–2
		1R	Varaždin	1–0	1–1	2–1
		2R	Anderlecht	0–3	1–3	1–6
2005–06	UEFA Cup	1Q	B36 Tórshavn	2–1	2–2	4–3
2005–06	UEFA Cup	1R	CSKA Moscow	1–3	1–3	2–6
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Keflavík ÍF	2–1	2–3	4–4 (a)
		2Q	Haka	5–2	2–1	7–3
		1R	Lokomotiv Moscow	1–3	0–2	1–5
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1Q	Bangor City	4–0	6–1	10–1
2008–09	UEFA Cup	2Q	Manchester City	0–1 (a.e.t.)	1–0	1–1 (2–4 p)
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	2Q	The New Saints	5–2	3–1	8–3
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Vitória de Guimarães	0–0	1–2	1–2
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	PO	Young Boys	0–3	2–0	2–3
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	PO	Panathinaikos	1–2	1–4	2–6
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Lincoln Red Imps	1–0	2–0	3–0
	UEFA Champions League	3Q	APOEL	1–2	1–0	2–2 (a)
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Southampton	1–0	1–1	2–1
		Group D	Napoli	1–4	0–5	2nd
			Club Brugge	1–1	3–1
			Legia Warsaw	1–0	0–1
		R32	Manchester United	2–1	1–5	3–6
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Sūduva Marijampolė	1–0	1–0	2–0
		2Q	Vaduz	3–0	2–2	5–2
		3Q	Videoton	1–1 (a.e.t)	1–0	2–1
		PO	Osmanlıspor	0–1	0–2	0–3
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Derry City	6–1	4–1	10–2
		2Q	Ferencváros	3–1	4–2	7–3
		3Q	Arka Gdynia	2–1	2–3	4–4 (a)
		PO	Apollon Limassol	1–1	2–3	3–4
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Astana	0–0	1–2	1–2
	UEFA Europa League	3Q	The New Saints	3–1	2–0	5–1
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Malmö FF	0–2	2–2	2–4
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Rangers	2–4	1–3	3–7
2020–21	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Ludogorets Razgrad	N/A	1–0	N/A
		3Q	Young Boys	3–0	N/A	N/A
		PO	Slavia Prague	4–1	0–0	4–1
		Group D	Atalanta	0–4	1–1	4th
			Liverpool	1–1	0–2
			Ajax	1–2	1–3
2021–22	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Celtic	1–1	2–1	3–1
	UEFA Champions League	3Q	PSV Eindhoven	0–3	0–1	0–4
	UEFA Europa League	Group

UEFA club coefficient ranking[]

As of 24 May 2021^[16]

Rank	Team	Points
99	Rijeka	13.500
100	Ferencváros	13.500
101	Midtjylland	13.500
102	Saint-Étienne	13.000
103	Nice	13.000

References[]

^ Heide Lund, Kasper (1 July 2019). "'Vi gad sgu ikke se på den middelmådighed mere': Superligaens frække dreng fylder 20 år". dr.dk. Danmarks Radio. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Flatau, Line (22 May 2018). "FC Midtjyllands stormfulde vej til toppen". tvmidtvest.dk. TV Midtvest. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Kristiansen, Kenneth (19 June 2019). "20 år med FCM: I begyndelsen var Ove P." herningfolkeblad.dk. Herning Folkeblad. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Murtagh, Jacob (2 July 2014). "Benham remains fully committed to Bees despite Danish project". Get West London. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^ "Midtjylland 4–1 Slavia Praha". UEFA. 30 September 2020.
^ Ingle, Sean (27 July 2015). "How Midtjylland took the analytical route towards the Champions League". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Just Kristensen, Jørn (22 June 2019). "Akademi-ideen blev født i Nantes". herningfolkeblad.dk. Herning Folkeblad. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ "Investor vil styrke og udvikle FC Midtjylland". fcm.dk. FC Midtjylland. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ "FCM scorer millioner på Simon Kjær-handel" (in Danish). Tipsbladet. Retrieved 30 December 2015. (subscription required)
^ "Superligaens transferoverblik". Indkast.dk. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^ "BBC Sport – Football – New Zealand international Winston Reid joins West Ham". BBC News. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^ "Erik Sviatchenko: Celtic seal £1.5m transfer of Midtjylland man". BBC Sport. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
^ "Black Wolves : Homepage". Black-wolves.com. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^ "Superligatrup | fcm". Fcm.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 14 July 2018.
^ "DBU's Officielle Statistikere". Danskfodbold.com. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^ "UEFA Club Coefficients". www.ludogorets.com. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

External links[]

[20-år-1] Heide Lund, Kasper (1 July 2019). "'Vi gad sgu ikke se på den middelmådighed mere': Superligaens frække dreng fylder 20 år". dr.dk. Danmarks Radio. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

[2] Flatau, Line (22 May 2018). "FC Midtjyllands stormfulde vej til toppen". tvmidtvest.dk. TV Midtvest. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

[20-år-hf-3] Kristiansen, Kenneth (19 June 2019). "20 år med FCM: I begyndelsen var Ove P." herningfolkeblad.dk. Herning Folkeblad. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

[4] Murtagh, Jacob (2 July 2014). "Benham remains fully committed to Bees despite Danish project". Get West London. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

[5] "Midtjylland 4–1 Slavia Praha". UEFA. 30 September 2020.

[guardian-270715-6] Ingle, Sean (27 July 2015). "How Midtjylland took the analytical route towards the Champions League". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

[nantes-7] Just Kristensen, Jørn (22 June 2019). "Akademi-ideen blev født i Nantes". herningfolkeblad.dk. Herning Folkeblad. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

[8] "Investor vil styrke og udvikle FC Midtjylland". fcm.dk. FC Midtjylland. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

[9] "FCM scorer millioner på Simon Kjær-handel" (in Danish). Tipsbladet. Retrieved 30 December 2015. (subscription required)

[10] "Superligaens transferoverblik". Indkast.dk. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

[bbc5aug10-11] "BBC Sport – Football – New Zealand international Winston Reid joins West Ham". BBC News. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

[12] "Erik Sviatchenko: Celtic seal £1.5m transfer of Midtjylland man". BBC Sport. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.

[13] "Black Wolves : Homepage". Black-wolves.com. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

[14] "Superligatrup | fcm". Fcm.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 14 July 2018.

[15] "DBU's Officielle Statistikere". Danskfodbold.com. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

[16] "UEFA Club Coefficients". www.ludogorets.com. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

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show v t Football Club Midtjylland
Football	FCM Football Ikast FS Herning Fremad Academy Footballers MCH Arena Ikast Stadium
Handball	HCM Handball Herning-Ikast Håndbold Ikast-Brande Arena MCH Messecenter Herning MCH Multiarena
Racing	Superleague Formula team Hitech Junior Team Kasper Andersen