FC Midtjylland

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 Danish football championship for the first time.

Midtjylland have 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 F.C. Ebedei, a partnering club in Nigeria. 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]

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 Kiev.

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.

Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland.[6] 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.

• Danish Superliga
  • Winners: 2014–15, 2017–18
  • Runners-up: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2018–19
• 1st Division
  • Winners: 1999–2000
• Danish Cup
  • Winners: 2018–19
  • Runners-up: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2009–10, 2010–11

• 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 – Present)

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, 1-1 in the first leg of the Qualifying Round, before ultimately advancing to the First Round, where it was eliminated by Sporting CP. In 2016 Midtjylland reached the Round of 32 of the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League where Midtjylland got a 2-1 home victory over Manchester United but ultimately lost 6-3 on aggregate.

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 07.21.2018, Source:

Rank	Team	Points
112	FC Zürich	12.000
113	OGC Nice	11.500
114	FC Midtjylland	11.500
115	FC Girondins de Bordeaux	11.283
116	Lille OSC	11.283

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