Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Østerbro, Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and Boldklubben 1903.
F.C. Copenhagen has won a record 16 Danish Football Championships and a record 10 Danish Cups. In European football F.C. Copenhagen has reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and the group stage of the UEFA Europa League more times than any other Danish club.
Copenhagen plays its matches at the Parken Stadium, which also serves as the venue for Denmark national football team matches. Since their foundation, FCK have developed a fierce rivalry with Brøndby IF. The Copenhagen Derby games between the two sides have attracted some of the biggest crowds in Danish football history.Attendance season records at NetSuperligaen.dk, which dates back to the Danish Superliga 1998-99, shows that the biggest crowd each year has been a derby between F.C. København and Brøndby.
History
Early success Football Club Copenhagen is, in many ways, both an old and a new club. Even though the club was established in 1992, it is rooted in more than 100 years of club tradition. The club's first team represents two separate clubs: Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (continental Europe's oldest football club) founded in 1876 and Boldklubben 1903 founded in 1903. Due to financial difficulties throughout the clubs in the Copenhagen area in the 1980s and with Kjøbenhavns Boldklub on the verge of bankruptcy, the two old Copenhagen clubs got together and established the superstructure which is F.C. Copenhagen. Copenhagen used B1903's club license to play in the Danish Superliga championship, while Kjøbenhavns Boldklub became the official reserve team of the club. With the rebuilding of the Parken Stadium, Denmark's national team stadium, the new club had a modern stadium to play at from the beginning. The initial ambition of the club was continually to qualify for one of the European competitions each season. To reach this goal, the club needed a solid economy, a relatively big fan base and an "attractive and positive style of football."
Benny Johansen managed the club and started its maiden season well. FCK made its first appearance in the European tournaments when it beat Swiss team Grasshoppers 2–1 in the 1992 UEFA Intertoto Cup. FCK won the Intertoto Cup that year and thereby qualified for the UEFA Cup, where it was eliminated in the second round by French team Auxerre. The club's first trophy was the 1992–93 Superliga title, their debut league campaign. For the 1993–94 Superliga season, expectations were high. The season opened with a 0–6 thrashing at the hands of Italian team Milan in the 1993–94 Champions League qualifiers. FCK went on winter break after the first half of the Superliga season in third place. In the spring of 1994, Copenhagen gained on leading team Silkeborg. In the penultimate match of the season, the two teams met at the Parken Stadium. In front of a record-setting attendance of 26,679, FCK won the match 4–1. The club was one point ahead of Silkeborg, but because FCK lost 3–2 to Odense in the final game of the season, it had to settle for second place.
Years of underachievement For the next three seasons, Copenhagen had little success in the Superliga, despite winning two Danish Cups. The team won the 1995 Cup final against Akademisk Boldklub with a 5–0 win, qualifying for European football once again, despite mediocre results in the league. Kim Brink took over as manager in 1996, but despite winning the second Cup trophy for the club, the eighth-place finish in the 1996–97 Superliga season prompted another change in managers.
Flemming Østergaard joins the board In February 1997, Flemming Østergaard, later given the nickname "Don Ø," joined the board of the club as vice chairman and CEO. After a successful IPO, generating DKK 75 million, FCK was introduced on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in November 1997. The 1997–98 season marked the first season that Copenhagen averaged more than 10,000 spectators at home, and the club bought their stadium Parken for DKK 138 million in June 1998. The self-acclaimed "best manager in Denmark," Christian Andersen, began managing the club in January 1999. After 75 controversial days, however, he was fired in March 1999; Sports Director Niels-Christian Holmstrøm explained Andersen had created frustration among the players.Søren Olsen, "Eklatant fejl at hyre Christian Andersen", Politiken, 22 March 1999
In 1999, Copenhagen made its impact in Europe when it faced English side Chelsea in the second round UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In the first leg away at Stamford Bridge, Bjarne Goldbæk gave Copenhagen the lead nine minutes before the end of the match, but Chelsea scored in the last minute of the game. Chelsea later won the second game at Parken with a goal by the Dane Brian Laudrup, knocking out FCK. At the post-match press conference, it was announced that Chelsea's Brian Laudrup was signing with Copenhagen in January 1999, with Bjarne Goldbæk moving in the other direction for Chelsea. Laudrup, a four-time Danish Player of the Year award winner, however, could not help Copenhagen improve their league position, and the club ended the year in seventh in the 1998–99 Superliga season. Laudrup only stayed for six months at the club before signing for Ajax at the end of the season. In the 1999–2000 season, F.C. Copenhagen struggled to make any significant impact and finished eighth in the league.
Champions again In the winter 2000 transfer window, South African striker Sibusiso Zuma was signed from South African side Orlando Pirates, and in May 2000, English manager Roy Hodgson became the new manager. From the 2000–01 season, the club started to improve. The club won its second Superliga championship, winning 3–1 in the last Copenhagen Derby match of the season. One of the goals scored in this match, a bicycle kick by Zuma, was later voted the Danish goal of the year, was voted the best Superliga goal of the decade in December 2009, and in 2013 voted as the greatest moment in the history of FCK. Roy Hodgson broke his contract with Copenhagen a few weeks after having won the championship, signing with Italian team Udinese, and he was replaced by Swede Kent Karlsson. The 2001 season is also remembered for a highly dramatic event. During training on 13 March 2001 charismatic midfielder Ståle Solbakken suffered a heart attack. He was rapidly attended to by club doctor Frank Odgaard who found that his heart had stopped beating and started to administer cardiac massage. Upon the ambulance's arrival, Solbakken was pronounced clinically dead at the scene, but on the way to the hospital in the ambulance he was revived nearly seven minutes later. He survived the episode and had a pacemaker fitted. Shortly after, on medical advice, he announced his playing retirement, but would later return to the club and become its most successful manager.
Copenhagen faced Italian team Lazio for qualification to the 2001–02 Champions League. A 2–1 win for FCK in the first game proved moot, as Lazio ultimately progressed with a 5–3 aggregate score. Copenhagen thus entered the 2001–02 UEFA Cup, where it defeated Dutch giants Ajax 1–0 on a goal from left back Niclas Jensen. In the next round, German powerhouse Borussia Dortmund eliminated Copenhagen. The 2001–02 Superliga season also ended in disappointment for the club, as Brøndby won the championship on goal difference after FCK had caught up with Brøndby's ten-point lead after the first half of the season. In the second-last round of the 2002–03 Superliga season, FCK faced Brøndby at Brøndby Stadium. In extra time, Hjalte Nørregaard scored his first goal for Copenhagen and brought the championship back to Parken for the club's third ever league title.
In the Champions League second qualifying round in 2004–05, FCK won the first match against Slovenian club ND Gorica 2–1, but later lost at Parken 0–5. Under Backe, Copenhagen went on to win the 2004 and 2006 Danish championships and the 2004 Danish Cup. Copenhagen also won the inaugural 2004–05 edition of the Royal League tournament, beating Swedish team IFK Göteborg on penalty shootout in the 2005 final. Copenhagen repeated the achievement in the 2006 edition of the tournament, this time beating Norwegian team Lillestrøm SK 1–0 in the 2006 final. Backe became the longest-serving coach for FCK before leaving the club in December 2005. Former Copenhagen player Ståle Solbakken took over as manager.
European ambitions For the 2006–07 season, Danish national team player Jesper Grønkjær reinforced Copenhagen. FCK looked forward to the 2006–07 Champions League qualifiers, where it beat Ajax. For the first time in the club's history, FCK entered the group stage of the Champions League, being grouped with Celtic, Benfica and Manchester United, all former winners of the trophy. Despite not losing a game at Parken (Benfica 0–0, Manchester United 1–0 and Celtic 3–1), FCK failed to qualify from the Champions League group stage after losing all of its away games. On 9 May, Copenhagen defeated Brøndby 1–0 and won its fifth Danish championship in seven years with four games to spare in the league.
In the 2007–08 season, Copenhagen lost the third qualification round of the Champions League with a 1–3 aggregate score to Benfica. After beating Lens 3–2, FCK qualified for the group stages of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, where it played Panathinaikos (H), Lokomotiv Moscow (A), Atlético Madrid (H) and Aberdeen. Copenhagen fell to Panathinaikos and Atlético, but a win against Lokomotiv meant that the club needed only a draw against Aberdeen to qualify for the next round. However, a 0–4 defeat to Aberdeen put them out of the tournament. In the 2007–08 Superliga season, Copenhagen finished third, with AaB taking the title.
In the 2008–09 season, Copenhagen began strong. The team qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup group stage by eliminating Cliftonville, Lillestrøm and FC Moscow. In the group, FCK lost at home to Saint-Étienne and drew 1–1 against Valencia. With a 1–1 draw against Rosenborg and a win over Club Brugge, Copenhagen qualified for the knockout phase of the competition, where it drew 2–2 in the first leg of the round of 32 against Manchester City on 19 February 2009. The club lost 1–2 in the second leg, and were eliminated, but not in disappointment as the club had gone far in the competition. In the domestic league, FCK battled for first place with Brøndby and Odense. Eventually, Copenhagen won the Cup final against AaB and claimed the league title with one game to spare in the tournament, thus securing the Double for the second time in the club's history. 2010 proved to be yet another European success. Even though the team lost the 2009–10 Champions League playoff match to APOEL with a 2–3 aggregate loss, the team had already qualified to the 2009–10 Europa League group stage by eliminating FK Mogren and Stabæk. With two victories over Sparta Prague, (1–0 at home, 3–0 away and a victory at home against Romanian club CFR Cluj, Copenhagen qualified for the round of 32 to face Marseille. The match-up, however, resulted in two 1–3 losses for Copenhagen, thus eliminating them from the competition.
The team's qualification to the 2010–11 Champions League was secured after beating BATE Borisov (0–0 / 3–2) and Rosenborg (1–2 / 1–0). The team thus entered the group stage in Group D and met Barcelona, Panathinaikos and Rubin Kazan. After a 3–1 win against Panathinaikos in their last group stage match, they qualified for the round of 16—thereby becoming the first-ever Danish club to reach the stage in the Champions League—where Chelsea defeated them, although keeping a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge.
Solbakken returns