Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag

KÍ
Full name	Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag
Short name	KÍ
Founded	24 August 1904; 120 years ago
Ground	Við Djúpumýrar
Capacity	2,600 (1300 seated)
Chairman	Tummas Lervig
Manager	Espen Haug
League	Faroe Islands Premier League
2023	Faroe Islands Premier League, 1st of 10 (champions)
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours

Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag ("Klaksvík Sports Club"), commonly abbreviated to KÍ and also known as KÍ Klaksvík, is a Faroese professional football club based in Klaksvík. The club was founded in 1904 and is one of the most successful Faroese football clubs, having won the Faroe Islands Premier League twenty-one times and the Faroe Islands Cup six times. The club wears blue and white and plays matches at the Við Djúpumýrar stadium.

KÍ Klaksvík notably became the first Faroese football club to play in the group stage of a major UEFA-organised European competition, qualifying for this phase in the 2023–24 edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League.

History

KÍ won the inaugural edition of Faroese top-tier football in 1942.^[2] In 1992, KÍ Klaksvík participated for the first time on a European stage,^[3] competing in the Champions League preliminary round against Skonto Riga of Latvia, where they lost 6–1 on aggregate.^[4]

By winning the double in 1999, KÍ reached a total of 21 league titles, a record at the time.^[5] KÍ didn't win the league title again until 2019, and although it held the honour of having won the most league titles since the 1950s, it was surpassed by HB in 2004.^[2]^[5] Although the team signed former great Todi Jónsson and local Atli Danielsen in July 2009 for the remainder of the season, KÍ was relegated for the first time in the club's 105 year-long history at the time.^[5] Despite a slow start, they managed to return to the top league for 2011, when they finished fifth under the guidance of manager Aleksandar Đorđević.

In 2012, KÍ did one better than the previous year, and finished in 4th position. The team was the most potent attacking side, scoring 59 goals in 27 matches; Páll Klettskarð scored 22 goals and was the joint top-scorer. In the buildup to the 2013 season, Atli Danielsen and Meinhardt Joensen were signed, helping KÍ to reach the semi-final of the cup. However, they finished the league season in a disappointing 8th place. Ndende Adama Guéye was signed after the season, and the team hired a new manager, Mikkjal Thomassen, who managed the team until 2022. The new manager implemented a new system, foreign to most of the players, and so KÍ experienced a difficult start to the season. Later in the first half of the season, the team had implemented the style, playing attractive, free-flowing attacking football, eventually finishing fifth. In 2016, they missed out on their first league title since 1999 by just one point to Víkingur Gøta, although they did win the Faroe Islands Cup.^[6] The next year, they lost the title to the same team by an even closer margin, only having a slightly worse goal difference. While the next season was a disappointment, with the team only finishing fifth, the following years, starting with the 2019 season would prove remarkable ones.^[6]

That year, KÍ not only won their first title in twenty years, but they managed to reach the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League for the first time, defeating Riteriai from Lithuania on away goals.^[7] In 2020, KÍ went one better, becoming the first Faroese team to qualify for the Europa League playoff round by beating Dinamo Tbilisi 6–1 in the third qualifying round, which KÍ had reached for the first time.^[8] This shock result, against a much larger and more prestigious European club, was watched by seventy percent of the Klaksvík population, and set up what was labelled 'the biggest game in their history' against the Irish club Dundalk F.C, which they lost 3–1.^[6]

In 2023, KÍ advanced to the second qualifying round of the Champions League for only the second time in their history by defeating 34-time Hungarian champions Ferencváros 3–0 on aggregate, consisting of a 0–0 draw in Klaksvík and a 3–0 win in Budapest, rivalling their win over Dinamo Tbilisi as the biggest result in the history of the club. The Faroese club faced Swedish side BK Häcken in the second qualifying round, beating them 4–3 on penalties after drawing 3–3 on aggregate. This historic result meant that KÍ became the first ever Faroese side to reach the third qualifying round of the Champions League. This result guaranteed the club's continental football path/route until at least December 2023. They will also be the first ever Faroese side to play in the group stages of a European competition.^[9] Klaksvík played Norwegian club Molde in the third qualifying round, defeating them with a scoreline of 2–1 in the home leg; however, this was overturned in the away leg with a 2–0 defeat in extra time. During the run, striker Árni Frederiksberg scored 6 goals.^[10] Klaksvík then played the Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League play-off round, tying the home game 1–1 before losing 1–2 in the away match. The Faroese team got drawn into Group A of the Europa Conference League 2023-24 season, along with Lille, Slovan Bratislava and Olimpija Ljubljana. In their first game, they lost 2–1 to Slovan Bratislava, with Deni Pavlovic becoming KI's inaugural scorer in the group stages.They made history on October 5 by drawing 0–0 with Lille, becoming the first Faroese team to score a point in the group stages of a European competition, and on October 26, when they won against Olimpija Ljubljana 3–0, they became the first team from the Faroe Islands to win a game in the group stages of a European competition. After the season, manager Magne Hoseth left to manage Danish Superliga side Lyngby Boldklub,^[11] and the club hired Haakon Lunov to replace him.

Stadium

KÍ Klaksvík plays its games in Við Djúpumýrar, a stadium with a seating capacity of 530 (2600 with standing places).^[12] For the team's 2020 European qualification, the Tórsvøllur stadium, which normally hosts the national team was used, since the Við Djúpumýrar stadium did not meet UEFA requirements for the third qualifying round and above.^[6]

Current squad

As of 15 July 2024

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	FRO	Ari Petersen
2	DF	DEN	Patrick da Silva
3	DF	SWE	Alexander Berntsson
4	DF	CTA	Cédric Yambéré
5	DF	SRB	Deni Pavlović
6	MF	FRO	Mads Boe Mikkelsen
7	MF	FRO	Árni Frederiksberg
8	MF	FRO	Jákup Andreasen (captain)
9	FW	FRO	Páll Klettskarð
11	MF	FRO	Jonn Johannessen
14	MF	FRO	René Joensen
15	DF	FRO	Símun Kalsø
16	GK	FRO	Hannis Matras
17	DF	FRO	Jóannes Danielsen
18	MF	FRO	Dan í Soylu


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	MF	FRO	Dávid Andreasen
20	DF	FRO	Børge Petersen
21	FW	FRO	Pætur Petersen
22	DF	FRO	Odmar Færø
23	MF	FRO	Heini Vatnsdal
24	FW	FRO	Silas Gaard
25	FW	NOR	Joseph Michael Williams
10	MF	FRO	Hallur Hansson
27	DF	GHA	Latif Ahmed
28	MF	SWE	Albert Ejupi
29	DF	FRO	Jákup Norðoy Vilhelmsen
30	FW	FRO	Jóhan Josephsen
32	MF	DEN	Claes Kronberg
33	FW	NOR	Kristoffer Ødemarksbakken
96	GK	DEN	Mark Jensen

Notable former players

Rógvi Jacobsen, played 53 matches for the Faroe Islands national team, scored 10 goals.
Todi Jónsson, played 45 matches for the Faroe Islands national team, scored 9 goals. He played several years for FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga.
Jákup Mikkelsen, played 73 matches for the Faroe Islands national football team as goalkeeper.
Allan Mørkøre, played 54 matches for the Faroe Islands national team, scored 1 goal.
Kurt Mørkøre, played 37 matches for the Faroe Islands national team, scored 3 goals.
Mayowa Alli^[13]^[14]
Albert Adu^[13]
Filip Djordjevic^[15]

Manni Waag Högnesen and Petur Simonsen. 1989

Managers

John Reid Bjartalíð (1945–1970)
Sölvi Óskarsson (1972)
Tony Paris (1977–1978)^[16]
Peter Kordt (1980)
Jens Hvidemose (1983–1984)
Peter Kordt (1985)
Olvheðin Jacobsen (1986)
Steffen Petersen (1987)
Jens Hvidemose (1988)
John Kramer (1990)
Petur Mohr (1991–1994)
Sverri Jacobsen (1994–1995)
Jóannes Jakobsen (1996–1998)
Tony Paris (1999)^[16]
Tomislav Sivić (2000–2001)
Kurt Mørkøre (2002)
Jan Joensen (2003)
Ove Flindt Bjerg (2004–2005)
Oddbjørn Joensen (2005)^[16]
Tony Paris (2006–2007)
Trygvi Mortensen (2007)
Eyðun Klakkstein (2007–2008)
Petur Mohr (2008–2009)
Aleksandar Đorđević & Jákup Mikkelsen (2009)
Petur Mohr (2009–2010)
Aleksandar Đorđević (2010–2011)
Páll Guðlaugsson (2012–2013)
Eyðun Klakstein (2013–2014)
Mikkjal Thomassen (2014–2022)
Magne Hoseth (2022–2024)
Haakon Lunov (2024)
Espen Haug (2024–)

Honours

Faroe Islands Premier League
- Winners (21): 1942, 1945, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1991, 1999, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Runners-up (13): 1947, 1951, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1996, 1998, 2016, 2017
Faroe Islands Cup
- Winners (6): 1966, 1967, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2016
- Finalists (10): 1955, 1957, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2022
Faroe Islands Super Cup
- Winners (3): 2020, 2022, 2023
- Runners-up (1): 2017

European record

Overview

Competition	Matches	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Champions League	16	5	4	7	18	26
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	25	5	7	13	30	49
UEFA Europa Conference League	14	4	3	7	18	23
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	2	1	0	1	3	6
TOTAL	57	15	14	28	69	104

Matches

Notes

PR: Preliminary round
QR: Qualifying round
1QR: First qualifying round
2QR: Second qualifying round
3QR: Third qualifying round
PO: Playoff round

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1992–93	UEFA Champions League	PR	Skonto	1–3	0–3	1–6
1995–96	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Maccabi Haifa	3–2	0–4	3–6
1997–98	UEFA Cup	1QR	Újpest	2–3	0–6	2–9
1999–2000	UEFA Cup	QR	Grazer AK	0–5	0–4	0–9
2000–01	UEFA Champions League	1QR	Crvena Zvezda	0–3	0–2	0–5
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Újpest	2–2	0–1	2–3
2003–04	UEFA Cup	QR	Molde	0–2	0–4	0–6
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1QR	AIK	0–0	0–5	0–5
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	PR	Birkirkara	2–1	1–1	3–2
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Žalgiris	1–2	1–1	2–3
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	PR	Tre Fiori	5–1	4–0	9–1
		1QR	Riteriai	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		2QR	Luzern	0–1	0–1	0–2
2020–21	UEFA Champions League	1QR	Slovan Bratislava	3–0 (awd.)	—	—
	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Young Boys	—	1–3	—
	UEFA Europa League	3QR	Dinamo Tbilisi	6−1	—	—
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Dundalk	—	1–3	—
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1QR	RFS	2–4 (a.e.t.)	3−2	5–6
2022–23	UEFA Champions League	1QR	Bodø/Glimt	3–1	0–3	3–4
	UEFA Europa Conference League	2QR	Sutjeska Nikšić	1–0	0–0	1–0
	UEFA Europa Conference League	3QR	Ballkani	2–1 (a.e.t.)	2–3	4–4 (3–4 p)
2023–24	UEFA Champions League	1QR	Ferencváros	0–0	3–0	3–0
		2QR	BK Häcken	0–0	3–3 (a.e.t.)	3–3 (4–3 p)
		3QR	Molde	2–1	0–2 (a.e.t.)	2–3
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–1	1–2	2–3
	UEFA Europa Conference League	GS	Lille	0–0	0–3	4th
			Slovan Bratislava	1–2	1–2
			Olimpija Ljubljana	3–0	0–2
2024–25	UEFA Champions League	1QR	Differdange 03	2–0	0–0	2–0
	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Malmö FF	3–2	1–4	4–6
	UEFA Europa League	3QR	Borac Banja Luka	2–1	1–3	3–4
	UEFA Conference League	PO	HJK	2–2	1–2	3–4

References

^ "portal.fo". Archived from the original on June 18, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Joensen, Hans Pauli (April 7, 2011). "Survival the key as KÍ resume Faroese fight". UEFA. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
^ Johannesen, Páll Holm (August 14, 2002). "Olgar Danielsen framvegis besti málskjútti" (in Faroese). in.fo. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
^ "Champions' Cup 1992–93". RSSSF. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Joensen, Hans Pauli (July 9, 2012). "KÍ faring well again in Faroe Islands". UEFA. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Vrablik, Lucas (September 30, 2020). "Klasvik, the Faroe Islands team on brink of Europa League". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
^ "KÍ advance to second round of Europa League". flashscores.com. July 16, 2019. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
^ "KÍ 6–1 Dinamo Tbilisi". UEFA. September 24, 2020. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
^ "KI Klaksvik: The Faroese team making history in Champions League qualifiers". BBC Sport. August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
^ Filardi, Eric (August 24, 2023). "Klaksvík: time das Ilhas Faroé faz história com brasileiro". www.minhatorcida.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ Wehlast, Af Mads Glenn; bold.dk (January 17, 2024). "Så lidt tjener ny Superliga-boss". ekstrabladet.dk (in Danish). Retrieved January 30, 2024.
^ "Cup final moved again – date and venue!". soccerandequipment.com. May 28, 2010. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Faroe Islands: Why foreigners play in Europe's most remote league". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
^ "Football on the fringes: life as a US pro in Azerbaijan and the Faroes". theguardian.com. September 28, 2016. Archived from the original on November 19, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
^ "'The Serbian Viking': Filip Đorđević talks about his career so far". Archived from the original on November 19, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Tony Paris vs. KÍ Klaksvík reaches verdict". Soccer and Equipment. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2019.