Randers FC () is a professional
football club based in
Randers
Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).[East Jutland
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...]
, Denmark, that plays in the
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...
, the top flight of the
Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of
Randers Freja
Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football.
History
Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the JBU in 1907.
The football d ...
, a former three-time
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will quali ...
winning team. the club had won the
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will quali ...
twice in its history. Randers plays its matches at the 10,300-capacity
Cepheus Park Randers.
History
The club was formed on 1 January 2003, as a collaboration between six local Randers-clubs;
Dronningborg Boldklub (founded 1928),
Hornbæk Sportsforening (founded 1945),
Kristrup Boldklub (founded
1908),
Randers Freja
Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football.
History
Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the JBU in 1907.
The football d ...
(founded
1898),
Randers KFUM (founded
1920) and
Vorup Frederiksberg Boldklub
Vorup Frederiksberg Boldklub is a Danish amateur football club based in Haslund, a suburb of Randers, which plays in the sixth tier Jutland Series. Founded on 1 May 1930, the club plays its home games at XL Park Vorup – Ulvehøj, which has ...
(founded 1930), continuing Randers Freja's (at the time) 1st division-team.
First years and Cup success
In the first season as a newly created club, Randers ended in fourth place in the
Viasat Sport Division with 51 points. The captain of the
Denmark national team which won
UEFA Euro 1992
The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...
,
Lars Olsen
Lars Christian Olsen (born 2 February 1961) is a Danish former footballer and current manager, who was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB in the Danish Superliga. He started his coaching career with Randers in 2003, guiding them to promoti ...
, was coach of the team. The following year, the team ended in second place with 66 points and was promoted to the country's best league, the
SAS Liga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...
.
With only 24 points in 2004–05 season in the
SAS Liga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...
, Randers finished in last place. In the 2005–06 season, however, Randers redeemed itself, securing promotion back to the SAS League with 61 points while also winning the
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will quali ...
with a 1–0 victory over
Esbjerg
Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022) in the final at
Parken Stadium
Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...
on 11 May 2006. Randers was the first team since 1974 who managed to win the Danish Cup although playing in the second-highest league in Denmark.
In mid-
2005, the club brought in former Denmark national team midfielder
Stig Tøfting
Stig Tøfting (born 14 August 1969), commonly known as Tøffe, is a former Danish professional footballer and assistant coach, who most recently was the assistant of Erik Rasmussen at AGF.
Tøfting was a hard-hitting combative defensive midfi ...
on a
free transfer, after
AGF, his childhood-club, refused to let him play (even for free) due to his violent background with several
sentences.
Tøfting was appointed Assistant Coach in November 2006.
In the
2006–07 season, Randers finished in eighth place with 38 points, as well as participation in the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
the season before, where the club met
ÍA of Iceland,
FBK Kaunas
Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas.
History
Banga Kaunas (1960–1993)
Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years ...
of Lithuania and major club
Fenerbahçe from Turkey.
Before the start of the
2007–08 season, Randers signed former
England national team player
Colin Todd
Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...
as its new manager. Randers started the season in great fashion, winning its first four matches (most notably a 5–0 win against
Aalborg BK
Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...
).
In the second half of the 2007–08 season, Randers continued to improve in the Danish league. With new signings
Marc Nygaard
Marc Stephen Griffith Nygaard (born 1 September 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Club career
Nygaard started his professional career in SC Heerenveen in 1995. He stayed with Heerenveen until 1997. He was ...
and
Søren Berg
Søren Berg (born May 15, 1976) is a retired Danish professional footballer.
He has been capped twice for the Denmark national football team.
Club career
Berg was born in Odense, Denmark and started his career at Danish amateur clubs, before h ...
, expectations grew as the season progressed, and Randers ultimately finished in sixth place following a 2–1 win against
Brøndby IF in the final matchday of the season.
The
2008–09 season started in promising fashion for the club, recording a 3–1 win against the local rivals AGF. Randers continued its solid start with a 1–1 a draw with
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. In the third round, Randers was to play Brøndby away; the club had never defeated Brøndby away before. Randers won 0–3 following goals from
Carsten Fredgaard,
Bedi Buval
Bedi Bastien Buval (born 16 June 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in France, he made one appearance for the Martinique national team scoring once.
Club career
Born in Domont, Val-d'Oise, Buval joined Bo ...
and Tidiane Sane. After the five first rounds, Randers was still undefeated, though at the winter break Randers was placed mid-table.
Up and down years
On 4 November 2008 Randers announced that former Danish international
John "Faxe" Jensen would become its new manager from 1 July following the ending of Colin Todd's contract. Todd, however, expressed his frustration about how Randers had dealt with the situation and openly criticised the club for putting him in a difficult situation.
Jensen ended up taking the place as manager six months before schedule due to the club having reached an agreement with the then present manager Todd. Jensen was officially announced new manager on 5 January. He started his time in Randers in great fashion, winning the first league game of the season against local rivals AGF 2–1. However, the club failed to sustain the winning form when they went to draw against
Vejle BK
Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six ...
and thereafter lost the following three games to the top three sides
OB, Copenhagen and BIF. The team's losing streak culminated in a 1–6 to
Nordsjælland
North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...
.
The club, however, responded well to the losing streak and won the next five games, ironically setting a new club winning streak. The season ended with a 3–3 draw away against Danish champions Copenhagen and a fifth-place finish, it highest league rank in club history.
Marc Nygaard
Marc Stephen Griffith Nygaard (born 1 September 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Club career
Nygaard started his professional career in SC Heerenveen in 1995. He stayed with Heerenveen until 1997. He was ...
claimed the golden boot for 16 goals during the season.
Morten Nordstrand
Morten Nordstrand Nielsen (; born 8 June 1983) is a Danish former professional footballer, who played as a striker. He is currently the assistant coach of F.C. Copenhagen U17. He has played eight times for the Denmark national football team.
C ...
was later credited for a goal on penalty in the final match, and also had a goal tally of 16, but Nygaard was awarded the title as he was the first to reach the 16 goals.
Randers and Faxe decided that Tøfting was not the right choice as assistant manager, and, on 1 May 2009, the club announced that Tøfting's contract would not be extended. On 2 June, the club announced that two of Jensen's colleagues from the Euro 1992-winning Danish side –
Henrik Larsen
Henrik Larsen (born 17 May 1966), nicknamed ''Store Larsen'' (''Big Larsen''), is a Danish football manager and former professional player, who played as a midfielder. He was last the manager of Lyngby Boldklub.
He was the joint top scorer at t ...
and
Flemming Povlsen
Flemming Søgaard Povlsen (born 3 December 1966) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker for Borussia Dortmund in Germany, among other teams. He works as football expert on TV.
Club career
Povlsen started playing foot ...
– as its new assistant managers; Larsen was named first assistant manager while Povlsen as assistant focused on the club's attack. However, after a catastrophic start to the
2009–10 season with only 2 points earned from 11 league games, Jensen and his assistants were released from their contracts.
Ove Christensen was appointed new head coach for Randers for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. He was given the objective to save Randers from relegation, although Randers was projected to be relegated at the winter break by the media and experts. However, a historic comeback with 16 games without defeat meant that its topflight status was to be decided on the final day of the season. A loss to Brøndby would mean that if AGF won its game against OB, the best team of the spring season would be relegated. OB won 0–3 and Randers lost its first match in the second half of the season 1–3, ensuring Randers kept their top-flight status.
Yura Movsisyan
Yura Movsisyan ( hy, Յուրա Մովսիսյան; born 2 August 1987) is an Armenian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Most notably, Movsisyan played for Spartak Moscow in the Russian Premier League. He played for the ...
was arguably the key in Randers' survival, as he scored 7 goals in 13 games.
When Ove Christensen arrived, he gave the squad an overhaul and nine players were released or sold in the winter break of 2009–10 season. He also made several signings:
Anders Egholm from
SønderjyskE
SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (S ...
,
Morten Karlsen
Morten Karlsen (born 25 March 1979) is a former Danish professional football defender and manager.
He previously played at FC Nordsjælland, Randers FC, FC Zwolle, B.93, Esbjerg fB and Lyngby BK before ending has career at HB Køge
HB Kø ...
from Nordsjælland and
Søren Jensen on loan from
Odd Grenland
Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric.
Odd may also refer to:
Acronym
* ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...
. Christensen signed a new one-year contract as head coach on 17 May 2010.
In the following season, however, Christensen could not follow up on the success and was fired after a loss to Brøndby. Peter Elstrup and Allan Kuhn were Brough in as caretakers but could not prevent Randers' relegation at the end of the season. Michael Hemmingsen was named new head coach with the first task to bring Randers back to the Superliga. With Hemmingsen as head coach, Randers ended the 2011–12 season in second place in the Danish 1st division, thereby earning promotion back to the Superliga.
League success and Europa League qualification
Despite having earned promotion to the
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...
, Hemmingsen was replaced as head coach by former Randers coach
Colin Todd
Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...
, who returned to the club following his coaching spell from 2007 to 2009. Randers did well in its first season after being promoted, ending its 2012–13 league campaign in third place, the club's best ever league finish. The team also reached the final in the Danish Cup, but lost 0–1 to Esbjerg. Nonetheless, the league result meant that Randers was to participate in the UEFA Europa League. It entered the tournament in the third round of qualifying, where it met
Rubin Kazan
FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...
. Randers, however, lost the home match 1–2 and the away match 0–2, thus failing to qualify for the group stage.
European record
During the 2006–07 season, Randers managed to qualify for the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
as Danish Cup winners. During the 2009–10 season, the club was invited to participate in the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
due to its second place in the Danish league Fair Play ranking – behind 2008–09 champions Copenhagen, which claimed Denmark's
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
spot. During the 2010–11 season, the club participated in the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
due to its second-place finish in the Danish league Fair Play ranking – behind 2009–10 champions Copenhagen, which again claimed the
Champions League spot.
Stadium
Randers Stadium
Randers Stadium
Randers Stadium ( da, Randers Stadion), known as Cepheus Park Randers for sponsorship reasons (formerly BioNutria Park Randers, Essex Park Randers and AutoC Park Randers) is a football stadium, located in Randers, Denmark. It is the home ground of ...
was founded in 1961. It was built to hold 18,000 spectators and in 1969 a record of 16,500 people attended the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
loss against
1. FC Köln.
2012 rebuild
The stadium was rebuilt in 2012 and renamed AutoC Park with a capacity of 10,300 spectators. It was built by
C. F. Møller Architects
Arkitektfirmaet C. F. Møller, internationally also known as C. F. Møller Architects, is an architectural firm based in Århus, Denmark. Founded in 1924 by C. F. Møller, it is today the largest architectural firm in Denmark based on number of em ...
and is established on the former Randers Stadium site. On 22 September 2015, it was announced that local company BioNutria had bought the name rights of the stadium until 31 October 2018. On 14 November 2018, it was announced that Cepheus group had bought the name rights of the stadium for 3 years.
The new stadium attendance record after the stadium was rebuilt, is 9,947, set against
Aarhus GF
Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howeve ...
on 6 October 2019
Supporters
The largest supporter group is Nordtribunen (i.e. ''The North Tribune''), however there are more factions within the fandom of Randers.
Honours
*
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...
**Third place:
2012–13
*
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will quali ...
**Winners:
2005–06,
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
**Runners-up:
2012–13
*
UEFA Fair Play League
**Winners: 2009, 2010
Records
Most games played: 223
Mads Fenger
Most goals: 41
Ronnie Schwartz
Biggest league win: 5–0 Randers – AAB (in 2007)
Biggest league loss: 1–6 Randers –
Nordsjælland
North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...
(in 2009),
SønderjyskE
SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (S ...
– Randers FC (in 2012)
Highest attendance(home): 11,824 Randers –
Brøndby
Longest run without defeat: 16 (29 November 2009 – 5 May 2010)
Longest winning streak: 5 (13 April 2010 – 3 May 2010)
Longest run without a win: 18 (31 May 2009 – 29 November 2009)
Players
Squad
'
Youth players in use 2022-23
Incoming players
Managers
*
Lars Olsen
Lars Christian Olsen (born 2 February 1961) is a Danish former footballer and current manager, who was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB in the Danish Superliga. He started his coaching career with Randers in 2003, guiding them to promoti ...
(1 Jan 2003 – 24 Jan 2007)
*
Colin Todd
Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...
(1 July 2007 – 5 Jan 2009)
*
John "Faxe" Jensen (5 Jan 2009 – 6 Oct 2009)
*
Ove Christensen (7 Oct 2009 – 26 Apr 2011)
* Peter Elstrup ''(interim)'' (27 Apr 2011 – 30 June 2011)
*
Michael Hemmingsen (1 July 2011 – 5 July 2012)
*
Colin Todd
Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...
(5 July 2012 – 30 June 2016)
*
Ólafur Kristjánsson
Ólafur Helgi Kristjánsson (born 20 May 1968) is an Icelandic football manager and former player, who most recently managed Danish club Esbjerg fB.
Playing career
Kristjánsson started his playing career at FH Hafnarfjörður, before moving t ...
(1 July 2016 – 5 Oct 2017)
*
Ricardo Moniz
Ricardo Moniz (born 17 June 1964) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Zalaegerszeg.
Career
He played for RKC Waalwijk, HFC Haarlem, Helmond Sport and FC Eindh ...
(8 Oct 2017 – 26 Jan 2018)
* Rasmus Bertelsen (26 Jan 2018 – 30 June 2018)
*
Thomas Thomasberg (1 July 2018 – )
Staff
Management
Team
Shirt sponsors
2003 – 2005–06:
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
2006–07 – 2009–10:
Umbro
Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 10 ...
2010–11 – 2012–13: H2O
2013–14 – 2014–15:
Warrior
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have be ...
2015–16 – :
Puma
League statistics
References
External links
Official siteNews about Randers FCStatistics site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randers Fc
Football clubs in Denmark
Association football clubs established in 2003
Randers
2003 establishments in Denmark