Køge Nord FC

Køge Nord FC (abbreviated KNFC) is a Danish association football club, located in Ølby between a railroad and a highway, Køge Bugt Motorvejen, in the northern suburbs of Køge, Køge Municipality, and playing their home games at Rishøj Stadium (also known as Lyngvejens Stadium), which can hold approx. 1,000 standing spectators around a fenced football field with no grandstands. The East Zealandian club was originally formed as a football department in 1971 under the sports club, Rishøj Idrætsforening, before being refounded as an independent association football club under the name Rishøj Boldklub in 2004, and getting its current name in the summer of 2017. As of the 2023–24 season, the club's first team play in Serie 1 after having been relegated from the Zealand Series in 2023.

The club did not draw great attention to itself during its early years, where it was playing in the lower ranking regional leagues. In 1986, a steady climb began from the SBU Series 5 ( level 10) to finally reaching the highest regional league, Zealand Series, in 1995 for the first time in the club's history, which was followed by participation in the 1996/97 edition of the Danish Cup. The senior men's team was promoted to the nationwide professional league divisions, Danmarksturneringen i fodbold, for the first time in 2010, where they played in the Danish 2nd Division for five seasons with two 3rd place spots (2012–13 (east) and 2013–14 (west)) in the final table as their best overall achievements in the Danish football league system, before being relegated to the lower ranking amateur levels in 2015. In the 2015/16 edition of the Danish Cup, the club reached the fourth round (round of 16), before being defeated at Tingbjerg Idrætspark by Aarhus GF.

History

Rishøj IF Fodbold (1971–2004)

The club was originally founded as a merger between Ølsemagle Idrætsforening and Ølby Gymnastikforening at a general meeting at Kirstinedalsskolen on 17 June 1971, becoming part of the new sports club Rishøj Idrætsforening as consequence of the large building and population expansion in the adjacent area, especially relating to the conclusion of the building of ''Rishøjhallen''. The two neighboring sports club, Skensved Gymnastikforening and Skensved Boldklub, were also involved in the negotiations regarding the merger, but earlier in the spring the same year the two clubs eventually choice not to participate. At the club's foundation, the club counted 500 members spread over four departments; gymnastic, association football and badminton. Per 1 October 1971, Rishøj IF fielded four senior men's association football teams consisting of 60 players, nine youth football teams and one women's football team, which in total amounted to almost 200 football players, that were all using a football field next to Kirstinedalsskolen and a field at Ølby Lyng borrowed by Kemisk Værk Køge (KVK; later known as Sun Chemicals). Before the first Danish football association organising women's association football, Dansk Kvinde Fodbold Union (DKFU), seized to exist during February 1972, the club's youth and senior women's teams were transferred to Zealand Football Association (SBU), and started playing in their first tournaments the same season. In 1972, Rishøj IF expanded with three departments (volleyball, table tennis and billiard) becoming the largest sports club in Køge Municipality with 1,200-1,300 members, in 1982 an 8th department (folk dance) was included, in 1990 Øslemagle Motion became the 9th department, and the 10th department (swimming) was launched in 1992.

Ølsemagle Gymnastikforening was founded at a meeting on Søvilla Hotel on 6 December 1940 by men and women residing in Ølsemagle, but was later renamed Ølsemagle Idrætsforening (ØIF) to better reflect the fact that the club now also included other sports departments than gymnastics The football department became the third department to Ølsemagle GF and played their matches a field referred as ''strandegnen'' facing Søvilla Hotel. As per 1 June 1969 Ølsemagle GF included departments for gymnastics, handball, badminton and association football (known as Ølsemagle Fodbold), which in 1970 became separate departments organised under one common board. Ølby Gymnastikforening had been founded on 19 October 1955 and a football department (also referred to as Ølby Boldklub) was included in the spring of 1956 with the support of the company, Kemisk Værk Køge (KVK), who made their field at Ølby Lyng available for free to the new club. In order for the new sport club to be founded, both Øslemagle IF and Ølby GF had to be dissolved beforehand. Øslemagle IF held an extraordinary general meeting the same evening, dissolving the club, just ahead of Rishøj IF's founding meeting, where all the members of both founding clubs were invited. The highest ranking senior men's team of the two founding clubs, Øslemagle IF Fodbold, was playing in the SBU Series 4 league in the 1971 season and hence transferred their playing license to Rishøj IF's football department, which for the 1972-season would also be presiding over a reserve team at the same league level and a second reserve team in SBU Series 5 league. Due to the club being founded halfway through the season, the first board of the new club decided, that each team would continue playing the remaining part of season under the previous names, under which they had been registered for their tournaments, and then switch to the new sport club's name from the beginning of the tournaments' upcoming season.

In the 1991-season, the senior men's team for the football department finished as the runners-up in the Zealand Football Association's regional league group at the fourth level, Series 3, (8th level in the overall Danish football league system), which gained them promotion to the SBU Series 2. The team lost the season's last match away against Lellinge IF (ending the season at the first place), which would otherwise secured the group league title and qualification for the overall Zealand Series 4 League Championship title. The club's first team only stayed in the league for one season, as they were promoted once again with the guidance of their coach René Haargaard. This time, the team finished ahead of their old rivals, Lellinge IF (located less than 6 km between each other's respective home grounds), securing the league group title and eventually winning the trophy for the Series 2 League Championship — after winning their semi-final match 2–1 against the second reserve team of Roskilde B1906 on 24 October 1992 and the league final on 31 October 1992 at their own home ground, Lyngvejens Stadium in front of 300 spectators, against the reserve team for Hillerød G&IF with the score 2–1.

In 1996, the club saw their best men's team relegated from the regional top-flight football league for Zealand. Finishing the SBU Series 1, group 2 — with the participation of the southernmost placed teams in the Zealand FA's second tier — in third place in the 1998-season, Rishøj IF qualified for two extraordinary promotion matches against the third placed team in the northern group of SBU Series 1, Søllerød BK. The first play-off match was lost with the score 1–0 at their home ground, while the second play-off match in Søllerød ended in a draw, 0–0, hence forcing the club to stay in the same level for another season. After 6 seasons (from 1997 to 2002) playing in the SBU Series 1 with mostly mediocre final standings in the league, Rishøj IF returned to the Zealand Series in 2003. The promotion was secured in the very last match of the 2002-season, playing in front of a near record attendance of 300-400 spectators, when the club won 3–1 in their home match against the reserves of Holbæk B&IF, hence taken over the second automatic promotion spot in the league from their opponents in the match.

Rishøj Boldklub (2004–2017)

Due to an increasing amount of discrepancies between the different outdoor and indoor departments, the sport association's football department decided to split from the sports club in 2003 and formed its own separate association football club at an extraordinary general assembly meeting on 15 March 2004 under the name Rishøj Boldklub. The new independent club acquired the playing license of the old football department of the sports club, which at that time had just played their third match of the 2004 season in the Zealand FA's regional top league, Zealand Series. Although the football department was refounded as an independent football club, the regional football association regarded this as a name changed.

In the summer of 2008, Jesper »Købmand« Pedersen was hired as manager for the club's best senior team and helped the team get promoted to the Denmark Series during his first season with the team. Only one year later, in 2010, the senior men's team reached the 3rd highest football league in Denmark, the Danish 2nd Division by narrowly finishing in the 3rd promotion spot, which happened at the same time as the expulsion of 8 reserve teams after the conclusion of the 2009–10 Danish 2nd Divisions. The first team managed to stay in the professional divisions for five seasons as a club with amateur status, before being relegated to Denmark Series in 2015. Due to the implementation of a new professional league structure, the size of the two Danish 2nd Divisions was reduced with 25 percent and the numbers of relegation spots were increased to eleven teams in the summer of 2015. Under the guidance of head coach Thomas Skov, the team narrowly lost the two relegation play-off games in late June 2015 against Middelfart Fodbold due to the away goals rule, when the Funen-based club scored a last-minute reduction goal in the second match. In the following season, the East Zealandian football club reached the fourth proper round of the Danish Cup, where they eventually lost their round of 16-match against the Superliga-club, AGF Aarhus, played at Tingbjerg Idrætspark, away from their normal home ground, due to the lack of floodlights required for the television transmission of the cup match in the evening. The same month, on 6 October 2015, an artificial pitch situated next to Rishøj Stadium was inaugurated.

Manager Jesper »Købmand« Pedersen, who returned to the club in January 2017, was sacked following the relegation from the Denmark Series in the 2016/17-season, while the assistant manager, Dennis Danry and player/sporting director Morten Avnskjold resigned shortly thereafter and were replaced by Morten Eskesen as manager and player/director Andreas Granskov, starting 1 July 2017. Eskesen came from a position as manager for the league rivals, Karslunde IF Fodbold, who survived the relegation struggles at the expense of Rishøj BK, which had impressed the club's management.

Køge Nord FC (2017–present)

At an extraordinary general assembly meeting on 2 October 2016, the club members unanimously approved that the name of the first senior men's team would be changed from Rishøj Boldklub to Køge Nord FC due to the aspirations of quickly being recognised as a ''football club'' rather than a ''sports club'' besides having less difficulty explaining the club's location towards e.g. new sponsors. The area of Øslemagle or Ølby Lyng is also referred to as ''Køge Nord'' (English: Northern Køge). At the same time a mandate was given for a proposed creation of a professional superstructure surrounding the first senior team, that would be financially independent from the rest of the club. The financial separation of the first team into an independent company would not become relevant before the club reached the professional leagues, necessary in order to sign binding football contracts with players in Denmark. The new name and the future proposed prospects for a professional superstructure coincided with the financial investment of the Danish comedian and actor, Andreas Bo Pedersen, who assumed a role as the club's new elite manager shortly after getting involved in March 2016, proclaiming an ambition of returning the club's first team to the 2nd Division within a three years time frame and in the long run focusing on building a large loyal fan base. The new slogan for the club was chosen as ''»Klubben ved afkørsel 32«'' (literally in English: ''The club at highway exit 32''), which, together with the new name, was conceived by Anders Bo Pedersen and one of his friends from the advertising industry. At the beginning of 2017, it was decided that the name change should include the entire club, both effective officially as of 1 July 2017.

The new manager, Morten Eskesen, was tasked with the mission of returning the club to the Danish 2nd Division within the original proclaimed three years time frame, and received permission to put together a new team from the ground up, replacing 10 players during the summer of 2017, primarily from Karlslunde IF, and naming the defender Henrik Volquardsen as the captain. The first six league matches since the rebranding was officially launched in July 2017, were all won, and the club finished the fall season of the 2017–18 Zealand Series (group 2) in second place. On 31 August 2017, after approximately a month's employment in the club and just having two matches played in the fall season, Morten Eskesen signed a new contract for a position as assistant manager with the Superliga-club Randers FC. Morten Eskesen commuted between his manager position at the Køge-based club and his new position in Randers

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