FC Vestsjælland

Football Club Vestsjælland (lit. 'Football Club West Zealand'), commonly referred to as FC Vestsjælland or simply FCV, was a Danish football club formed in Slagelse, Denmark on 1 July 2008. Nicknamed “Vikingerne” (the Vikings), the club enjoyed some success during their brief existence, rising from the Danish 2nd Division to the Danish Superliga. They were also finalists for the 2014–15 Danish Cup, the nation’s official knockout cup competition.

FC Vestsjælland

Full name	Football Club Vestsjælland
Nickname(s)	Vikingerne (The Vikings)
Short name	FCV
Founded	8 July 2008; 17 years ago (2008-07-08)
Dissolved	9 December 2015; 9 years ago (2015-12-09)
Ground	Harboe Arena Slagelse, Slagelse
Capacity	10,000
Coordinates	55°23′58″N 11°21′51.40″E
President	Kurt Andersen
Last head coach	Michael Hemmingsen
League	Danish 1st Division
2015–16	12th of 12 (relegated)
Website	www.fcvvikings.dk
Home colours Away colours

The club, located to in the southeast of Slagelse, included a senior level team, reserve team, and two youth teams at the under-17 and under-19 levels. Home matches for the senior team were played at Harboe Arena Slagelse with a maximum capacity of 10,000, including 3,300 seats. While the reserve team would occasionally play matches at the stadium, they would often play instead at one of two artificial turf pitches located just outside of the stadium.

The club’s existence was established as the professional superstructure of the football department of Slagelse B&I, a club first established in 1887. They joined the Danish 2nd Division for the 2008–09 season and were crowned champions by season’s end, resulting in promotion to the Danish 1st Division. Here they spent only four seasons before their promotion to the Superliga after finishing 2nd in the 2012–13 season. After a 9th place finish in their debut season in the top-flight, the club were relegated at the end of the 2014–15 season. Despite relegation, the club reached the final of the 2014–15 Danish Cup in May, losing 3–2 to Copenhagen. By December, the club declared bankruptcy and were closed, leading to their immediate resignation from the Danish 1st Division.

History

FC Vestsjælland was founded in January 2008 as the professional structure comprising the first team of the mother club, Slagelse B&I (SBI). On 9 December 2015, FC Vestsjælland was declared bankrupt.^[1]

Club identity

Borrowing from Slagelse B&I, Vestsjælland shared the same colours of red and blue.

Waiting until pre-season training in the summer of 2008, Vestsjælland unveiled the new club's official kit.^[2] With the launch of the superstructure project, it was decided to preserve and continue with the traditional colors of Slagelse B&I, red and blue. The overall design remain largely unchanged throughout their history featuring a red shirt, blue shorts, and red socks. The club did however break from that tradition with the kits that they would wear away from home, beginning with a nearly all-black design, only accented with small amounts of white markings.

Club management worked for some time before the event to ensure that a new badge would meet three points which were seen as imperative, including: the need to contain the club colours (red and blue), the need to be easily recognisable, and the need to be unique by comparison to other clubs in the football world. A new badge for the club was unveiled on 2 August 2008 as the club held FC Vestsjælland Dagen (lit. 'FC West Zealand Day') within the city of Slagelse, with several hundred people in attendance.^[3] The badge was publicly revealed as it was unfurled from the top of a local Sparekassen Sjælland, one of the club's sponsors.^[3]

The final design was based on the club’s regional and national location, where the Viking Age has a cultural historical role with the previously strategically placed military Viking castle, Trelleborg near Slagelse.^[3] The club logo consists of two basic elements: a triangular shield containing three vertical stripes in the club colours, and a stylized horned gold helmet with nose protection akin to helmets worn by vikings. With the abbreviation of "FCV" in white at the bottom, the crest is encircled by a white and black coloured edge, allowing it to distinguish itself from surrounding elements.^[3]

The club also continued with the trend in the form of their supporter group "Slagelse Red Vikings" and the club mascot known as "Hjalte", which frequently appeared at home games.^[4] Utilizing their parent club's motto of "the Team of the Region", the club badge and kits made their official debut in a match the following week on 9 August 2008 in a 2nd Division match against HIK.^[5]

Kit and sponsoring

Kit manufacturer and sponsoring for FCV.

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
2008–13	Nike	Harboes Bryggeri
2013–2015	Mitre[6]	Harboes Bryggeri
2015	Legea[7]	Harboes Bryggeri

First kit evolution

The club's colors are generated from the club's logo which are red and blue.

2012–13

2013–14

2014–15

Stadium

Main article: Slagelse Stadium

With Slagelse Boldklub incorporating football into its program beginning in 1890, the sports still relatively new to Denmark was played in a variety of different locations around the town until a permanent home ground could be established. The club's first playing field was originally located in a lumber yard, which would later be acquired by Venstre. The team would continue to move in the following years, including plots around Alderstrøst and Garvergården, before the city council granted them land in 1910. Previously used as a fairground, a grass field in Vestermarken was awarded to the club. Slagelse Idræts-Forening was also allowed use of the land with the council's permission, utilising it as their first training ground.

Vestsjælland in action against FC Copenhagen's reserve team at Slagelse Stadium

Interest in football continued to grow among the members of Slagelse Boldklub, necessitating the need for better conditions for competition—ultimately leading to the regular use of the field in Vestermarken. As the club moved to the field, club members built a small equipment and changing room for themselves. With the merge of Slagelse Boldklub and Slagelse IF in 1919, the club now known as Slagelse B&I experienced rapid growth in both performance in sports, but also their overall membership. With those factors, the existing space was becoming too small and oudated, while also leading to an increase in wear and tear. The board appealed to city council, petitioning to establish a pitch and surrounding stadium to be used for athletics. Negotiating with the Slagelse City Council Finance and Accounts Committee, then-mayor Hans Peter Hansen helped form the basis for what would become Slagelse Stadium. In a meadow south of Slagelse Municipal Hospital, the club was allocated 52,000 kr by the municipal authorities to construct their new ground.

On the club's 40th anniversary on 22 May 1927, a crowd of 4,000 attended the official opening and inauguration of the new sports facility. A football match was played between Slagelse B&I and Skovshoved IF, the provincial champion of the 1926–27 Landsfodboldturneringen. The stadium remained largely unchanged from its opening until a main stand was built after the German occupation had ended, while the previous running track that had surrounded the pitch being removed. It was later expanded during the 1960s with a group of volunteers building a clubhouse next to the stadium.

Since its opening, the stadium has hosted matches in various tournaments for Slagelse B&I and Vestsjælland. With a seated capacity of 3,300, the stadium is capable of holding 10,000 spectators for football matches. A record 9,500 spectators attended a match between Slagelse B&I and Holbæk B&I in the Danish Cup. The pitch dimensions are 110 x 70 meters, with lights surrounding the pitch rated for 1,000 lux. As with the club's reserve and youth teams, the first team continued to conduct training and play home matches at the stadium under a lease agreement with the Slagelse Municipality. For Vestsjælland, the record home attendance stood at just over 6,200 spectators watching a 0–0 draw against Hobro IK during the 2012–13 Danish 1st Division season, which saved Hobro from relegation while Vestsjælland secured promotion to the 2013–14 Danish Superliga.

Several upgrades were required ahead of the 2013–14 season before Vestsjælland were allowed to play home matches in the stadium, including under-soil heating. Prior to the launch of the project, a series of meetings were held with a representative from Slagelse Municipality, who agreed to show indirect support for the project by expanding the spectator capacity of the existing football stadium in the southwestern Zealand town.

Supporters

Slagelse Red Vikings were the official fan club affiliated with the club. Initially founded on 8 February 1998, the fan club was founded in support of Slagelse B&I. Their support for the club continued as with the formation of FC Vestsjælland, though returned with a focus on Slagelse B&I after Vestsjælland was dissolved. Additional support came from Den 12. Viking (lit. 'the 12th Viking'), though the latter withdrew their physical presence and support from the club due to differences between themselves and the club.^[8]

Squad

The squad given here is made up of the players registered to the club on the date of FC Vestsjælland's bankruptcy on 9 December 2015.^[9]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  DEN Thomas Mikkelsen 3 DF  DEN Morten Rasmussen 5 DF  DEN Morten Bertolt 6 MF  DEN Henrik Madsen (Captain) 7 DF  DEN Peter Nymann 8 MF  DEN Anders Due 9 FW  DEN Yones Felfel 11 FW  DEN Nikolaj Hansen 12 DF  DEN Anders Randrup 13 DF  BEL Jean-Claude Adrimer Bozga

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  DEN Peter Jul Nielsen 17 MF  DEN Mathias Hebo Rasmussen (on loan from FC Nordsjælland) 18 DF  DEN Anders Kure (Vice-captain) 19 DF  DEN Victor Wagner 20 DF  DEN Marc Rochester Sørensen 21 FW  DEN Frederik Christensen 22 DF  CIV Yobou Jean Noël Thome 23 FW  DEN Lee Rochester Sørensen 25 GK  ISL Frederik Schram

Former players

For a list of all former Vestsjælland players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:FC Vestsjælland players.

The following players have represented their country at a senior level, and have also played for FC Vestsjælland:

• Søren Berg
• Eggert Jónsson
• Jan Kristiansen
• Michael Lumb
• Peter Nymann
• Subrata Paul
• Jukka Raitala
• Anders Randrup
• Frederik Schram
• Dennis Sørensen
• Ansu Toure
• Daniel Udsen
• Apostolos Vellios
• Lasse Vibe

Club officials

Management

• Chairman: Kurt Andersen
• Vice-President: Villum Christensen
• Board Director: Bernd Griese
• Board Member: Michael V. Nielsen
• General Administrative Manager: Gert Hansen
• Director of Football: Jacob "Gaxe" Gregersen^[10]

Sports

• Head Coach & Director of Sports: Michael Hemmingsen
• Assistant Coach: Janus Blond
• Goalkeeping Coach: Henrik Zarp ^[11]
• Coordinator: Steen Hansen
• Advisor: Jens Lund
• Account Manager: Brian Nielsen
• Talent Manager U12 – U19: Jeppe Tengbjerg^[12]
• Head Coach U17: Mohammed Salem^[13]

Medical

• Team Doctor: Søren Daugaard
• Masseur: Per Pfeiffer
• Physio: Tomas Monty Sundman
• Mental Coach: Renè Nielsen^[14]

Managerial history

Name	Nationality	From	To	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win%[a]	Honours	Refs
Jeppe Tengbjerg	Denmark	1 July 2008[b]	31 March 2009	19	12	3	4	51	21	063.16		[5][16][17]
Michael Schjønberg	Denmark	1 April 2009	29 June 2011	61	27	17	17	115	105	044.26	1 Danish 2nd Division title	[17][5][16][18][19]
Ove Pedersen	Denmark	1 July 2011	21 May 2014	96	36	33	27	122	112	037.50		[20][21][22][23][24]
Michael Hansen	Denmark	22 May 2014	1 September 2015	47	15	9	23	58	71	031.91	1 Danish Cup runner-up	[25][23][26][27][28][29]
Michael Hemmingsen	Denmark	1 September 2015	9 December 2015	13	2	4	7	13	19	015.38		[30][28][31]
Total				236	92	66	78	359	328	038.98

1. Win percentage is rounded to two decimal places.
2. Tengbjerg became manager of Slagelse B&I on 25 January 2005,^[15] and continued the role upon creation of FC Vestsjælland. Matches prior to 1 July 2008 are not included.

Seasons

Pld = Matches played W = Matches won D = Matches drawn L = Matches lost GF = Goals for GA = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final position

SL = Danish Superliga 1D = Danish 1st Division 2D = Danish 2nd Division R2 = Round 2 R3 = Round 3 R4 = Round 4

Winners

Runners-up

Promoted

Relegated

Season	League									Danish Cup	Top scorer	Refs
	Division	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	Pts	Pos
2008–09	2D ↑	30	19	8	3	80	31	65	1	R3	Rasmus Festersen (20)	[32][33]
2009–10	1D	30	14	8	8	56	46	50	5	R2	Rasmus Festersen (10)	[34][35]
2010–11	1D	26	10	12	8	58	57	42	7	R3	Rasmus Festersen (11)	[36][37]
2011–12	1D	26	10	8	8	42	35	38	6	R3	Rasmus Festersen (6)	[38][39]
2012–13	1D ↑	33	17	11	5	39	27	62	2	R3	Danni König (5)	[40][41]
2013–14	SL	33	8	14	11	31	42	38	9	R4	Dennis Sørensen & Lasse Nielsen (5)	[42][43]
2014–15	SL ↓	33	9	6	18	31	52	33	12	Finalist	Rasmus Festersen (10)	[44][45]
2015–16	1D ↓	33	2	7	24	19	73	7[a]	12[b]	R3	Nikolaj Hansen (6)	[46][47]

1. Deducted six points for financial irregularities.
2. On 9 December 2015, the club was declared bankrupt and forced to withdraw from the league. All remaining games were forfeited as 0–3 losses.

Player of the season

• 2014–15: Rasmus Festersen^[48]

Honours

• Danish 2nd Division East
  • Winners: 2008–09
• Danish Cup
  • Runners-up: 2014–15

Affiliated club(s)

The following club was affiliated with FC Vestsjælland:

• Shillong Lajong (2012–2014)^[49][50]