Randers FC

Randers FC is a Danish professional football team based in Randers, which plays in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Randers Freja, a former three-time Danish Cup winning team. Following the founding of Randers FC the club has won the Danish Cup one time. Randers FC play their games at AutoC Park Randers, which has a 10,300 spectator capacity.

Notable players that have played for the club includes Yura Movsisyan and Djiby Fall.

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 (founded 1898), Randers KFUM (founded 1920) and Vorup Frederiksberg Boldklub (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 FC ended in fourth place in the Viasat Sport Division with 51 points. The captain of the Danish national team that won the European Football Championships in 1992, Lars Olsen, 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.

Randers

Randers (Danish pronunciation: [ˈʁɑnɐs]) is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 61,163 (1 January 2014). Randers is the municipality's main town and the site of its municipal council. The municipality is also a part of the East Jutland metropolitan area, which has 1.2 million inhabitants. By road it is 38.5 kilometres (23.9 mi) north of Aarhus, 43.8 kilometres (27.2 mi) east of Viborg, and 224 kilometres (139 mi) northwest of Copenhagen.

Randers became a thriving market town in medieval times, and many of its 15th-century half-timbered houses remain today, as does St Martin's Church, also from that period. Trade by sea was facilitated through the Gudenå River, entering Randers Fjord. During industrialization, Randers quickly became one of the most important industrial towns in the country, but it saw itself outpaced by the cities of Aarhus and Aalborg at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the larger historic industries in Randers are gone today. From 1970, the population saw a decline from a peak of 58.500 citizens, until a stabilization in the 1990s occurred, followed by a modest rise since then.