KI Klaksvik from the tiny Faroe Islands have been causing a stir across Europe this summer, and things are about to get even better.
“The Swedish champions await us in the next round… because it is certain we are going through!”
That was the not-so-quietly confident take of Hungarian side Ferencvaros on social media when they discovered that the winners of their tie with KI in the Champions League second qualifying round would go on to face BK Hacken.
But Ferencvaros’ faith soon turned to folly. The first leg ended in a goalless draw, before KI – who have won every league game so far this season – took a shock 3-0 win in Hungary and progressed to the next round.
After another goalless first leg at home against Hacken, the Swedish side posted online: “Now we will secure the victory at home next week.”
Again, the bigger side ended up with egg on their face. KI scored three another goals on the road in the second leg, this time winning on penalties after a 3-3 draw.
Now, the champions of Norway – Molde – are next, with KI hosting the first leg of the third qualifying round on Tuesday.
Interest in their games has grown so much that they are moving their European matches 30 miles away to a different island to play in the capital Torshavn, which boasts a stadium with a bigger capacity.
And KI have great knowledge of their opponents via manager Magne Hoseth. The 42-year-old is the highest top-flight goalscorer in Molde’s history with 84 goals.
Even if KI are finally vanquished, though, they already have the safety net of becoming the first team in Faroes history to reach the group stage of a European competition.
Elimination at this stage would result in a Europa League play-off berth, and even defeat there would lead to a spot in the Europa Conference League groups.
So, where has the unexpected ascent come from?
“Eight years ago the board of KI hired the Faroese coach Mikkjal Thomassen,” says Sigurjon Einarsson, a local journalist with FM1.
“And together with the new coach, the club came out with a very strong statement: ‘We are going to be the first Faroese club to participate in the group stage in a European competition’. Most of the Faroese people and press shook our heads and laughed that statement off, but who’s laughing now?
“This is the biggest thing to happen in Faroese club football [history].”
Thomassen is no longer their manager – he left for Norwegian side Fredrikstad last year and was replaced by ex-Norway international midfielder Hoseth.
KI press officer Suni Clementsen told BBC Sport: “Our ambition was to achieve the impossible, a European group stage.
“KI is trying to move Faroese football forward, by setting the bar higher then anyone thought was possible.”
Most of KI’s team, a mix of local players and foreign imports, work full-time jobs away from football, but get big bonuses for domestic success and European progress.
Arni Frederiksberg has scored four of their six Champions League goals this season, while veteran Pall Klettskard is their top scorer in the league with 14 goals in 13 matches, but he has yet to play in Europe because of injury.
The perfect season?
KI made history last season, earning a Faroese league record 77 points from an available 81, and they are on course for an even bigger landmark this campaign.
They have won all 16 league games in the 2023 campaign season so far. Take victory in the final nine and they could become the first European top-flight team to have a perfect league season for 80 years.
The last team to have achieved that feat are German side Dresdner, who in in 1942-43 won all 18 fixtures in their wartime regional league as well as all five German championship matches.
If only regular top-flight league seasons are counted, then the last team to win every single match in a European domestic league campaign were in fact Ferencvaros themselves, who took 22 victories in 1931-32.
KI’s success is not limited to this season, either. They have lost only two league games in more than three years, with their two most recent league defeats having come in October 2021 and November 2020.
A pair of draws denied KI the perfect season last time out as they finished with 25 wins out of 27.
“They will probably win the league for years to come, but their main focus is winning the league and [competing in] European football, and they have been close to achieve something big. In 2020 KI played against Dundalk for a spot in Europa League, but lost in the end,” said journalist Einarsson.
Dundalk’s 3-1 win over KI in Dublin, played over just one leg because of Covid, earned the Irish side £2.7m.
Einarsson continued: “Sport wise, everybody’s happy for Klaksvik, but some have raised the concern that with all the money KI will get from European participation, we could soon have Celtic/Rangers, Real Madrid/Barca conditions, where KI will dominate the Faroese league for many years to come.”
Twenty-time champions KI have won three of the past four titles, but had not won for 20 years before that.
KI are not entirely unbeaten domestically, however, as they lost to B36 in the first round of the national cup in April.
‘The people’s club’
“KI is the people’s club, not only in Klaksvik but on all the [Bordoy] island up northeast in the Faroes. They draw the biggest crowds in the Faroes, both home and away,” said Einarsson.
Klaksvik is a town with a population of just 5,000, but in a country as small as the Faroe Islands, that makes it the second biggest settlement behind capital Torshavn.
Einarsson continues: “The whole local community is mad about football.
“When it comes to the passion of Klaksvik’s citizens for football, it’s said: ‘When KI wins, the work goes quickly and well in the local fish factory. if the team loses, the work-rate is worse.'”
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