The Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, located 320 kilometres to the north-west of the United Kingdom, in the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of less than 60,000, they are currently 129th in the FIFA Rankings (as of July 20, 2023). But the recent feat of a Faroese club has brought the whole nation together, to celebrate an achievement that was a far-off dream even a few years back.
Ki Klaksvik, the Faroese league champion, have made it to the group stage of a European competition through the play-offs, just missing out on a chance to get into the UEFA Champions League. Their 2-0 defeat away to Norway’s Molde, meant they are destined for the Europa League playoffs, to be played next week. They are already assured of a Conference League spot.
The writer reached out to Ki Klaksvik, in an attempt to understand how Faroes football operates, their culture and what it means to the people of the Islands. In an exclusive chat with Súni Clementsen, the club’s press officer, the picture became clear.
For the Faroe Islanders, football is a huge part of their culture like most other European countries, and it is stronger in Klaksvik, the second-largest city in the country. “Football is the biggest sport in the Faroe Islands and we have a strong football culture in Klaksvík,” said Suni.
The football structure in the Islands is quite unusual with a limited number of clubs. The federation follows a three-tier system, and the best league, with 10 teams, is called Betri Deildin. The top team from the Betri Deildin gets to play the UEFA Champions League play-off, for a place in the group stage, the spot that Ki Klaksvik was fighting for. The Cup champions and the second and third-placed teams from the league get a place in the Conference League. “We only have 16 clubs in the country, so many clubs are both in the first tier and second tier,” said Suni, explaining the pyramid.
The fact that most of the players are semi-professionals, and only the foreigners have full-time contracts with the club, makes Ki Klaksvik’s achievement even more remarkable. “No team is fully professional,” mentions Suni. “Ki Klaksvík is the most professional, but only the foreigners are full-time players. The local players have jobs on the side.” The facilities in the country are also developing year on year, and Ki has one of the best set-ups, but it has yet to be approved by UEFA.
Coming to the recent feat of securing a European spot, that’s huge for a club from a country with no full-time players and with limited facilities. The club went through various ups and downs over the last decade and some structural changes helped them to lift the league title without losing a game.
“This is a dream come true, nobody thought it was possible,” said Ki Klaksvik in a statement to RevSportz. “This is a result of a long process. We hit rock-bottom back in 2009 when KÍ got relegated from top-flight football for the first time in the club’s history. Rebuilding the club began straight away, but the real course was set back in 2014, when Mikkjal Thomassen was appointed manager. Our ambition was to achieve the impossible, a European group stage place. KÍ got better and better throughout the years 2014-2019, when we finally won the domestic league title after 20 years’ wait. We then played in a Europa League play-off match in 2020, but dreamed of more. Last year, we broke the record for points in a single season, when we won 77 points out of the 81 possible. We were the first team to go through a season unbeaten since the competition increased to 27 matchdays. This year is no different, we have played 16 league games and won them all.”
Now, it’s not only the city of Klaksvik, with a population of 5,000 people, but the whole nation that is supporting the club on their European journey. The away section at Molde was sold out. “Ki is always a talking topic on the streets of Klaksvik,” said Súni, and that chatter has only increased with this European adventure.
What a run!@ChampionsLeague.. it was a pleasure!
We gave everything. What a fight. We left everything on the pitch. It just wasen’t to be tonight.Europa League play-offs next week.
For Klaksvík. Koyr á KÍ! 💙— KÍ (@KI_Klaksvik) August 15, 2023
If a team from a country with no professional players can dream of playing in the UEFA Champions League, with the current levels of support in Indian Football, we can hope that The Blue Tigers will also see the results in the near future, with the Asian Games and Asian Cup coming up.