Randers FC

Football club infobox
clubname = Randers FC


fullname = Randers Football Club
nickname = Hestene ("The horses")
short name = RFC
founded = January 1 2003 (merger)
ground = Essex Park Randers,
Randers
capacity = 12,000
chairman = flagicon|DNK Jacob Nielsen
manager = flagicon|ENG Colin Todd
league = Danish Superliga
season = 2007-08
position = Superliga, 6th

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Randers FC is a Danish professional football team based in Randers, which plays in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship. Founded as a merger on January 1 2003, the club builds upon the license of Randers Freja, a former three-time Danish Cup winning team. Randers FC play their games at Essex Park Randers, which has a 12,000 spectator capacity.

History

The club was formed on January 1 2003 as a merger between 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 1915), continuing Randers Freja's (at the time) 1st division-team [http://www.randersfc.dk/index.php?afd=1&side=2296 (In Danish)] .

In mid 2005, they bought former Danish national team midfielder Stig Tøfting on a free transfer, after Aarhus GF, his childhood-club, refused to let Tøfting play for them (even for free), because of his violent background with several sentences [http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Fodbold/2005/10/27/095714.htm (In Danish)] .

In the 2005-06 season, they were lying reasonably comfortable at the top spot of the Danish 1st Division for much of the year, but was caught by Vejle Boldklub, at the end of the season. They won the Danish Cup by beating Esbjerg fB in the 2006 final. As Cup winners, Randers FC managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup by defeating [Akranes] from Iceland (1-0 home and 1-2 away) and FBK Kaunas from Lithuania (3-1 home and 0-1 away). Randers FC where later eliminated after a 5-1 (2-1 away and 0-3 home) loss on aggregate to Fenerbahçe SK.

Following the start of the new season (2007/2008) Randers signed Collin Todd as new manager. Randers started the season in great fashion by winning their first four matches (most notably a 5-0 win against Aalborg BK ).

In the second half of the 2007/2008 season Randers continued to improve in the danish league. With new signings Marc Nygaard and Søren Berg expectations grew as the season progressed.However the club failed to substain there winning streak and began to drop in the league. Nevertheless, Randers improved on last seasons 8th place by securing a 6th place (highest league rank in the clubs history) following a 2-1 win against Brondby IF in the last match of the season. and ended on a 6th place when the winter break arrived.

The 2008/2009 season started promising for the club as they started of with a 3-1 win against the local rivals AGF. Randers continued the good start and went to play 1-1 a draw with FC Copenhagen. In the third round Randers was to play Brondby IF away. The club had never defeated Brondby IF away before. Nevertheless Randers won the game 0-3 following goals from Carsten Fredgaard, Bedi Buval and Tidiane Sane. After the five first rounds Randers was still undefeated.

tadium

Randers FC has their homeground in Essex Park Randers. It has a capacity of 12,000 spectators. It was build by the architectural office C.F. Møller.

Honours

Danish Cup
*Winner (4): 1967, 1968, 1973, 2005-06

Achievements

*13 "seasons" in the "Highest Danish League"
*37 "seasons" in the "Second Highest Danish League"
*14 "seasons" in the "Third Highest Danish League"

Current squad

:"Up to date as 2008-08-31."

The players in bold have senior international caps.

Recent history

As of July 24, 2008:

References

External links

* [http://www.randersfc.dk Official site]