Viborg FF

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Viborg

Full name	Viborg Fodsports Forening
Nickname(s)	The Greens
Short name	VFF
Founded	1 April 1896; 128 years ago (1896-04-01)
Ground	Energi Viborg Arena, Viborg
Capacity	10,000
Managing Director	Morten Jensen
Head Coach	Jakob Poulsen
League	Danish Superliga
2023–24	8th of 12
Website	https://vff.dk/
Home colours Away colours

Viborg Fodsports Forening (lit. 'Viborg Footsport Association'), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in the Central Jutland city of Viborg. They compete in the Danish Superliga, the top tier of Danish football. Nicknamed De Grønne^[1] (The Greens), the club was originally founded on 1 April 1896.^[2] After more than 100 years of existence, the club won their first and only major trophy in 2000, lifting the Danish Cup.

Viborg Fodsports Forening was established on 1 April 1896.^[2] The club originally encompassed several sports, including cricket, gymnastics, boxing, and others. Football was not initially a sport included within the club; however, the club won Mesterrækken in 1924, which was highest football league on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark at the time. By 1929, as other sports had separated into other independent organizations, football remained as the club's only sport. For the next several decades, the club maintained an amateur status and competed in regional leagues, until joining the Danish 4th division in 1959 following promotion after several attempts. Erik Bundgaard was one player involved in the club's achievement, and his 421 matches played for the club were a record until 2008, when Jakob Glerup surpassed his mark.

During the 1970s, Viborg FF was again relegated to the lower divisions of Danish football before returning to the 4th division. Since this time, the club has stayed within the upper tiers of the Danish football pyramid. Following several promotions, the club found itself in the Danish 1st Division, which was the highest level of professional football within Denmark at the time. After only one season, the club were relegated to the 2nd Division once more and would not return until 1989. Following an investment into youth football, the club once more returned to the top league in the country, the Danish Superliga, which had been created in 1991. Once more, however, the club were relegated after only one season once more. In 1995, the club again returned to the Superliga where they would remain for more than a decade.

Viborg FF's highest achievement came during the 1999–2000 Danish Cup. With a 1–0 victory over AaB in the final, the club won the biggest football tournament in the country. The club was given the opportunity to play in the Danish Super Cup in the season following their cup win, defeating Herfølge BK on penalties. The club received an invitation to the UEFA Cup for the 2000–01 tournament, marking their participation in continental football for the first time in the club's history. Their participation would be short-lived however, as they were eliminated in the second round by Spanish club Rayo Vallecano.^[3] By 2002, Viborg FF had fully established a youth academy of their own in FK Viborg.^[4]

While Viborg FF continued to enjoy varying degrees of success in the years after, including a 4th place finish in 2005–06, the club was once again relegated in the spring of 2008. After several more years in the 1st Division, the club became a yo-yo club for the next several years with two promotions and two more relegations between the 2012–13 and the 2016–17 seasons. The club captured their fourth 1st Division title during the 2020–21 season and once more returned to the Superliga. Their first season back in the Superliga proved to be successful as the club reached the UEFA Conference League, after defeating AaB in a European play-off match. The club advanced to the play-off round following victories over Lithuan club FK Sūduva^[3] and Faroese-side B36 Tórshavn,^[5] before losing 6–1 on aggregate to eventual-tournament winner West Ham United.^[6] As of the 2024–25 season, the club remains in the top-flight.

Viborg F.F.'s colours are green and white.

Viborg plays its home matches at Viborg Stadium, known as Energi Viborg Arena since 2011 due to sponsorship.^[7] Originally built in 1931, the stadium was demolished and rebuilt in 2001^[8] at a cost of 62.1 million Danish kroner (93.8 million DKK in 2023).^[9] The stadium has a capacity of 10,000, of which 9,566 is seated. The seats are divided in multiple sections with the eastern stand having the highest capacity at 2,792 seats, and the southern stand with the lowest capacity at 2,040 seats. The pitch size is the same dimensions as the national stadium at 105 metres (115 yd) long and 68 metres (74 yd) wide.^[10] UEFA, the governing body of football in Europe, has approved the stadium for international use, and the stadium is also home to the Danish women's national football team. The men's national team has also played select matches at the ground.^[11]

Viborg Stadium itself is part of the Viborg Stadion Center and is owned by the Viborg Municipality.^[8]

Viborg FF has no official Fanclub. A former official Fanclub is The Green Pride. It was one of the largest in Denmark with over 500 members. There is a small continuation of The Green Pride active in Viborg to this day.

The first ultra group was established in 2002, when a group of young adults established Fanatikos. In 2004 a new group, Shamrock Ultras, was born.

Their main rival is FC Midtjylland and the game is called "Hadets Opgør" (The Battle of Hatred) or "det midtjyske derby" (Central Jutland Derby). Viborg fans, see themselves as being the true Central Jutlanders and most Viborg fans are annoyed by the fact that FC Midtjylland call themselves FC Midtjylland (FC Central Jutland). The derby can also be seen as a battle between traditional football and modern football.

As of 2 September 2024^[12]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  DEN Lucas Lund Pedersen 2 DF  NOR Ivan Näsberg 4 DF  SUI Nicolas Bürgy 5 DF  SVN Žan Zaletel 6 MF  DEN Mads Søndergaard 7 FW  CPV Serginho 8 FW  NGA Ibrahim Said 10 FW  DEN Isak Jensen 11 FW  BRA Renato Júnior 12 MF  DEN Thomas Jørgensen 13 MF  DEN Jeppe Grønning 14 FW  DEN Anosike Ementa 16 GK  DEN Oscar Hedvall

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  DEN Charly Nouck 18 MF  GER Jean-Manuel Mbom 19 MF  SUR Justin Lonwijk (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv) 20 GK  DEN Kasper Kiilerich 21 MF  DEN Sofus Berger 23 DF  DEN Oliver Bundgaard 24 DF  KEN Daniel Anyembe 28 MF  DEN Magnus Westergaard 30 DF  SVN Srđan Kuzmić 32 DF  DEN Lukas Kirkegaard 37 MF  DEN Jakob Vester 55 DF  CRO Stipe Radić

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

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  DEN Viktor Hjorth (at Skive IK until 31 December 2024) — DF  SVN Anel Zulić (at NŠ Mura until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  CUW Nigel Thomas (at Nacional until 30 June 2025) — FW  POR Paulinho (at Bandırmaspor until 30 June 2025)

• 22 Søren Frederiksen, Forward, (1989–94, 1995–96, 1998, 2001–05)

Name Nationality Years Harald Hansen 1926–27 Axel Holm 1930–31 Sofus Nielsen 1932–33 Charlie Pohl 1933–35 Arnold Thisted 1935–37 Valdemar Bodilsen 1937–38 Emil Asmussen 1940–41 Willy Henriksen 1942–44 Valdemar Bodilsen 1945–47 Poul Snedker 1947–49 Aksel Larsen 1949–50 Svend H. Mønster 1950–53 Walter Presch 1953–54 Harry Albertsen 1954–55 Svend H. Mønster 1955–56 Walter Presch 1956–57 Karlo Niilonen 1958–60 Leo Nielsen 1961–63 Rudi Strittich 1964 Erik Schou 1965 Knud Schou 1966–68 Jim Magill 1969 Robert Andreasen 1970–71 Kaj Stærk 1972–74 Eduard Bründl 1975 Bent Martin 1976 Erik Bundgaard 1977–79 Svend Hugger 1980–81

Name Nationality Years Eduard Bründl 1982–83 Erik Bundgaard 1984 Jens Tang Olesen 1984–87 Hans Ove Andersen 1988–89 Peter Rudbæk 1990–93 Roald Poulsen 1993–94 Ole Skouboe 1994 Viggo Jensen 1995 Ove Christensen 1995–99 Kim Poulsen July 1, 1999–Oct 23, 2001 Søren Kusk 2001–03 Benny Lennartsson 2003 Ove Christensen July 1, 2003 – June 30, 2006 Tommy Møller Nielsen Feb 2, 2006–Nov 9, 2007 Anders Linderoth Dec 1, 2006–Nov 30, 2007 Hans Eklund Nov 26, 2007–April 8, 2009 Søren Frederiksen April 8, 2009 – June 30, 2009 Lars Søndergaard July 3, 2009–Nov 24, 2010 Steffen Højer & Søren Frederiksen (interim) Nov 24, 2010–June 30, 2011 Ove Christensen July 1, 2011 – January 31, 2014 Auri Skarbalius Feb 1, 2014–June 30, 2015 Johnny Mølby July 1, 2015–Aug 2, 2017 Steffen Højer Aug 2, 2017–June 3, 2019 Jacob Neestrup June 20, 2019 – December 22, 2020 Lars Friis January 16, 2021 – January 25, 2022 Jacob Friis February 3, 2022 – November 8, 2023 Jakob Poulsen November 8, 2023–Present

• Danish 1st Division
  • Champions: 1997–98, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2020–21

• Danish Cup
  • Winners: 1999–2000
• Danish Super Cup
  • Winners: 2000

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2000–01	UEFA Cup	First Round	CSKA Moscow	0–0	1–0 (a.e.t.)	1–0 (a.e.t.)
		Second Round	Rayo Vallecano	0–1	2–1	2–2 (a)
2022–23	UEFA Europa Conference League	Second qualifying round	Sūduva	1–0	1–0	2–0
		Third qualifying round	B36 Tórshavn	3–0	2–1	5–1
		Play-off round	West Ham United	0–3	1–3	1–6

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Viborg FF.

• Official website
• Viborg FF Fans – official supporter club site