AALBORG BOLDSPILKLUB

'Aalborg Boldspilklub' is a Danish professional sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as 'Aalborg BK' or 'AaB' for short. Through time the club has had branches in cricket and tennis, but currently controls teams in football, ice hockey and handball. All teams are competing in the top-flight Danish league in their respective sport. The kit sponsor for the club is hummel, and the principal sponsor for the football and handball team is the regional bank Spar Nord.
AaB was founded on May 13, 1885 by English engineers who were building Jutland's railway system, and the first years was concentrated on the game of cricket. It was initially named ''Aalborg Cricketklub'' (Aalborg Cricketclub) but the name of the club was changed to ''Aalborg Boldklub'' (Aalborg ballclub) in 1899. Football was adopted on an amateur basis in 1902, and has since been the main sport, as the name was changed to the current ''Aalborg Boldspilklub af 1885'' (Aalborg ballgameclub of 1885) in 1906.^[1]

Contents

Football

History

Stadium

Current squad

Noted players

Noted managers

Achievements

Recent history

Notable matches in Europe

Other sports

References

External links

Football

The club established a men's football team in 1902. The team has been a part of the Danish Superliga championship since 1987, winning two championships in 1995 and 1999.

History

AaB was a part of the top-flight Danish leagues from the 1928-29 season, until the relegation of the club in 1947. The club came back to the best league in 1963, and except from the years of 1972, 1978 and 1981-1986, AaB has since been a part of the various editions of the Danish football championship. Despite its many years in the Danish championship, the club never won a championship title, but AaB won the Danish Cup competition in 1966 and 1970. Paid football was introduced in Denmark by the Danish Football Association in 1978. As AaB returned to the best Danish league, the club founded the professional branch of ''AaB A/S'' in 1987 to run a professional football team.^[2]
Through the 1990s, the club won its only two Danish championships. In the Danish Superliga 1994-95 season, 24 goals from league topscorer Erik Bo Andersen secured the championship title for the team of coach Poul Erik Andreasen. The club was initially eliminated by FC Dynamo Kyiv in the qualification matches for the UEFA Champions League 1995-96, but following a bribing scandal Kyiv was banned from the tournament and AaB entered in their place. AaB thus became the first Danish team to compete in the UEFA Champions League. As they managed a 2-1 home win over Panathinaikos and a 2-2 draw with FC Porto in the six matches the club played in the initial group stage, AaB was eliminated. Erik Bo Andersen left the club for Scottish club Rangers F.C., but in Søren Frederiksen, the club found its next goal-getter. Though not the league top scorer, Frederiksen scored 17 goals in the Danish Superliga 1998-99 which the club won under guidance of Swedish coach Hans Backe. Once again, AaB faced Dinamo Kyiv in the Champions League qualification, but this time they fell short, losing 1:2 at home and drawing 2:2 in Kyiv after a late AaB goal was disallowed for being behind the goalline.
Since then, the club established itself in the top half of the Superliga, earning fourth place in the Danish Superliga 2001-02 and Danish Superliga 2004-05 seasons. They finished third in the 2006-07 season; their best finishing position since the 1999 championship. That season also saw the first AaB League topscorer in 12 seasons as Swedish Rade Prica netted 19 goals in his first season at the club. The bronze medal also qualified AaB for the 2007/08 UEFA Intertoto Cup and will play against FC Honka. They beat them because of away goals rule 2-2 in Finland and 1-1 in Denmark in the 3rd round/last AaB faced AA Gent and drawed, 1-1, in the away game but beat them 2-1 in the following home game. Thus they "won" a place in the UEFA cup's second qualification round and met Helsiniki HJK, the first match ended 2-1 to Helsinki, but in the last match Aalborg won 3-0 and are ready to 2007-08. They drew Sampdoria in the First Round, which have Antonio Cassano and Vincenzo Montella as notable players.

Stadium

Main articles: Aalborg Stadion

Since 1920, AaB has played its games at Aalborg Stadion. The stadium was opened on July 18, 1920 with a north-south aligned playing field. The first spectator seats was built in 1927, and in 1937 a wooden terrace for 3,000 standing spectators was built. In 1960, the stadium burned down and a new east-western aligned concrete stadium was opened in 1962. In recent years the stadium have been enlarged and rebuilt so that it now has modern facilities and roof over all spectator stands. ^[3] The stadium currently has the capacity of 16,000 people.

Current squad

:''Up to date as of 2007-08-30.''

Noted players

★ 1930s: Egon Johansen (1936)

★ 1960s: Kaj Paulsen (1960), Kjeld Thorst (1961), Børge Bach (1963), Henning Munk Jensen (1965), Ove Flindt Bjerg (1967), Lynge Jakobsen (1969)

★ 1980s: Søren Thorst (1983), Torben Boye (1984), Ib Simonsen (1985), Jes Høgh (1987)

★ 1990s: Jens Jessen (1991), Erik Bo Andersen (1993), Jesper Grønkjær (1995), Peter Rasmussen (1995), Jimmy Nielsen (1996), Søren Frederiksen (1997), Ståle Solbakken (1998), Frank Strandli (1999), Brian Priske (1999)

★ 2000s: Michael Silberbauer (2001), Thomas Augustinussen (2001), Rasmus Würtz (2003), Trond Andersen (2004) Martin Ericsson (2004), Rade Prica (2006)

Noted managers

★ Poul Erik Andreasen (1990)

★ Sepp Piontek (1995)

★ Per Westergaard (1996)

★ Lars Søndergaard (1997)

★ Hans Backe (1998)

★ Peter Rudbæk (2000)

★ Poul Erik Andreasen (2002)

★ Søren Kusk (2003)

★ Erik Hamrén (2003-)

Achievements

★ 'Danish Superliga'

★
★ 'Winners: '1994-95, 1998-99

★ 'Danish Cup'

★
★ 'Winners:' 1966, 1970

★
★ Runners-up (7): 1967, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2004

★ 'UEFA Champions League'

★
★ 'Group stage:' 1995-96

★ 'UEFA Intertoto Cup'

★
★ 'Winners:' 2007

★ '49' ''seasons'' in the ''Highest Danish League''

★ '19' ''seasons'' in the ''Second Highest Danish League''

★ '5' ''seasons'' in the ''Third Highest Danish League''

Recent history

:

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup
1996-1997	1D	'5'	33	12	11	10	46	40	'47'	quarter-final
1997-1998	1D	'7'	33	12	8	13	54	48	'44'	quarter-final
1998-1999	1D	'1'	33	17	13	3	65	37	'64'	final
1999-2000	1D	'5'	33	12	13	8	57	40	'49'	final
2000-2001	1D	'5'	33	13	10	10	51	49	'49'	5th round
2001-2002	1D	'4'	33	16	6	11	52	45	'54'	quarter-final
2002-2003	1D	'6'	33	14	4	15	42	45	'46'	semi-final
2003-2004	1D	'5'	33	16	9	8	55	41	'57'	final
2004-2005	1D	'4'	33	15	8	10	59	45	'53'	5th round
2005-2006	1D	'5'	33	11	12	10	48	44	'45'	semi-final
2006-2007	1D	'3'	33	18	7	8	55	34	'61'	2nd round

Notable matches in Europe

★ 1995-96 Aalborg BK-Panathinaikos 2-1 Group Stage

★ 1995-96 Aalborg BK-FC Porto 2-2 Group Stage

★ 2004-05 Aalborg BK-AJ Auxerre 1-1 First Round

★ 2007 AA Gent-Aalborg BK 1-1

★ 2007 Aalborg BK-AA Gent 2-1

Other sports

Main articles: AaB (Ice hockey)

Handball was adopted by AaB in 2003, when the local men's team Aalborg HSH was bought and renamed ''AaB Håndbold'' (AaB handball). Since then, the club has played in the Danish top-flight handball league, though they have never won the league title. In May 2007, AaB took over the women's handball team of Aalborg DH, as a part of the AaB Håndbold brand. With the expanded handball section, the men's team have moved their games to Aalborg DH's old venue, Gigantium Arena. AaB also owns the professional ice hockey team of AaB Ishockey, which builds on the amateur youth development of Aalborg Ishockey Klub (AIK). The team won the 1981 Danish championship, then under the name of AIK. From 2004 to 2007, AaB Ishockey has won four sets of silver medals in a row. In 2005, AaB coorporated with Aalborg Basketball Klub (ABK) in order to build the ''AaB Basket'' team.^[4] The basketball team was no success, and was dismantled in March 2007,^[5] reverting the team to its ABK roots.

References

1. AaB at ''Onside.dk''
2. Om Aalborg Boldspilklub af 1885 at ''Aalborg Boldspilklub af 1885''
3. Aalborg Stadion 1920-2001, ''Aalborg.dk'', February 8, 2006
4. Anders Laursen, AaB - nu også som basketballklub, ''Danmarks Radio'', June 27, 2005
5. Anders Laursen, AaB opgiver satsning på basketball, ''Danmarks Radio'', March 28, 2007

External links

★ AaB A/S (professional branch)

★
★ Aalborg Boldspilklub af 1885 (football amateur foundation)

★
★ Aalborg Ishockey Klub (ice hockey amateur foundation)

★
★ Aalborg Basketball Klub (basketball amateur foundation)

★ UEFA football profile

★ Aalborg Support Club (Official fanclub of AaB)