Viborg FF

History

Viborg Fodsports Forening was established on 1 April 1896. 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. The same season, the club established full-time professional contracts for all its playing staff. By 2002, Viborg FF had fully established a youth academy of their own in FK Viborg.

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 and Faroese-side B36 Tórshavn, before losing 6–1 on aggregate to eventual-tournament winner West Ham United. As of the 2025–26 season, the club remains in the top-flight.

Colours and badge

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

Stadium

Main article: Viborg Stadium

Viborg plays its home matches at Viborg Stadium, known as Energi Viborg Arena since 2011 due to sponsorship. Originally built in 1931, the stadium was demolished and rebuilt in 2001 at a cost of 62.1 million Danish kroner (93.8 million DKK in 2023). 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 m long and 68 m wide. 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.

Viborg Stadium itself is part of the Viborg Stadion Center and is owned by the Viborg Municipality.

Supporters

Viborg FF has no official Fanclub. A former official Fanclub is The Green Pride. Previously 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.

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) with the fans often calling FCM "FC Vestjylland" (FC Western Jutland). The derby can also be seen as a battle between traditional football and modern football.

Players

First-team squad

Youth players in use 2025–26

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Main article: Retired numbers in association football

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

Academy

Forenede Klubber i Viborg (), more commonly known as FK Viborg is the youth academy of Viborg FF. FK Viborg consists of youth teams on under-18, under-16, under-14 and under-12 basis.

FK Viborg was founded in 2002 as a superstructure on Viborg FF, Overlund GF, Viborg B67, Viborg Søndermarken IK, Viborg Nørremarken and Houlkær IF's best youth teams.

Managerial history

• Harald Hansen (1926–27)
• Axel Holm (1930–31)
• Sophus 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)
• Kaarlo 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)
• 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 (1 July 1999 – 23 October 2001)
• Søren Kusk (2001–03)
• Benny Lennartsson (2003)
• Ove Christensen (1 July 2003 – 30 June 2006)
• Tommy Møller Nielsen (2 February 2006 – 9 November 2006)
• Anders Linderoth (1 December 2006 – 30 November 2007)
• Hans Eklund (26 November 2007 – 8 April 2009)
• Søren Frederiksen (8 April 2009 – 30 June 2009)
• Lars Søndergaard (3 July 2009 – 24 November 2010)
• Steffen Højer & Søren Frederiksen (24 November 2010 – 30 June 2011)
• Ove Christensen (1 July 2011 – 31 January 2014)
• Auri Skarbalius (1 February 2014 – 30 June 2015)
• Johnny Mølby (1 July 2015 – 2 August 2017)
• Steffen Højer (2 August 2017 – 3 June 2019)
• Jacob Neestrup (20 June 2019 – 22 December 2020)
• Lars Friis (16 January 2021 – 25 January 2022)
• Jacob Friis (3 February 2022 – 8 November 2023)
• Jakob Poulsen (8 November 2023 – 20 June 2025)
• Nickolai Lund (16 July 2025 – present)

Honours

League

• Danish 1st Division
  • Champions (4): 1997–98, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2020–21

Cup

• Danish Cup
  • Winners (1): 1999–2000
• Danish Super Cup
  • Winners (1): 2000

European record

Seasons

:{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Season ! Competition ! Pos. ! Pl. ! W ! D ! L ! GS ! GA ! P !Cup

|}

References

References

1. "Klub: Viborg F.F.".
2. "Viborg FF's historie". Viborg FF.
3. "Danish Cup Winners 1955-2008". [[Danish Football Association]].
4. (24 August 2022). "Viborg FF v West Ham United - All You Need To Know". West Ham United.
5. (26 June 2021). "Ben Davies: How Viborg stint made Wales defender an unlikely cult figure in Denmark ahead of Euro 2020 clash". [[iNews]].
6. (9 August 2022). "VFF spillede sig videre i Tórshavn". VFF.
7. (25 August 2022). "Viborg 0-3 West Ham (agg: 1-6): Hammers reach Europa Conference League group stage". [[BBC]].
8. (14 October 2011). "Viborg Stadion bliver til Energi Viborg Arena". Viborg Stifts Folkeblad.
9. (5 July 2005). "Viborgs historie - Historier - Sportens by". Lokalhistorisk Arkiv for Viborg Kommune, Viborg Centralbibliotek, Viborg Stiftsmuseum.
10. "Inflation calculator". [[Statistics Denmark]].
11. "Stadionoversigt". Viborg FF.
12. (8 June 2015). "9180 tilskuere så Danmark vinde i Viborg". Viborg Stifts Folkeblad.
13. Thomas Mielcke. (30 June 2024). "Engang var den Viborg FF's største fanklub - nu er den truet af lukning". Viborg Folkeblad.
14. "Viborg-fans går viralt med FCM-drilleri: Høj klasse!". acefootball.
15. "Lössl om VFF-stikpiller: For fanden, vi ligger jo mest vestpå". bold.dk.
16. "Truppen".