FC Midtjylland

FC Midtjylland – MCH Arena – Capacity: 12,400

About the MCH Arena
Previously known as the SAS Arena, FC Midtjylland’s intimate stadium opened in 2004 and is owned by the Messecenter next door.  It is showing its age a bit now but is still ample for the club.  One large main stand, backed by glass hospitality areas, one single tier seated stand opposite and then at either ends terracing (the north end is the away fans section with half taken up by seats).  All areas are undercover.  The noisy home fans stand in the south stand.  Outside the ground on a matchday you will find a couple of marquees that double up as fan bars.Midtjyllands founding fathers were Mr. Johnny Rune: a carpenter and owner of a private business in the wood-supply industry, and Mr. Ejner Hessel: an authorized Mercedes Benz dealer.

Who plays there?
On Tuesday April 6 1999 the two men gathered with a vision of uniting the football clubs Ikast FS (founded 1935) and Herning Fremad (founded 1918) – clubs who for decades had been strong rivals but none of which had ever played any significant role in Danish football. Ikast FS had some success in the late 70s and 80s, but that was about it. At least 10 years had passed with the two clubs being unable to agree on a merger, but after long and hard negotiations between the two gentlemen and other parties the deal was sealed, and announced at a press conference the next day.

Since then, FC Midtjylland have gone from one success to the other. In 2000 FC Midtjylland were promoted to the Danish Superliga, after a season in which the team had gathered more points than any other team in the history of the 1st division.

FC Midtjylland in 2007 made a financial expansion in the region of 10 million EUR, to secure its current status as a challenger to the national football throne of Brøndby IF and F.C. Copenhagen.

In July 2004 FC Midtjylland was the first Danish club to have its own football academy, similar to that of French side FC Nantes Atlantique. The academy attracts players from all of Denmark, as well as players from a partnering club in Nigeria - FC Ebedei. FC Midtjylland have also gained support from a network of over 100 clubs predominantly situated in the western part of the Jutland peninsula.

On 14 Aug 2008 they beat Manchester City 1-0 in Manchester, in the 2nd Qualifying Round 1st leg of the UEFA cup. It was Manchester City’s first ever loss at home to a foreign team, having only ever lost at home in European Competition to Chelsea. Manchester City won the return leg in Denmark 1-0 after Danny Califf scored a last minute own-goal. Neither team was able to score in extra time and Midtjylland eventually lost the tie on penalties.

How to get to the MCH Arena
The ground is some 5km south of the main town centre and is hardly well placed for fans arriving in any other way apart from by car.  a bus service does serve the ground from the bus station every hour.  There is also a 3 minute train that runs from Herning to a halt stop – Herning Messecenter and this is a ten minute walk from the stadium but services are in frequent.  The easiest way to reach the stadium is by car as the Messecenter is both well sign posted but also sits close to the main ring road.

Getting a ticket for the MCH Arena
Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here.  Alternatively you will have no problems buying them on the day of the game from the cabins around the ground.  A top price ticket for all games (bar FCK) costs 120DKR, and a place on the terrace is 100DKR.

OUR LAST VISIT – APRIL 2010

Thursday morning dawned and as it was a) A Bank Holiday, and b) April of course it had to be cold and wet. Herning was destination number two in my tour of Jutland.  The town of 45,000 is known to all you “trade-farers” out there as the Messecenter is the largest conference centre in Scandinavia.  Next door to the complex you will find the club’s smart 12,000 capacity MCH Arena.  So a train north and then a train east saw me arrive at a tiny unmanned station that we would call a “halt” in Britain where in the distance I saw the floodlights of the stadium.

Midtjylland jointly the record for the football team with the most consecutive consonants in, an award that they have held for many a season.  It is not just this Countdown-beating fact that has made them famous though.  FCM as they are also known (do not get them confused with FCK or FCN who we saw play last week though) have only recently celebrated their tenth birthday having been formed in 1999 after a merger of two local clubs, Ikast FS and Herning Fremad and in that small amount of time they have finished runner up in the SAS Ligean and twice in the Danish Cup.  Their finest hour same surely in August 2008 when they beat Manchester City 1-0 at Eastlands in the UEFA Cup.  They were seconds from going through to the 3rd round in the second leg before an own goal sent the tie into extra time and City won on penalties.

The clubs fans are known as the “Black Wolves” and the stadium, “the Wolf pit”.  Hardly putting the fear into opponents but they do love to hype it up.  As the home team came out, the PA system burst into life, boxing style with a “Let’s get ready to rumble”…unfortunately no Ant and Dec though (or was it PJ and Duncan?).

FC Midtjylland 1 FC Nordsjaelland 0 – MCH Arena – Thursday 1st April 2010 – 2pm

With the rain falling the game kicked off and me wishing for the second day in a row I had packed gloves.  FCM (Midtjylland) had obviously been watching the game from last night as they tried to get in Christian Sivebæk down the left flank at every opportunity. But it was FCN (Nordsjaelland) who had most of the early play, spurred on by their 18 fans who had made the long trip from the northern Copenhagen suburbs.

Fifteen minutes in as the sun made its debut for the day Mikkel Thygesen almost put the home team in the lead when his shot flashed across a crowded penalty area but also passed the far post.  Thirteen chilly minutes later we at last had something to write about.  A FCM free kick was well met in the penalty area and the FCN keep made a great save but the rebound was tapped in by Sivebæk.

As the second half started and I came out of the warmth of the press room I noticed the tricky little left winger for FCN – one Andreas Laudrup.  A quick check on Wikipedia confirmed my suspicions – this was the offspring of the Danish legend, Michael Laudrup.  Not that having a famous father has anything to do with how youngsters get a chance in football these days, but 19 year old Andreas can count both Real Madrid and Ajax as part of his “schooling”.  I scanned the crowd to see if his famous Dad, or even uncle Brian were here (perhaps in the 18 strong away following?) but could not see them.  So much for supporting his son at all levels eh?

Apart from a few late tackles and a couple of handbags being thrown the game drew to a chilly end.  Now came the tricky bit of the whole trip.  The final sixty kilometres to Billund where I was flying back Ryanair-style.  Now whilst Billund is essentially in the middle of nowhere it is the home of Lego and the original Legoland.  Yet the town has no train station and little in the way of public transport links.  You would feel that Herning, with the biggest conference/exhibition centre in Scandinavia and the nearest airport may be linked by some sort of transport but no.  So I had to get two buses and endure a 5km walk to get to the airport. But everything worked, which is more than I can say for the roads in this country when I landed with the M25 blocked, the Blackwall Tunnel closed and Rotherhithe shut due to a “police incident”. Not the best way to end the trip, but with a warm welcome assured in SE9 it was worth it!