The European fairy tale continues: Klaksviks Star sells frozen pizzas

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They work as electricians, engineers or in the fishing sector. After work they put on their football boots and on the weekends they participate in the national championship. Your club is located in a town of 5,000 inhabitants, right on a fjord. Far away, far away from our perception. And now the semi-professionals from Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag, KI Klaksvik for short, are suddenly European Cup heroes.

On Thursday evening, the 21-time Faroese champion achieved something historic. Klaksvik defeated reigning Slovenian double winners Olimpija Ljubljana 3-0 in the Conference League. And is therefore the first club from the Faroe Islands to win a European group stage. Historic!

Not the first exclamation point

This victory over Olimpija is not the first international success of the current season. The fantastic Faroese team marched through the qualification for the Champions League this summer, but after sensational victories against the Hungarian champions Ferencvaros (3:0) and the Swedish champions BK Häcken (7:6 nE) they only failed in the final qualifying round at Molde . And that is very close. After a 2-1 win in the first leg, Klaksvik only had to admit defeat in extra time.

After the win against Häcken, participation in the Conference League was secured. And this is also a milestone of historic proportions: Klaksvik is the first club from the Faroe Islands to qualify for a European group stage. And there the North Atlantic kickers have already put an exclamation point on their first victory: in the final round at the beginning of the month they defied French heavyweight Lille to a 0-0 draw. That is also a sensational result.

To the championship title with one defeat

The architect of this success is Norwegian head coach Magne Hoseth. As a player he won four Norwegian championship titles with Molde and Valeranga. Since the beginning of this year he has been taking his first steps as a coach at Klaksvik. And extremely successful. In the Faroe Islands the season lasts from March to October. Hoseth recently led his team to the championship title. Klaksvik suffered a single (!) defeat in the competition along the way.

And under his leadership things are going just as well internationally. After the exploits against Lille and Olimpija, his team has four points from three games in the Conference League. This means that hibernation is suddenly possible. Hoseth sees that immediately. After the victory over Olimpija he went on the attack. “Now we’re going to Slovenia to win!” he says confidently.

The star sells frozen products

The goals against Olimpija on Thursday were scored by René Joensen, Pall Klettskard and Jakup Andreasen. They are all locals who – with the exception of Joensen, who played two seasons in the second highest Danish league – have never played at a higher level.

But the ‘star’ of the team is the wing and refined technician Arni Frederiksberg. He also only played on the Sheep Islands throughout his career, but was crowned the best scorer in this year’s Champions League qualifying campaign with six goals and two assists. He finances his livelihood by selling frozen pizzas.

All this makes it clear: football in the Faroe Islands works a little differently. Klaksvik gives another example of this after the most recent magical European Cup evening. Without further ado, the club invites you for coffee and cake in front of the stadium the next morning. Including meet & greet with the Giant Slayer team and staff. Hard to beat when it comes to football romance.

Source : Blick