The internet doesn't forget anything, Ferencváros and Haken recently discovered, the Hungarian champion and the Swedish champions both played against Klaksvik in the Champions League qualifiers and both were so confident against the small team from the Faroe Islands that they wrote a post on the subject.
"The Swedish champions are waiting for us in the next round because we are definitely going through a phase," was Ferencváros' tweet.Haken did not remain humble either, tweeting: "Now we will secure our place in the next round with a reciprocal win."
Both teams did so after drawing 0-0 in the first game away, and both paid dearly for it. Klaksvík defeated Ferencváros 0-3 in Budapest, and Haken, in Gothenburg, won on penalties after 3-3 after 120 minutes. Molde, the Norwegian champions, who will play Klaksvik tonight in the third round of the Champions League, got the hint. She didn't tweet anything anymore, certainly not after a 1-2 loss in the first game last week.
Abu Fani in the struggle. Ask him - his team is already flying, Photo: Reuters
One can understand the confidence and arrogance that Franzváros and Haken had. The history of Faroe Islands football clubs did not include extraordinary successes in European enterprises, until this year. It was hard to imagine that Klaksvik would change the situation, even though it comes from the second largest city in the Faroe Islands after the capital Tórshbahn.
This city has only about 5000,2 inhabitants and the 600,2-seat stadium, which can host about half the city's residents, is not allowed to host matches in Europe starting from the third round. Moreover, apart from an insufficient 3:1995 victory against Maccabi Haifa in 1, 6:1 over Dinamo Tbilisi and 3:<> over Buda Glimt, Klaksvik did not record significant victories in continental enterprises.
Long-term thinking
What its two victims in the previous rounds didn't know was that Klaksvik is a team that has been dreaming big for several years. In fact, exactly eight years ago, the small team set itself the goal of becoming the first from the Faroe Islands to qualify for the European group stage. Few gave her a chance, others chuckled, but she had already secured her goal by securing at least a place in the group stage of the Conference League.
Klaksvik players celebrate. Teach everyone a lesson in modesty, Photo: Reuters
It does this thanks to orderly management, a combination of local and foreign players, and an entire city that stands behind it and supports it. Although its players make a living from jobs other than football, the club makes sure to reward them with bonuses from the successes that come from the league and Europe. And successes, certainly in recent years, are not lacking for Klaksvik.
With 20 championships it ranks second behind HB from the capital Turshevan, having won the championship three times in the last four seasons. Last year they finished an unbeaten season (25 wins, 2 draws) and started the current season with 16 wins in 16 matches, a streak that was halted in the last round with a 1-2 loss to Vikingor, in a game in which substitutes shared the thought of the match against Molde.
The big story of tonight's game is Klaksvik coach Magna Host, a 42-year-old Norwegian and former Molde legend. Fourth place on the club's all-time appearances list, and the historic top scorer with 84.
Klaksvik players in action. , will they continue to amaze?
Host came to Klaksvik to enjoy the quiet, but in the last few days everything has been noisy because of his group. The first match against Molde was moved to the largest stadium on the island in Torshevan, where his team was greeted with a convoy of trucks and great encouragement. A 1-2 win brought with it huge excitement ahead of tonight's match, but Host is aware of the balance of power. "We can get past Molde too," he told local media, "but it's a 90/10 game for them. If Molde doesn't pass us, it's a big scandal on their terms."
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And if that somehow happens, it will be a festival in terms of Klaksvik and the Faroe Islands.
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