Randers FC

Not to be confused with Rangers F.C..

Randers

Full name	Randers FC
Nickname(s)	Hestene (The Horses)
Short name	RFC
Founded	1 January 2003 (2003-01-01)
Ground	Cepheus Park Randers
Capacity	10,300
Chairman	Per Hastrup
Manager	Rasmus Bertelsen
League	Danish Superliga
Website	https://randersfc.dk/
Home colours Away colours

Randers FC (Danish pronunciation: [ˈʁɑnɐs]) is a professional football club based in Randers, East Jutland, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Randers Freja, a former three-time Danish Cup winning team. As of 2022 the club had won the Danish Cup twice in its history. Randers plays its matches at the 10,300-capacity Cepheus Park Randers.

History

The club was formed on 1 January 2003, as a collaboration between six local Randers-clubs; Dronningborg Boldklub (founded 1928), Hornbæk Sportsforening (founded 1945), Kristrup Boldklub (founded 1908), Randers Freja (founded 1898), Randers KFUM (founded 1920) and Vorup Frederiksberg Boldklub (founded 1930), continuing Randers Freja's (at the time) 1st division-team.

First years and Cup success

In the first season as a newly created club, Randers ended in fourth place in the Viasat Sport Division with 51 points. The captain of the Denmark national team which won UEFA Euro 1992, Lars Olsen, was coach of the team. The following year, the team ended in second place with 66 points and was promoted to the country's best league, the SAS Liga.

With only 24 points in 2004–05 season in the SAS Liga, Randers finished in last place. In the 2005–06 season, however, Randers redeemed itself, securing promotion back to the SAS League with 61 points while also winning the Danish Cup with a 1–0 victory over Esbjerg in the final at Parken Stadium on 11 May 2006. Randers was the first team since 1974 who managed to win the Danish Cup although playing in the second-highest league in Denmark.

In mid-2005, the club brought in former Denmark national team midfielder Stig Tøfting on a free transfer, after AGF, his childhood-club, refused to let him play (even for free) due to his violent background with several sentences. Tøfting was appointed Assistant Coach in November 2006.

In the 2006–07 season, Randers finished in eighth place with 38 points, as well as participation in the UEFA Cup the season before, where the club met ÍA of Iceland, FBK Kaunas of Lithuania and major club Fenerbahçe from Turkey.

Before the start of the 2007–08 season, Randers signed former England national team player Colin Todd as its new manager. Randers started the season in great fashion, winning its first four matches (most notably a 5–0 win against Aalborg BK).

In the second half of the 2007–08 season, Randers continued to improve in the Danish league. With new signings Marc Nygaard and Søren Berg, expectations grew as the season progressed, and Randers ultimately finished in sixth place following a 2–1 win against Brøndby IF in the final matchday of the season.

The 2008–09 season started in promising fashion for the club, recording a 3–1 win against the local rivals AGF. Randers continued its solid start with a 1–1 a draw with Copenhagen. In the third round, Randers was to play Brøndby away; the club had never defeated Brøndby away before. Randers won 0–3 following goals from Carsten Fredgaard, Bedi Buval and Tidiane Sane. After the five first rounds, Randers was still undefeated, though at the winter break Randers was placed mid-table.

Up and down years

On 4 November 2008 Randers announced that former Danish international John "Faxe" Jensen would become its new manager from 1 July following the ending of Colin Todd's contract. Todd, however, expressed his frustration about how Randers had dealt with the situation and openly criticised the club for putting him in a difficult situation.

Jensen ended up taking the place as manager six months before schedule due to the club having reached an agreement with the then present manager Todd. Jensen was officially announced new manager on 5 January. He started his time in Randers in great fashion, winning the first league game of the season against local rivals AGF 2–1. However, the club failed to sustain the winning form when they went to draw against Vejle BK and thereafter lost the following three games to the top three sides OB, Copenhagen and BIF. The team's losing streak culminated in a 1–6 to Nordsjælland.

The club, however, responded well to the losing streak and won the next five games, ironically setting a new club winning streak. The season ended with a 3–3 draw away against Danish champions Copenhagen and a fifth-place finish, it highest league rank in club history. Marc Nygaard claimed the golden boot for 16 goals during the season. Morten Nordstrand was later credited for a goal on penalty in the final match, and also had a goal tally of 16, but Nygaard was awarded the title as he was the first to reach the 16 goals.

Randers and Faxe decided that Tøfting was not the right choice as assistant manager, and, on 1 May 2009, the club announced that Tøfting's contract would not be extended. On 2 June, the club announced that two of Jensen's colleagues from the Euro 1992-winning Danish side – Henrik Larsen and Flemming Povlsen – as its new assistant managers; Larsen was named first assistant manager while Povlsen as assistant focused on the club's attack. However, after a catastrophic start to the 2009–10 season with only 2 points earned from 11 league games, Jensen and his assistants were released from their contracts.

Ove Christensen was appointed new head coach for Randers for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. He was given the objective to save Randers from relegation, although Randers was projected to be relegated at the winter break by the media and experts. However, a historic comeback with 16 games without defeat meant that its topflight status was to be decided on the final day of the season. A loss to Brøndby would mean that if AGF won its game against OB, the best team of the spring season would be relegated. OB won 0–3 and Randers lost its first match in the second half of the season 1–3, ensuring Randers kept their top-flight status. Yura Movsisyan was arguably the key in Randers' survival, as he scored 7 goals in 13 games.

When Ove Christensen arrived, he gave the squad an overhaul and nine players were released or sold in the winter break of 2009–10 season. He also made several signings: Anders Egholm from SønderjyskE, Morten Karlsen from Nordsjælland and Søren Jensen on loan from Odd Grenland. Christensen signed a new one-year contract as head coach on 17 May 2010.

In the following season, however, Christensen could not follow up on the success and was fired after a loss to Brøndby. Peter Elstrup and Allan Kuhn were Brough in as caretakers but could not prevent Randers' relegation at the end of the season. Michael Hemmingsen was named new head coach with the first task to bring Randers back to the Superliga. With Hemmingsen as head coach, Randers ended the 2011–12 season in second place in the Danish 1st division, thereby earning promotion back to the Superliga.

League success and Europa League qualification

Despite having earned promotion to the Danish Superliga, Hemmingsen was replaced as head coach by former Randers coach Colin Todd, who returned to the club following his coaching spell from 2007 to 2009. Randers did well in its first season after being promoted, ending its 2012–13 league campaign in third place, the club's best ever league finish. The team also reached the final in the Danish Cup, but lost 1–0 to Esbjerg. Nonetheless, the league result meant that Randers was to participate in the UEFA Europa League. It entered the tournament in the third round of qualifying, where it met Rubin Kazan. Randers, however, lost the home match 2–0 and the away match 2–0, thus failing to qualify for the group stage.

During the 2020–21 season, Randers achieved a significant milestone in their history by securing a place in the championship playoffs of the Danish Superliga via a fifth-place finish in the regular season. Moreover, the club claimed victory in the Danish Cup after defeating SønderjyskE 4–0 in the final at Ceres Park in Aarhus, with goals from Erik Marxen, Simon Piesinger, and a brace by Mathias Greve. This triumph earned them the opportunity to participate in European competition in the 2021–22 season. Although they narrowly missed out on a place in the UEFA Europa League after losing to Galatasaray in the playoffs, they qualified for the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League group stage. They finished second in their group after competing against AZ Alkmaar from the Netherlands, CFR Cluj from Romania, and Jablonec from the Czech Republic. This result secured their progression to the knockout stage, where they faced English powerhouse Leicester City, which included Denmark national team captain Kasper Schmeichel. Despite their best efforts, they were eliminated from the competition, thus concluding their European journey.

European record

During the 2006–07 season, Randers managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup as Danish Cup winners. During the 2009–10 season, the club was invited to participate in the Europa League due to its second place in the Danish league Fair Play ranking – behind 2008–09 champions Copenhagen, which claimed Denmark's UEFA Champions League spot. During the 2010–11 season, the club participated in the Europa League due to its second-place finish in the Danish league Fair Play ranking – behind 2009–10 champions Copenhagen, which again claimed the Champions League spot.

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Home	Away	Aggregate
2006–07	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round	ÍA	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
		Second qualifying round	FBK Kaunas	3–1	0–1	3–2
		First round	Fenerbahçe	0–3	1–2	1–5
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	First qualifying round	Linfield	4–0	3–0	7–0
		Second qualifying round	Sūduva	1–1	1–0	2–1
		Third qualifying round	Hamburger SV	0–4	1–0	1–4
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	First qualifying round	F91 Dudelange	6–1	1–2	7–3
		Second qualifying round	Gorica	1–1	3–0	4–1
		Third qualifying round	Lausanne-Sport	2–3	1–1	3–4
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	Third qualifying round	Rubin Kazan	1–2	0–2	1–4
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	First qualifying round	Sant Julià	3–0	1–0	4–0
		Second qualifying round	Elfsborg	0–0	0–1	0–1
2021–22	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Galatasaray	1–1	1–2	2–3
	UEFA Europa Conference League	Group D	AZ	2–2	0–1	2nd place
			CFR Cluj	2–1	1–1
			Jablonec	2–2	2–2
		Knockout round play-offs	Leicester City	1–3	1–4	2–7

Stadium

Randers Stadium

Randers Stadium was founded in 1961. It was built to hold 18,000 spectators and in 1969 a record of 16,500 people attended the UEFA Cup loss against 1. FC Köln.

2012 rebuild

The stadium was rebuilt in 2012 and renamed AutoC Park with a capacity of 10,300 spectators. It was built by C. F. Møller Architects and is established on the former Randers Stadium site. On 22 September 2015, it was announced that local company BioNutria had bought the name rights of the stadium until 31 October 2018. On 14 November 2018, it was announced that Cepheus group had bought the name rights of the stadium for 3 years.

The new stadium attendance record after the stadium was rebuilt, is 9,947, set against Aarhus GF on 6 October 2019

Supporters

The largest supporter group is Nordtribunen (i.e. The North Tribune), however there are more factions within the fandom of Randers.

Honours

• Danish Superliga
  • Third place: 2012–13
• Danish Cup
  • Winners: 2005–06, 2020–21
  • Runners-up: 2012–13
• UEFA Fair Play League
  • Winners: 2009, 2010

Records

Most games played: 223 Mads Fenger

Most goals: 41 Ronnie Schwartz

Biggest league win: 5–0 Randers  – AAB (in 2007)

Biggest league loss: 1–6 Randers  – Nordsjælland (in 2009), SønderjyskE – Randers FC (in 2012)

Highest attendance(home): 11,824 Randers  – Brøndby

Longest run without defeat: 16 (29 November 2009 – 5 May 2010)

Longest winning streak: 5 (13 April 2010 – 3 May 2010)

Longest run without a win: 18 (31 May 2009 – 29 November 2009)

Players

Squad

As of 22 August 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	AUS	Paul Izzo
3	DF	DEN	Daniel Høegh
4	DF	NED	Wessel Dammers
5	DF	SWE	Hugo Andersson
6	MF	SWE	John Björkengren
7	FW	AUS	Mohamed Touré
9	MF	NOR	Simen Bolkan Nordli
10	FW	JAM	Norman Campbell
11	FW	ARM	Edgar Babayan
14	MF	DEN	Frederik Lauenborg
15	DF	GER	Björn Kopplin
16	FW	DEN	Laurits Pedersen
17	MF	DEN	Mathias Greve
18	FW	SYR	Noah Shamoun

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	FW	DEN	Tammer Bany
20	FW	GHA	Abdul Hakim Sulemana
22	GK	GHA	Emmanuel Ogura
23	DF	DEN	Christian Østergaard
24	DF	DEN	Sabil Hansen
25	GK	DEN	Oskar Snorre
26	FW	FRA	Florian Danho
27	DF	DEN	Oliver Olsen
28	MF	DEN	André Rømer
29	DF	SWE	Oliver Zandén (loan from Toulouse)
30	MF	DEN	Mike Themsen
44	DF	DEN	Nikolas Dyhr
90	FW	NGA	Stephen Odey

Youth players in use 2023/24

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	GHA	Ernest Agyiri (at Kolding IF until 31 December 2024)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	NGA	Mustapha Isah (at IK Start until 31 December 2024)

Managers

• Lars Olsen (1 Jan 2003 – 24 Jan 2007)
• Colin Todd (1 July 2007 – 5 Jan 2009)
• John "Faxe" Jensen (5 Jan 2009 – 6 Oct 2009)
• Ove Christensen (7 Oct 2009 – 26 Apr 2011)
• Peter Elstrup (interim) (27 Apr 2011 – 30 June 2011)
• Michael Hemmingsen (1 July 2011 – 5 July 2012)
• Colin Todd (5 July 2012 – 30 June 2016)
• Ólafur Kristjánsson (1 July 2016 – 5 Oct 2017)
• Ricardo Moniz (8 Oct 2017 – 26 Jan 2018)
• Rasmus Bertelsen (26 Jan 2018 – 30 June 2018)
• Thomas Thomasberg (1 July 2018 – 23 March 2023)
• Rasmus Bertelsen (23 March 2023 – )

Staff

Management

Position	Name
Chief Executive Officer	Henrik Jørgensen
Head of Sales	Morten Hørby Andersen
Club Secretary	Jesper Hansen
Head of Communications	Kristian Fredslund Andersen
Press Officer	Martin Albrechtsen
Sales Assistant	Sylvester Hansen
Sales Assistant	Anders Hedeager
IT & Ticket Coordinator	Michael Møller Højfeldt
VIP & Hospitality	Lone Nikolajsen

Team

Position	Name
Director of Football	Søren Pedersen
Head coach	Rasmus Bertelsen
Assistant coach	Ralf Pedersen
Youth-Development Coach	Peter Elstrup
Goalkeeper coach	Erik Boye
Performance manager	Tobias Elstrup
Chief team assistant	Peer Kam
Team assistant	Ferhat Alici
Team assistant	Emil Stanic
Team assistant	Lars Pedersen
Team assistant	Hans Kirkegaard
Medical	Dr. Martin Nielsen

Shirt sponsors

2003 – 2005–06: Nike

2006–07 – 2009–10: Umbro

2010–11 – 2012–13: H2O

2013–14 – 2014–15: Warrior

2015–16 – Puma

League statistics

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Cup	Notes
2002–03	1D	4	30	15	6	9	65	49	51	Fourth round
2003–04	1D	2	30	21	3	6	85	43	66	Fourth round	Promoted
2004–05	SL	12	33	5	9	19	30	64	24	Fourth round	Relegated
2005–06	1D	2	30	19	4	7	64	30	61	Winner	Promoted
2006–07	SL	8	33	10	8	15	41	53	38	Quarter-final	UEFA Cup – First round
2007–08	SL	6	33	13	8	12	41	33	47	Quarter-final
2008–09	SL	5	33	11	13	9	52	50	46	Fourth round
2009–10	SL	10	33	10	10	13	37	43	40	Fourth round	Europa League – Third qualifying round
2010–11	SL	11	33	6	16	11	41	48	34	Semi-finals	Relegated Europa League – Third qualifying round
2011–12	1D	2	26	15	4	7	38	22	49	3rd round	Promoted
2012–13	SL	3	33	15	7	11	36	42	52	Runners-up
2013–14	SL	7	33	9	14	10	41	45	41	3rd round	Europa League – Third qualifying round
2014–15	SL	4	33	14	10	9	39	28	52	Quarter-final
2015–16	SL	6	33	13	8	12	45	43	47	Quarter-final	Europa League – Second qualifying round
2016–17	SL	7	32	11	8	13	33	35	41	Quarter-final	Lost in European play-off final
2017–18	SL	12	32	7	9	16	32	52	30	Quarter-final	Won relegation play-off second round
2018–19	SL	7	32	12	9	11	35	39	45	Third round	Lost in European play-off final
2019–20	SL	7	26	10	5	11	39	35	35	Quarter-final	Lost in European play-off quarter-final
2020–21	SL	5	22	9	5	8	31	21	32	Winner
2021–22	SL	5	22	9	6	7	26	25	33	Quarter-final	Europa Conference League – Knockout round play-offs

External links

• Official website
• News about Randers FC
• Statistics site