Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (EfB; pronounced [ˈɛsb̥jæɐ̯ˀ]) is a professional Danish football club from the port city of Esbjerg in West Jutland. The club was formed in 1924, as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911. The club has training facilities and stadium at Gl. Vardevej in Esbjerg, and plays in blue and white striped shirts. Following the departure of long time club player and former head coach Jess Thorup, Niels Frederiksen is the current head coach. Esbjerg fB is one of the more successful clubs in Denmark in terms of trophies. They have won the Danish championship five times (1961, 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1979) and three Danish cup titles (1964, 1976 and 2013).
The main sponsor is Stofa and the club's kit sponsor is Nike. The official fanclub of Esbjerg fB is Blue Knights.
In 2005 EfB took over the management of the elite ice hockey club, Esbjerg Ishockey Klub (EIK). Which is now called EfB Ishockey.
History
Original logo
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber was officially established in 1924 as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 (E.B. 98) and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911 (EAK) after 12 years of competition between the two clubs. The new club was driven by ambition for something bigger, which already produced results the day after when the club's best start-up team defeated Kolding IF with 7-0.
The club's golden years was in the first half of the 1960s with the Austrian coach Rudi Strittich throughout most of the decade. The club won the Danish Championship in 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965 and won the DBU national Cup for men in 1964. In the 2010–11 Danish Superliga season EfB finished 12th and was relegated to the Danish 1st Division for the first time since the 1999–00 season.
Stadium
Esbjerg fB plays at Blue Water Arena, which is the name of Esbjerg Stadion at Gl. Vardevej and part of Esbjerg Sports Park. In 2004 a new stand was built on the eastern side of a stadium. A new stadium with seating for 18,000 spectators, was completed in August 2009. It is currently the second biggest stadium in Jutland, and the fourth biggest in Denmark.
- Location: Gl. Vardevej 62, 6700 Esbjerg
- Year built: 1955
- Extended / renovated: 1999, 2004, 2008–09
- Capacity: 18,000 (11,451 seats)
- Pitch Size: 105 x 68 meters
- Lighting: 1200 lux.
- Record attendance: 22,000 (Esbjerg fB - KB, 1961)
- Address: Gl Vardevej 82, 6700 Esbjerg
Honours
Esbjerg fB by season.
- Champions (5): 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1979
- Silver (3): 1956, 1968, 1978
- Bronze (2): 1977, 2004
- Winners (3): 1964, 1976, 2013
- Lost Finals (6): 1957, 1962, 1978, 1985, 2006, 2008
Achievements
Players
Current squad
Updated 17 January 2016
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
- Manager: Jonas Dal
- Ass. Coach: Lars Lungi Sørensen
- Ass. Coach: Lars Justesen
- Goalkeeper Coach: Lars Winde
- Team Leader: Allan Jensen
- Team Leader: Kaj Schmidt
- Chief Scout: Michael Mex Pedersen
- Masseur: Lars Kikkenborg
- Physioterapeut: Henrik Christensen
- Physioterapeut: Søren Møller Kristensen
- Team Doctor: Uwe Jürgensen
Former coaches
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 Viggo Jensen (1997–02)- Ove Pedersen (July 1, 2002–Dec 31, 2005)
- Troels Bech (July 1, 2005–Nov 16, 2008)
- Jess Thorup (Nov 17, 2008–Dec 31, 2008)
- Ove Pedersen (Jan 1, 2009–March 14, 2011)
- Jess Thorup (March 14, 2011 – May 30, 2013)
- Niels Frederiksen (July 1, 2013–Aug 10, 2015)
- Michael Mex Pedersen (interim) (Aug 11, 2015–Oct 20, 2015)
- Jonas Dal (Oct 20, 2015–)
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Denmark national football team players
The following 32 Esbjerg football players has been picked and had their debut on the Danish national football team (debut/matches/goals):
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- Ove Hansen (1956/9/0)
- Johannes Schmidt (1955/1/0)
- Søren Andersen (1951/5/0)
- Erik Terkelsen (1950/17/0)
- Jens Peder Hansen (1949/38/18)
- Curt Christensen (1949/1/0)
- Viggo Jensen (1945/15/1)
- Jørgen Iversen (1937/5/1)
- Olaf Brockhoff (1935/2/0)
- Arthur Nielsen (1935/1/0)
- Emil Møller (1932/3/0)
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Former notable foreign players
Esbjerg has a list of former notable foreign players of which some have represented their national team. Some of the most memorable are listed here:
Player of the year
Player of the year Esbjerg fB
Player of the year Denmark
Recent history
References
External links
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