AB Copenhagen

Early success

Football Club Copenhagen is, in many ways, both an old and a new club. Even though the club was established in 1992, it is rooted in more than 100 years of club tradition. The club's first team represents two separate clubs: Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (continental Europe's oldest football club) founded in 1876 and Boldklubben 1903 founded in 1903. Due to financial difficulties throughout the clubs in the Copenhagen area in the 1980s and with Kjøbenhavns Boldklub on the verge of bankruptcy, the two old Copenhagen clubs got together and established the superstructure which is F.C. Copenhagen. Copenhagen used B1903's club license to play in the Danish Superliga championship, while Kjøbenhavns Boldklub became the official reserve team of the club. With the rebuilding of the Parken Stadium, Denmark's national team stadium, the new club had a modern stadium to play at from the beginning. The initial ambition of the club was continually to qualify for one of the European competitions each season. To reach this goal, the club needed a solid economy, a relatively big fan base and an "attractive and positive style of football."

Benny Johansen managed the club and started its maiden season well. FCK made its first appearance in the European tournaments when it beat Swiss team Grasshoppers 2–1 in the 1992 UEFA Intertoto Cup. FCK won the Intertoto Cup that year and thereby qualified for the UEFA Cup, where it was eliminated in the second round by French team Auxerre. The club's first trophy was the 1992–93 Superliga title, their debut league campaign. For the 1993–94 Superliga season, expectations were high. The season opened with a 0–6 thrashing at the hands of Italian team Milan in the 1993–94 Champions League qualifiers. FCK went on winter break after the first half of the Superliga season in third place. In the spring of 1994, Copenhagen gained on leading team Silkeborg. In the penultimate match of the season, the two teams met at the Parken Stadium. In front of a record-setting attendance of 26,679, FCK won the match 4–1. The club was one point ahead of Silkeborg, but because FCK lost 3–2 to Odense in the final game of the season, it had to settle for second place.

Years of underachievement

For the next three seasons, Copenhagen had little success in the Superliga, despite winning two Danish Cups. The team won the 1995 Cup final against Akademisk Boldklub with a 5–0 win, qualifying for European football once again, despite mediocre results in the league. Kim Brink took over as manager in 1996, but despite winning the second Cup trophy for the club, the eighth-place finish in the 1996–97 Superliga season prompted another change in managers.

Flemming Østergaard joins the board

In February 1997, Flemming Østergaard, later given the nickname "Don Ø," joined the board of the club as vice chairman and CEO. After a successful IPO, generating DKK 75 million, FCK was introduced on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in November 1997. The 1997–98 season marked the first season that Copenhagen averaged more than 10,000 spectators at home, and the club bought their stadium Parken for DKK 138 million in June 1998. The self-acclaimed "best manager in Denmark," Christian Andersen, began managing the club in January 1999. After 75 controversial days, however, he was fired in March 1999; Sports Director Niels-Christian Holmstrøm explained Andersen had created frustration among the players.

In 1999, Copenhagen made its impact in Europe when it faced English side Chelsea in the second round UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In the first leg away at Stamford Bridge, Bjarne Goldbæk gave Copenhagen the lead nine minutes before the end of the match, but Chelsea scored in the last minute of the game. Chelsea later won the second game at Parken with a goal by the Dane Brian Laudrup, knocking out FCK. At the post-match press conference, it was announced that Chelsea's Brian Laudrup was signing with Copenhagen in January 1999, with Bjarne Goldbæk moving in the other direction for Chelsea. Laudrup, a four-time Danish Player of the Year award winner, however, could not help Copenhagen improve their league position, and the club ended the year in seventh in the 1998–99 Superliga season. Laudrup only stayed for six months at the club before signing for Ajax at the end of the season. In the 1999–2000 season, F.C. Copenhagen struggled to make any significant impact and finished eighth in the league.

Champions again

In the winter 2000 transfer window, South African striker Sibusiso Zuma was signed from South African side Orlando Pirates, and in May 2000, English manager Roy Hodgson became the new manager. From the 2000–01 season, the club started to improve. The club won its second Superliga championship, winning 3–1 in the last Copenhagen Derby match of the season. One of the goals scored in this match, a bicycle kick by Zuma, was later voted the Danish goal of the year, was voted the best Superliga goal of the decade in December 2009, and in 2013 voted as the greatest moment in the history of FCK. Roy Hodgson broke his contract with Copenhagen a few weeks after having won the championship, signing with Italian team Udinese, and he was replaced by Swede Kent Karlsson. The 2001 season is also remembered for a highly dramatic event. During training on 13 March 2001 charismatic midfielder Ståle Solbakken suffered a heart attack. He was rapidly attended to by club doctor Frank Odgaard who found that his heart had stopped beating and started to administer cardiac massage. Upon the ambulance's arrival, Solbakken was pronounced clinically dead at the scene, but on the way to the hospital in the ambulance he was revived nearly seven minutes later. He survived the episode and had a pacemaker fitted. Shortly after, on medical advice, he announced his playing retirement, but would later return to the club and become its most successful manager.