VSK Aarhus

Separate clubs, common ground

VSK Aarhus was formed through a merger of Vejlby IK Fodbold (VIK) and the men's football department of IK Skovbakken on 1 July 2016. Both clubs shared their home grounds at Vejlby Stadium and had each their own clubhouse part of Vejlby-Risskov Idrætscenter.

Vejlby IK was founded in 1949 as a football club in the Aarhus suburb of Vejlby, while Skovbakken was established in the neighbourhood of Trøjborg in 1927. Skovbakken was named after section 1 of the Arbejdernes Andels Boligforening (AAB), a housing area by Marienlund. AAB, founded in 1919, is the oldest organisation for subsidised housing in Aarhus, and the club therefore has strong working class roots. Skovbakken's first ground was at Ferdinands Plads in Riis Skov. In 1939, the club moved to Riisvangen, where facilities were largely built through volunteering. In 1969, the club moved to the newly established Vejlby-Risskov Idrætscenter on the initiative of a number of visionary leaders in IK Skovbakken, and had their home ground at the stadium facility, Vejlby Stadium. Here, the football department of Skovbakken would soon find success, and they spent the 1978 season and 1979 season at the highest level. Symbolically, the subsequent decline of Skovbakken occurred with the advent of professionalism in Danish football, which was introduced on 25 February 1978 by the Danish Football Union.

Skovbakken and Vejlby IK shared the ground at Vejlby Stadium and throughout the following decades, the two clubs formed a rivalry, but also had multiple attempts of merging. The first initiative was taken by chairman of Vejlby IK Gymnastik, Erik Brandtoft in the 1987, but these plans did initially not come to fruition. A new initiative surfaced in the 1990s, when Ove Poulsen who was associated with both clubs, took control of negotiations for a merger. However, the proposal failed to gain approval at the general assembly of Vejlby IK.

The first merger (1999–2000)

In 1999, IK Skovbakken entered into an agreement to merge with Aarhus Fremad, whose first team competed in the Danish Superliga, the highest level of Danish football. This superstructure, named FC Aarhus, was formed with the goal of becoming one of the top clubs of Denmark. However, the merger only survived for six months, as the new club had already built up a deficit of DKK 2.5 million. Skovbakken dropped out of the merger while the Aarhus Fremad board decided to continue their professional department under the name of FC Aarhus for the next four years with the continued ambition of reaching the Superliga, after suffering relegation from the highest level in 1999. After Skovbakken withdrew from the merger, the first team was placed in the lower divisions of Danish football, and only stopped the decline at Series 1, the sixth highest level.

Forming VSK Aarhus (2008–2016)

In 2008, the Danish Football Union introduced a licensing system in the youth departments of Danish clubs. Initially developed by the UEFA in 2004, club licensing sets a standard of good practice both on the field and in administration. Skovbakken did not receive a license for its youth teams, which meant that its best youth talents left the club for other clubs in the region. As a consequence of this, the under-16 team, who had just promoted to the highest division for that age group after reaching first place in the second highest division, was suddenly disbanded. The club had the reshuffle its youth teams in the following years, and sought to implement a new structure for the youth department. However, there were not enough youth players available to form a competitive academy due to an exodus of youth players. This was not only the case for Skovbakken, but also for local rivals Vejlby IK Fodbold and Aarhus Fremad, where youth players frequently began moving between the three clubs' youth departments. Therefore, in the summer of 2010, Skovbakken, Vejlby IK and Aarhus Fremad entered into a cooperation agreement to provide both superstructure teams and joint teams at U13, U14, U15 and U16-levels under the name of the former superstructure, FC Aarhus.

At an internal evaluation seminar between the three clubs in January 2015, it was agreed that youth football in the area would thrive the best in the case of a merger in footballing departments. The three clubs' boards set up a collaboration committee for the merger in March 2015. Martin Østergaard, Ane Mathilde Pedersen and John Duus Andresen (Vejlby IK), Jesper Simonsen and Poul Mortensen (Skovbakken women's football) and Thomas Pallesen and Leif Gjørtz Christensen (Skovbakken men's football) all participated in the merger working group. The amateur department of Aarhus Fremad would initially participate in the meetings, but withdrew from the project on 30 May 2015 as they became part of Aarhus Fremad Fodbold ApS, who ran their first team and reserve teams.

The merger was agreed upon after two successive general assemblies in Vejlby IK and Skovbakken, respectively, in February 2016. Subsequently, the new club was formed at the next founding general assembly, with the official date of inception being 1 July 2016. The first chairman was Leif Gjørtz Christensen from Skovbakken. Initially, it was decided by large majority of votes from both clubs that the new football superstructure should be named FC Vejlby, but after some months later an extraordinary general meeting was requested by a large number of members, who, in June 2016, decided to change the name to Vejlby Skovbakken Aarhus – or VSK Aarhus.