Haugesund

Domestic history

1993-2000: A new era of football in the city of Haugesund

Fotballklubben Haugesund was originally founded on 28 October 1993 after local Haugesund-based football clubs Sportsklubben Haugar and Djerv 1919 merged their elite teams with the goal of establishing a team, with strong local roots, from the Haugaland-region in the top division in Norway. Teams in age-appropriate classes and for women was originally not a part of the deal in the merger. As of 2017 there have been talks of incorporating a women's team with uncertain future prospects, but with the possibility of a merger with Avaldsnes IL. The local football club SK Vard Haugesund was also present to participate in the merger, but in the first general meeting of the newly formed club, Vard chose to not to be part of the project. In the autumn of 2005, however, talks and negotiations to incorporate Vard were resumed, and since the 2007-season Vard has played the role as a farmer club for FK Haugesund. After FK Haugesund was established as a new club, it swapped places on the table with Sportsklubben Haugar in the 2nd Division, and Haugar and Djerv in 1919 started again in the lower divisions.

In the first season in the divisional system, 1994, FK Haugesund got promoted from the second division, under head-coach Conny Karlsson^[]. Karlsson who unexpectedly did not get his contract renewed at Landskrona after promotion to Allsvenskan, went to take over the newly formed FK Haugesund. This became a formidable success with promotion in the debut season in 1994, a great debut in the 1st division with a 4th place in his second season, before promotion to Tippeligaen in 1996. After an impressive 9th place in Karlssons debut season in the top division, Haugesund got relegated in Karlsson's fifth season in 1998. However, the team again got promoted the following year, but ended with only one year in Tippeligaen. Even if Conny Karlsson's stay at FK Haugesund ended with relegation, he still is a popular figure among the supporter club of FK Haugesund, Maakeberget, having named club anthem after him ("Connys Englar")

The 2000s: Relegation, promotion and the Norwegian cup final

After having played four consecutive seasons in the first division after the club's relegation in 2000 from Tippeligaen, FK Haugesund relegated from the 1st division in 2004. The team thus spent the 2005 season in the 2nd division, however, FK Haugesund moved right back up after becoming the best team to advance from the 2nd division. The seasons 2006-2009 the club established itself as a stable team in the first division, under head coach Rune Skarsfjord, with growing potential of promotion to the Tippeligaen. In 2008 however, Rune Skarsfjord became extremely disliked by both players and members of the club and unpopular among fans, due to his brash and unfriendly persona and eventually got sacked and was replaced with former long time-FK Haugesund-player Jostein Grindhaug. The 2009 season was a great success as the team won promotion once again the Tippeligaen. From the 2010 season the team has played in the Tippeligaen, now renamed Eliteserien. At the end of 2009, the club chose to start its own corporation for financial purposes.

The club's best performance in the Norwegian Cup came in 2007 when the club reached the final, as a 2nd division team. However the final at the Norwegian national arena, Ullevaal Stadium, on 11 November 2007, Lillestrøm SK won 2-0 after two goals by Canadian striker Olivier Occean. On their way to the final, FK Haugesund beat Nybergsund in the quarterfinals and Odd Grenland in the semi-final. This was also the fifth time a team from Haugesund has played a final in the cup - previously the city has been represented by Sportsklubben Haugar (1961, 1979), SK Vard Haugesund (1962, 1975). However, all four previous finals in the Norwegian Cup has ended with losses.

The 2010s: A proven club in the Eliteserien

After the promotion in 2009, FKH did relatively well both in terms of sporting results and financially. This meant the team were able to compete on the upper half of the table most seasons, with a team that in large part consisted of homegrown players from the Haugesund/Haugalandet-area.

In financial terms, the club has frequently been praised by sport commentators and journalists for being an effective, meticulous and well-driven club. This is due to the clubs focus on bringing up local talents rather than buying players elsewhere. In 2013 the club presented a profit of NOK 6.6 million NOK before tax, and a market revenues, ticket revenues of NOK 57.5 million in 2013, revenue was almost NOK 10 million more than budgeted (66.3 million). In 2012, the equity was estimated to NOK 6.8 million. At the end of the year it had risen to NOK 11.6 million. In 2019 FK Haugesund could once again present very good financial results, as one of 7 clubs in the Eliteserien. The Norwegian Football Association's presentation of club operations for the first six months of the year. This means that they were back in the green category after falling into the yellow category in the previous two reports.

In the first few years the team ended up in the middle of the table: Two sixth places in the 2010 and 2011 season were followed by a seventh place in 2012. In the 2013 season, the team's preliminary ranking came third, with third place. After the bronze, the results have been poorer, with 11th and 12th place in the following two years, before there was a rise in 2016 with 4 place. 2018 was again a strong year with either good placement in the series with a strong fourth place. In 2019 FK Haugesund reached the cup final for the second time after beating Odd 3–0, but in the final Viking became too strong with a 1–0 victory.

European tournament history

In 2014 FK Haugesund for the first time participated in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa League. Welsh team Airbus UK Broughton was beaten 3-2 overall. In the second round Bosnian team FK Sarajevo won 3-2 overall.

In 2017 FK Haugesund once again got to participate in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League. This time, the Northern-Irish team Coleraine easily got beaten 7-0 overall, before a 3–2 win at home over Polish team Lech Poznan thus followed by a 2–0 loss away and exit from the qualifying stages.

In 2019 FK Haugesund got qualified for the UEFA Europa League qualification and went out with the lowest possible margin against PSV in the third qualifying round 0–1 at home, and 0–0 away. FK Haugesund beat Northern Irish Cliftonville in the first round, winning 6-1 overall, before beating Sturm Graz of Austria 2–0 at home in the second round, and 1-2 losses away, and thus 3-2 further overall.

Statistics from recent seasons