Molde FK

Not to be confused with Mold F.C..
This article is about the men's football team. For the women's football team, see Molde FK Women.

Molde
Full nameMolde Fotballklubb
Short nameMFK
Founded
  • 19 June 1911; 113 years ago (1911-06-19) (as International)
  • 1915; 109 years ago (1915) (as Molde FK)
GroundAker Stadion
Capacity11,249
ChairmanOdd Ivar Moen
ManagerErling Moe
LeagueEliteserien
2023Eliteserien, 5th of 16
Websitewww.moldefk.no
Current season

Molde Fotballklubb (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈmɔ̂ɫdə] ⓘ) is a football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to Molde in 1915. Molde are five-time league champions (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2022) and six-time Norwegian Cup winners (1994, 2005, 2013, 2014, 2022 and 2023), and have finished second in the league a further eleven times. Molde is one of only two Norwegian clubs to have participated in the UEFA Champions League.

The club's home matches are played at the 11,249-capacity Aker Stadion.[1] The stadium was inaugurated in 1998, and was a gift from local businessmen Kjell Inge Røkke and Bjørn Rune Gjelsten. The club was formerly based at Molde stadion, which hosted the club's record attendance of 14,615. Molde's supporter club is called Tornekrattet ("Thicket of thorns", a reference to the city's nickname "The Town of Roses") and was founded after the 1994 Norwegian Cup final victory.[2] Molde has its strongest rivalry with Rosenborg.

Until the beginning of the 1970s, the club mainly played in local lower division leagues, except for a short visit in the Hovedserien in the 1957–58 season. In 1974, Molde was back in the top division and finished second in the league, and have since then become one of Norway's leading clubs and generally stayed in the top division. Molde also finished second in the league in 1987, when the club lost the championship to Moss in the decisive match of the season.

During the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, Molde was the second-best team in Norway (behind 13-times in a row champions Rosenborg), with league silver medals in 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2002, and cup championships in 1994 and 2005, as well as participation in the UEFA Champions League in the 1999–2000 season, when Real Madrid, Porto and Olympiacos visited Molde.

As of 2017, the club has approximately 1,000 members and around 55 teams in three departments.[3] Erling Moe has been manager of the club since the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjær in December 2018; he has been permanent head coach since 29 April 2019.[4]

  1. ^ "Aker Stadion". moldefk.no (in Norwegian). Molde FK. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Info om Krattet" (in Norwegian). Tornekrattet. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  3. ^ "Molde Fotballklubb – Klubbfakta" (in Norwegian). Molde FK. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Erling Moe forlenger til ut 2020". moldefk.no. Molde FK. 29 April 2019. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.