In this month's round-up: Rógvi Jacobsen joins Norwegian 1st division club IL Hødd. GÍ/LÍF appoint Brazilian coach. B36 have lost their 3rd international player since the end of the season. "New" Faroese 1st division club is called 07 Vestur. And more transfer news. But first news on the Iceland friendly international:
Iceland-friendly 16 March
A date has now been set for the friendly international against Iceland in March.
The match played 16 March 2008 in the new indoor arena, Korinn, in Kópavágur, Iceland. As this day is not an official UEFA-day for internationals, Iceland will probably field a team with domestic players only, as those playing abroad will likely not be released by their respective clubs.
The same conditions apply for the Faroese players playing abroad.
Transfer News
B36 Tórshavn B36 have now lost their 3rd Faroe Islands international since the end of the season, as central midfield player Mikkjal Thomassen has joined EB/Streymur, where he will team up with former B36 coach from 2005 and 2006, Sigfríður Clementsen.
And as expected, B36 had to wave farewell to the 2007 Formula Division top scorer, Ivorian born striker Amed Davy Sylla. Sylla has left the Faroe Islands and has signed for Maltese club Birkikara FC. But Birkikara and Sylla are no strangers to one another, as B36 and Birkikara met in the first qualifying round of the 2006/2007 UEFA Champions League. Sylla scored two of B36's goals, as B36 went through with a 5-2 win on aggregate.
As Faroe Islands international goalkeeper Jákup Mikkelsen decided to leave B36 and rejoin his youth club KÍ Klaksvík, present goalkeeper Meinhardt Joensen was not interested in staying with KÍ, as he would probably have been degraded to reserve keeper. And as B36 now were a goalkeeper short, they were quick to offer Joensen a contract. The 28 year-old has been among the better Faroese goalkeepers the latter years and has also been reserve in the national team a few times, although that place is now occupied by EB/Streymur's goalkeeper, René Tórgarð. On a good day, Meinardt Joensen is an excellent goalkeeper, but occasional bad days pull the average down.
Brazilian striker Anderson Castilho, who joined B36 late last season after having played for title rivals NSÍ Runavík, has gone back to Brazil. He didn't show much at B36 and was mostly sitting on the bench.
EB/Streymur As mentioned above, EB/Streymur have signed midfielder Mikkjal Thomassen from B36 Tórshavn. EB/Streymur look like a very exciting team for next season, and seam to have the right blend of attacking and defending forces, and if they stay injury-free, they should be right up there close to the top next season – or even ON the top...
GÍ/LÍF GÍ/LÍF have appointed former Santos and Flamengo star (in the late 70 and early-80s), Brazilian Edson 'Dido' Silva as their new coach. After ending his playing career in Israel in 2000, Dido was in January 2001 appointed national coach for Vietnam, but was sacked in September the same year, three months before his contract expired.
During his stay in Vietnam, he received death threats through e-mail and telephone.
GÍ/LÍF is the only Formula Division club with a foreign coach next season.
In addition to this, it was also revealed that central defender Kaj Ennigarð, who left GÍ for KÍ Klaksvík last season, has rejoined GÍ/LÍF, as it is now called. Most of his 2007 season was ruined by an injury. When fit, he should definitely be an asset for GÍ/LÍF.
HB Tórshavn Rógvi Jacobsen has signed a 2-year contract with Norwegian club IL Hødd. Jacobsen's goals for the national team this year – not least the two against world champions Italy - haven't gone unnoticed, as he has received offers from Italy, England, Holland and Belgium (probably not highest division), but in the end, he chose to sign for Norwegian 1st division (2nd highest) side IL Hødd. The reason given for the choice was that Hødd had the most concrete offer. – Others wanted Jacobsen on a trial first, which he was not interested in.
Last season Hødd played in the 3rd best division, but were promoted and will play in the 2nd best division in 2008.
Below is a video clip from a 2nd division match last season between Hødd and KBT (Hødd in blue won 3-1). But it must be said that the level of play does not seem to be particularly high. It looks rather unstructured and with a bunch of players in front of goal (like when small kids play). Especially their finishing seems to be very poor. Maybe a good opportunity for Jacobsen to excel.
And here is a clip from 2006, when Hødd was in the 2nd best division. Nothing impressing there either. Hødd in blue lost 1-0 against FK Haugesund.
There is another Faroese player in the Norvegian 1st division. – Símun Samuelsen, who is also in the national team, plays for Notodden FK.
But how will HB Tórshavn cope with the loss of Jacobsen? Well, there shouldn't be any real problems as HB have plenty of attacking options. And really, sometimes Jacobsen's dominance in the air only led to simple play where the only aim was to get the ball close to Jacobsen's head.
ÍF Fuglafjørður Høgni Madsen who has played for KÍ Klaksvík for 3 years is returning home to ÍF Fuglafjørður.
KÍ Klaksvík KÍ klaksvík have signed 23 year-old offensive midfielder Bjarni Jørgensen, who played for relegated AB Argir last seaason and has also played for Skála previously. Jørgensen is originally a HB player and has played for different national youth teams.
It's still not official if KÍ's English goalscorer Paul Clapson will leave KÍ, but most rumours suggest he will not continue in the Faroe Islands. It's been suggested that he has received offers from some Nordic country. If he's going to play in the top flight, then it can only be Iceland, as no top flight-club in Denmark, Norway, Finland or Sweden would opt for an (no offence) average striker. But 1st division in Norway and Denmark is maybe also an option.
"clapson soccer iceland" – does this suggest something? Well, what is it? It's a string from this website's traffic statistics-page and it shows that someone has typed in the phrase "clapson soccer Iceland" in Google and has then ended up on this website, because it often mentions Paul Clapson – although it hasn't suggested an Icelandic link before. But maybe there is someone out there who knows that Clapson is heading to Iceland and they wanted to know if anyone had written about it yet… But time will reveal everything…
Argentinean player Gunnar Nielsen is according to rumours not being asked to continue for KÍ next season. Nothing official there yet, though.
NSÍ Runavík NSÍ captain Óli Hansen said in a radio show on Saturday that veteran defender Pól Thorsteinsson most probably has retired. Thorsteinsson was injured at the start of last season and didn't play before round 13, when he came on (to play in midfield) in the 74th minute in the game against HB Tórshavn, when the score was 0-0. HB were going all out for victory, but a couple of important tackles from Thorsteinsson gave NSÍ the opportunity for a attack in the 87th minute which ended in a goal for NSÍ – another late victory and 3 crucial points.
With Thorsteinsson now retired, and the same with goalkeeper Jens Martin Knudsen, NSÍ have lost 2 of their most experienced players. It remains to be seen what effect this will have. So far, NSÍ haven't signed any new player. But we'll see what happens. They are maybe also on the outlook for a striker, as Christian Høgni Jacobsen, who played for NSÍ in the last 11 rounds of the season (on loan from HB), has returned to HB Tórshavn.
B68 Toftir, B71 Sandoy and Skála From the other Formula Division clubs there is no news to report. Especially Skála have been quiet since the end of season. But the transfer window stays open until Friday 22 February 2008, so expect a few more signings in our next update in late January. The transfer window then re-opens on 16 June and closes 21 July 2008 at midnight.
Klaksvík Tournament
The draw for the annual Klaksvík tournament, which has been held since 1990 (a pre-season friendly tournament between no. 1-3 from last season and the hosts KÍ Klaksvík), was made on Friday. The tournament itself doesn't take place before March 1st However. But here is the schedule:
March 01:
12:45: KÍ Klaksvík vs. NSÍ Runavík
15:00: EB/Streymur vs B36 Tórshavn
March 02:
12:45: 3rd/4th place: losers vs. losers
15:00: Final: Winners vs. Winners
Traditionally, we make this note also:
("Ironic sidebar": This is the tournament KÍ Klaksvík often win, and then they think that they'll of course also win the league championship... Well, most often they don't;-)
Last season HB Tórshavn won the Klaksvík tournament, though – and went on to have a disastrous league campaign…
07 Vestur
In our last update we wrote about the new/repaired club that had come out of the old FS Vágar, but that they were seeking a new name. That name has now been announced: 07 Vestur (in English: 07 West). The 07 of course refers to the founding year, 2007, but it also refers (a bit) to the geographical placement of the island of Vágar, as it lies west of 7 degrees of latitude. And the Vestur-name (West) likewise refers to the geographical placement, as the club is based on the western part of the Faroes.