31 July, 2015
René S. Joensen signs for Vendsyssel
Before the restart of the league after a one-month summer break, HB Tórshavn’s midfielder/defender René S. Joensen signed a six month contract with Danish 2nd tier club Vendsyssel who also have Hallur Joensen in their fold.
Rene Joensen has been one of HB’s absolute best players this season and HB already felt his absence in the stalemate with FC Suðuroy last Wednesday.
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Sonni Ragnar Nattestad’s future unsure
Future of Sonni Ragnar Nattestad at Vejle, where he is on loan from FC Midtjylland, is in doubt after the defender has not shown up for training after the Danish summer-break so far.
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Páll Klettskarð out for the season
KÍ Klaksvík’s striker Páll Klettskarð will be side-lined for the rest of the season for the injury he suffered against B36 before the summer-break.
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TB Tvøroyri part with Icelandic
TB Tvøroyri and Icelandic defender Reynir Magnússon have parted company citing he was unhappy in the Faroe Islands.
26 July, 2015
World Cup 2018 Qualifying Draw
Can the Faroe Islands reach double digits in the 2018 World Cup campaign as they get an excellent draw and are grouped with Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Latvia and Andorra?
Although the headlines in the main media will go to superstar Christiano Ronaldo, the most interesting question is really if the Faroe Islands could reach double digits for the first time ever in a qualifying campaign.
But how realistic it is? Well, having beaten Greece twice in the current qualifying campaign for the 2016 Euros, optimism is certainly flying high and anything seems possible. But it’s not only the victories over Greece that spur on that optimism as the results against Hungary, Finland and also Romania with narrow defeats have proven that the double over Greece wasn´t just a coincidence. – Although granted that Greece have been pathetic in their current campaign with only two points recorded.
So where should those “10” points come from?
From pot six – the lowest ranked country – the Faroes drew Andorra who currently sits third from bottom in UEFA’s National Team Coefficients list where the Faroes are ranked as the 47th of the total of 54 nations. Andorra have lost all of their six qualifying matches in the EURO 2016 qualifying campaign and have a goal difference of 3 / 23.
Andorra is a newer member of FIFA and UEFA than the Faroe Islands and for the first time took part in qualifying for the European championships in 2000 and have only in one qualification tournament earned points; that was when they got five points for the 2006 World Cup qualification tournament. So six points for the Faroe Islands is not unrealistic.
One caveat though: The Faroes have never beaten Andorra so far, but drew 0-0 in their only meeting so far in a friendly in Spain in 1999.
Four points to go to reach ten. A home win and an away draw against Latvia?
Well, Latvia won´t be any pushovers for the Faroes, that's for sure, and although they are ranked as no. 87 on Blatter’s stupid FIFA ranking list, where the Faroe Islands are ranked 74th, Latvia is indeed ranked above the Faroes on UEFA’s ranking list which gives a much more accurate current state of the teams. For example Wales are ranked 10th in FIFA’s world ranking and actually above Spain, but everybody who has just a minimal insight into football knows that Wales are not the 10th best team in the world. FIFA’s list makes Wales the 7th best team in Europe whereas UEFA’s list ranks them as no. 25 only, which is a more realistic evaluation.
But back to Latvia. The Faroes have never met Latvia before, so it’s difficult to assess them. However, from the current EURO campaign Latvia have earned three points from three draws against Kazakhstan (a), Turkey (h) and the Czech Republic (h). In the previous qualifying campaign – for the 2014 World Cup – they got 8 points; so they do regularly win matches, although their two victories were against weaker opposition from Liechtenstein and Lithuania, but also a draw against Slovakia. On away soil they only managed a draw against Liechtenstein, so maybe the Faroes can go one better and beat Latvia at home. But it will be mighty difficult. And it also says some about Latvia’s strength that they qualified for the European Championship finals in 2004.
So if we don´t get a point away to Latvia, we still need a point to get to 10. So why don´t we take it at home against Hungary? Yes, let’s do that because it was so close to happen in the current EURO campaign where Hungary just managed to win 1-0 in Torshavn and did not look scary in any way, and where the Faroes for once had a clear majority of possession, although failing to create scoring opportunities. But that part has improved since.
Both FIFA and UEFA have them ranked similarly at 23 (of European teams) and 21, respectively and is probably a fair assessment of this middle class team.
From the pot of 2nd seeded teams, Switzerland were drawn, which is about as good a draw it can be as all teams are quite strong. The Faroes have met Switzerland four times earlier and have lost all matches: 1-3 (h, 2005), 6-0 (a, 2004) 0-1 (h, 2001) and 5-1 (a, 2000).
From the highest ranked teams it does almost not matter which one you draw because they are all top teams, except Wales which have been allocated in the top seeding because of FIFA’s ridiculous system, where they are ranked as 10th in the world and as the 7th highest nation in Europe. As mentioned above, UEFA ranks Wales only at no. 25, so that would have been highest on the wish list.
However, it became Ronaldo an co. and hopes of points are slim.
The Faroe Island have once met Portugal in a friendly which Portugal won 5-0 in 2008 – without Ronaldo.
So, to recap, the plan for the 10 points is as follows: 6 points against Andorra, 3 points against Latvia and 1 point against Hungary.
The fixture list has been announced already:
6 September 2016: Faroe Islands – Hungary
7 October 2016: Latvia – Faroe Islands
10 October 2016: Faroe Islands – Portugal
13 November 2016: Switzerland – Faroe Islands
25 March 2017: Andorra – Faroe Islands
9 June 2017: Faroe Islands – Switzerland
31 August 2017: Portugal – Faroe Islands
3 September 2017: Faroe Islands – Andorra
7 October 2017: Faroe Islands – Latvia
10 October 2017: Hungary – Faroe Islands
20 July 2015
Latest updates now the transfer window has closed and table toppers B36 Tórhavn have signed a Danish MLS player and 2nd placed NSÍ Runavík have acquired former treble top scorer Christian Høgni Jacobsen:
B36 Tórshavn
B36 Tórshavn have signed 26-year old Dane Philip Lund whose strength is in the attacking positions. He comes from the American Major League Soccer where he has spent the last couple of years; with limited success though, having been Seattle Sounders FC first and then at Oklahoma City.
A hip injury forced him to stop prematurely in the US, but apparently he has recovered from a lengthy break. Before moving to the MLS, Lund had played approximately 50 matches for three different Danish 2nd tier clubs.
Lund has mainly been drafted in to replace Senegalese forward Ibrahima Camara who has been told that he has no future in B36’s first team as he hasn´t made the impact that some had hoped.
The news is now that Camara has switched to Giza/Hoyvík in the 3rd tier.
B36 will also have the services of 20-year old forward Rasmus Dan Sørensen who made a switch to EB/Streymur before the season. Because of injury, he only made eight league appearances for EB/Streymur.
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NSÍ Runavík
Three-times league top scorer Christina Høgni Jacobsen will play for second placed NSÍ Runavík for the rest of the season. Jacobsen was top scorer in 2005, 2006 and 2010 – the third time joint top scorer with Arnbjørn Hansen who officially was named top scorer and got the golden boot as he had used fewer minutes to score his 22 goals than Jacobsen had.
Jacobsen, who has become 35, ended his career at the highest level at the end of 2012 before moving to Denmark, but returned to NSÍ in the latter stages last season and scored four goals in five matches.
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HB Tórshavn
HB Tórshavn have allowed winger Símun Samuelsen to go to FC Suðuroy, his boyhood club – which actually was VB Vágur, but which has more or less evolved into FC Suðuroy. Samuelsen was unknown to most Faroese when he signed for HB in 2010 after five years in Iceland playing for Keflavík ÍF whom he had joined as a 20-year old in 2005.
Samuelsen got an injury in the last third of the 2013 season and has barely played since. At FC Suðuroy he is hoping to get more time on the pitch.
Samuelsen was also assistant coach for HB this season.
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Víkingur
Víkingur has been fairly quiet in the transfer market but have signed midfielder/forward Páll Mohr Joensen from HB where only made two appearances this season, coming off the bench. 29-year old Páll (with two l’s) is not to be mistaken for prospect Pál (with one l) Mohr Joensen who got injured in the third round and will miss the rest of the season.
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EB/Streymur
In addition to having waived goodbye to forward Rasmus Dan Sørensen, they have also had to say goodbye to 21-year old goalkeeper Christian Høj who has opted to switch to 2nd tier leaders Skála to replace Suni Ernstsson who has moved to Denmark to study.
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TB Tvøroyri
TB Tvøroyri have signed versatile 26-year old Ghanaian born Kofi Appiah who the club says can play as a forward, midfielder or even defender. Appiah is an acquaintance of Albert Adu and has played alongside him in Britain.
TB have also signed 19-year old Dane Jonas Gejel Hansen who has made 14 appearances for the Danish U19 team, but who recently played for the Faroese U21 team which he is eligeble to do as he has Faroese parents although he has lived all of his life in Denmark. Hansen, who is a defensive midfielder has, has also made his debut in the Danish Superliga for Esbjerg FB which he parted with earlier this month though, having been on loan at 2nd tier club Varde.
To even further strengthen the team, TB will have forward Hanus Mortensen back in their fold as he has returned from his studies in Denmark.
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FC Suðuroy
As mentioned above, FC Suðuroy have signed Símun Samuelsen form HB Tórshavn, but the drawback is they will lose forward/midfielder John Tordar Poulsen who is leaving the country two rounds after the restart of the league.
On the other hand others are returning from abroad; they are Reidar D. Joensen, Teitur Tausen and Ingi Poulsen.
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AB Argir
AB are having some changes in the last crucial 10 matches of the league. Coming in is midfielder Tróndur Jensen, who has previously played for HB Tórshavn, but who has been studying in Denmark this year. Offensive minded Dion Splidt, who has played nearly 100 games for AB in the top division, has also returned to the club.
On the other hand defender Andras Brixen Vágsheyg has moved to Denmark and so will Beinir Ellefsen and Hørður Mohr soon.
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ÍF Fuglafjørður
22-year old midfielder Bogi R. Petersen, who has played for various national youth teams of the Faroe Islands, is returning from abroad to join ÍF Fuglafjørður for the rest of the season.
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KÍ Klaksvík
Only KÍ Klaksvík is missing in this update, but that's because there are no changes to report. Last month they replaced Ivorian Evrard Blé with Nigerian defensive midfielder Sani Tahir.