The Greatest Story In European Football Nobody Is Talking About - KÍ Klaksvík - video Dailymotion

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00:00Ask any child growing up where they'd like to play football one day and you'll

00:07get largely the same responses. England, Spain, Italy, all of the trendy and

00:11prestigious locations of the game's global appeal. One place they're not

00:15likely to say is the Faroe Islands. An archipelago of 18 rocky islands in the

00:20North Atlantic Ocean sees an average of 300 days of rain per year and 13 degrees

00:25Celsius is regarded as a hot summer's day. The island's 50,000 inhabitants are

00:30comfortably outnumbered by its 80,000 sheep. But none of this has stopped the

00:35Faroe's adopting football as their national obsession. Statistically one of

00:39the most football-mad populations on earth, roughly 10% of the entire country

00:43plays regularly, it's about to embark upon the next stage of what's already been an

00:48incredible, implausible, arguably impossible European journey. This is the

00:53amazing story in European football that nobody's talking about. This is Kaoi

01:00Clackstrick. Hailing from a town of just 5,000 people in a valley perched between

01:04two fjords and with a stadium that holds only 2,500, Kaoi have become the first

01:09Faroeese team ever to qualify for a European group stage, thanks to not one

01:14but two shock victories. Historically a giant of the Faroe Islands Premier League,

01:20the 20-time champions became their country's first ever invincibles last

01:24year. In 27 matches, they won 25 times, drew just twice and conceded only seven goals.

01:31But with their domestic season running from March to October, they had to wait

01:35fully nine months for their crack at this season's Champions League. They'd lost

01:39narrowly to Norwegian's Bodo Glimt in the first qualifying round of last year's

01:43competition and after being given a COVID-enforced first-round buy against

01:47Slovy and Bratislava were dumped out by young boys of Bern the year prior. In

01:51short, they'd never technically won a Champions League tie, so few gave Kaoi any

01:56chance when they prepared to face Hungary's French Varos in the first

02:00qualifying round this July. Yet after a tense 0-0 home leg, they stunned their more

02:06illustrious opponents on away soil, running out 3-0 victors. It was a result

02:11that was met with disbelief in Hungary and the Faroe Islands alike. A day later, the

02:17squad received a hero's welcome when they arrived back in Klaksvik and a

02:21significant proportion of the town lined the streets. There were flares, there were

02:26fireworks, it was a huge, huge deal. In the second round, Kaoi took on Swedish

02:31champions BK Haken. Again, they managed a goal-destraw at home, prompting their

02:35opponent's official social media account to declare that they would return to Sweden to

02:39win the tie. The second leg was a classic, a topsy-turvy match that ended 3-3, with

02:46Kaoi winning out on penalties. The celebrations among the sizeable travelling

02:51contingent were not just for another giant killing, but the fact that by winning

02:55this tie, they'd made history. Not only had they become the first Faroe

02:59side ever to reach the third qualifying round of the Champions League, but they

03:03were now guaranteed to become the first team from the islands to play in some

03:08sort of European group stage. This is by far the best time to be a fan of Kaoi or

03:14of Faroe's football as a whole. Tormund de Danielsson, chairman of the club's

03:18Blue Wave fan club, tells 442 in this month's issue. This European run has already

03:24been incredible. Even if Kaoi lost their next qualifying round of the Champions

03:28League against Norwegian title holders Molde, they'd then drop into the final

03:32qualifying round for the Europa League. If they lost that, they'd still go directly into

03:37the group stage of the Europa Conference League. Now if that feels like weak criteria

03:42for an incredible European story, keep in mind the fact that the Faroe's club's

03:46players are all semi-professionals. They all hold down proper jobs elsewhere. Striker

03:53Arnie Friedrichsberg, who downed French Varos with a brilliant brace, runs a food

03:58import business by day. Two other players work for the local electricity company, with

04:02Kaoi's social media posting pictures of them installing powerlines the day after their historical

04:07European triumph. Kaoi astoundingly defeated Molde 2-1 in the first leg of their third qualifying

04:14round tie. By that stage of the competition though, UEFA staging regulations meant they

04:18could no longer even play at their home ground in Klaksvik. Instead, they hosted the Norwegians

04:23at the Faroe's cosy but smart national stadium in Torsharn. Two islands further to the west,

04:29accessible via sea tunnels, one of which even contains an underwater roundabout. You've seen this

04:34staging before, of course. It was the subject of Richard Key's famous daft little ground,

04:39silly game, f*** off comment during Sky's coverage of the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Granted,

04:45it wasn't the worst off-air incident that was leaked during his time at the Broadcaster,

04:49but it's certainly the one that set the biggest impact in the Faroe Islands. The return leg wasn't

04:54to give them the fairytale outcome. They lost, albeit bravely, in Norway. But not before taking another

05:00Champions League tie to extra time before going out to a 112-minute winner. This set up a Europa League

05:06playoff against Sheriff Tarasbol. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Torsharn, Keoy fans were advised

05:12not to travel to Tarasbol, the capital of the unrecognised state of Transnistria within Moldova,

05:18due to tensions that have grown since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Instead, Keoy fans gathered

05:23together in front of a big screen to watch their side play the second leg, which Sheriff narrowly won 2-1,

05:29thanks to a 76-minute goal from Armel Zahuri. Given that the Moldovan champions stunned Real Madrid

05:36at the Bernabeu just two seasons ago, there was no shame in this defeat, and Keoy knew a place in

05:41the conference league group stage was waiting for them in any case. When the draw was made on September

05:461st, they were placed into Group A alongside Lille, Slovan Bratislava and Olympia Ljubljana. They

05:52started the group in typical fashion, taking a shock 1-0 lead against the Slovakian champions,

05:58before former Manchester City winger Vladimir Weiss broke their hearts with a late winner.

06:03Regardless though, with one of the trickier away ties now out of the way, their hopes of progression

06:08remain high. Keoy are already set to reap the financial rewards of this season's European exploits.

06:14Their earnings for their summer's work will be vast by Faroe standards and have opened a debate in the

06:19country about how they best spend their spoils. One area that may need to be addressed is that of their

06:24home stadium to allow them to play all of their future European games in Klachvik.

06:29It's also been suggested that the club may buy some of their semi-professional players

06:33out of their day jobs. It's a move that everyone agrees would smash a ceiling preventing further

06:38progress, but which could lead to further imbalances in the domestic league, where most other clubs are

06:43understandably miles away from being able to make players professional. Investing in their homegrown

06:48players and their new academy system, which was set up two years ago, could be a further boost to the

06:53Faroe Islands national team, who are already creating their own shockwaves, beating Turkey

06:58in the Nations League last year when they took an impressive eight points from six games.

07:02They'd of course previously created headlines during qualifying for Euro 2016 when they defeated

07:072004 champions Greece home and away. That loss to the Faroes at home saw Claudio Ranieri sacked,

07:14fatefully leaving him free to take the Leicester City job. And while Kaoi Klachvik might not be on

07:20the verge of doing a Leicester themselves, they've already been the shock story of European football

07:25this summer. It's taken a whole heap of courage and a talented squad, but they've made history for

07:30Faroes football. The club are writing a story that will be told in Klachvik for generations,

07:36and if they get their wish, it's a journey that won't stop here.

07:41If you'd like to read more about the incredible story of Kaoi Klachvik, you'll find a full feature

07:45on them in this month's issue of 442. Written by Paul Watson and including contributions from

07:49several people connected to the club, it's available now from all good retailers.

The Greatest Story In European Football Nobody Is Talking About - KÍ Klaksvík

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