Aalborg Boldspilklub

Current logo
Original logo

Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but currently controls teams in football, American football, and floorball. All teams are competing in the top-flight Danish league in their respective sport. The kit sponsor for the club is Adidas, and the principal sponsor for the football team is the regional bank Spar Nord.

AaB was founded on May 13, 1885 by English engineers who were building Jutland's railway system, and the first years was concentrated on the game of cricket. It was initially named Aalborg Cricketklub (Aalborg Cricketclub) but the name of the club was changed to Aalborg Boldklub (Aalborg ballclub) in 1899. Football was adopted on an amateur basis in 1902, and has since been the main sport, as the name was changed to the current Aalborg Boldspilklub af 1885 (Aalborg ballgameclub of 1885) in 1906.[1]

Sections

Professional

Main article: AaB A/S

Football

Main article: AaB Fodbold

The club established a men's football team in 1902. The team has been a part of the Danish Superliga championship since 1987, winning four championships in 1995, 1999, 2008 and in 2014. As well as three Danish cups in 1966, 1970 and 2014.

AaB became the first Danish team ever to participate in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage in 1995. AaB also qualified for the 2008–09 Champions League and qualified for the UEFA Cup in the same season after a 3rd-place finish in their Champions League group.

Handball

Main article: AaB Handball

Handball was adopted by AaB in 2003, when the local men's team Aalborg HSH was bought and renamed AaB Håndbold (AaB handball). Since then, the club has played in the Danish top-flight handball league, though they have never won the league title. In May 2007, AaB published the plans to take over the women's handball team of Aalborg DH, as a part of the AaB Håndbold brand, as Aalborg DH did not pass a due diligence test, the takeover was never completed. With the expanded handball section, the men's team have moved their games to Aalborg DH's venue, Gigantium Arena. AaB Håndbold was owned by AaB A/S until January 2011. In January 2011 the license was given to the new company "Aalborg Håndbold A/S".

Ice hockey

Main article: AaB Ishockey

AaB also owns the professional ice hockey team AaB Ishockey, which builds on the amateur youth development of Aalborg Ishockey Klub (AIK), which built on two merged clubs AaB Ishockey and IK Aalborg. AaB Ishockey won the 1981 Danish championship. From 2004 to 2007, AaB Ishockey has won four sets of silver medals in a row.

AaB Ishockey ceased operations at the end of the 2011/2012 season. The team has been replaced by a whole new team and organisation that is called Aalborg Pirates.

Amateur

Basketball

In 2005, AaB coorporated with Aalborg Basketball Klub (ABK) in order to build the AaB Basket team.[2] The basketball team was no success, and was dismantled in March 2007,[3] reverting the team to its ABK roots.

Floorball

AaB also has a floorball division, which in 2007-08 secured promotion to the best league in Denmark. The team is located and plays matches at Hornevej where the rest of AaB's training facilities are located.

American football

AaB 89ers is an American football team started in 1989, they play at semi-professional level in National League (the best Danish league).

Tennis

AaB Tennis plays at amateur level.

References

  1. ↑ AaB Archived May 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. at Onside.dk
  2. ↑ (Danish) Anders Laursen, AaB - nu også som basketballklub, Danmarks Radio, June 27, 2005
  3. ↑ (Danish) Anders Laursen, AaB opgiver satsning på basketball, Danmarks Radio, March 28, 2007

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aalborg BK.

Coordinates: 57°2′37″N 10°1′15″E / 57.04361°N 10.02083°E / 57.04361; 10.02083

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.