Full name | Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber |
---|---|
Short name | EfB |
Founded | 23 July 1924 |
Ground | Blue Water Arena, Esbjerg |
Capacity | 18,000 |
Chairman | Leif Thomsen |
Manager | Lars Lungi Sørensen |
League | Danish Superliga |
2015–16 | Danish Superliga, 11th |
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (EfB; pronounced [ˈɛsb̥jæɐ̯ˀ]) is a professional Danish football club from the port city of Esbjerg in West Jutland. The club was formed in 1924, as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911. The club has training facilities and stadium at Gl. Vardevej in Esbjerg, and plays in blue and white striped shirts. Following the departure of long time club player and former head coach Jess Thorup, Niels Frederiksen is the current head coach. Esbjerg fB is one of the more successful clubs in Denmark in terms of trophies. They have won the Danish championship five times (1961, 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1979) and three Danish cup titles (1964, 1976 and 2013).
The main sponsor is Stofa and the club's kit sponsor is Nike. The official fanclub of Esbjerg fB is Blue Knights.
In 2005 EfB took over the management of the elite ice hockey club, Esbjerg Ishockey Klub (EIK). Which is now called EfB Ishockey.
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber was officially established in 1924 as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 (E.B. 98) and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911 (EAK) after 12 years of competition between the two clubs. The new club was driven by ambition for something bigger, which already produced results the day after when the club's best start-up team defeated Kolding IF with 7–0.
The club's golden years was in the first half of the 1960s with the Austrian coach Rudi Strittich throughout most of the decade. The club won the Danish Championship in 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965 and won the DBU national Cup for men in 1964. In the 2010–11 Danish Superliga season EfB finished 12th and was relegated to the Danish 1st Division for the first time since the 1999–00 season.
Esbjerg fB plays at Blue Water Arena, which is the name of Esbjerg Stadion at Gl. Vardevej and part of Esbjerg Sports Park. In 2004 a new stand was built on the eastern side of a stadium. A new stadium with seating for 18,000 spectators, was completed in August 2009. It is currently the second biggest stadium in Jutland, and the fourth biggest in Denmark.