October 31, 2006: October Round-Up:
The 2006 league and Cup tournaments are over, but preparations for next season have already started. A lot of rumors are floating in the air about transfers and signings, but I'm not going to speculate here; just mention some facts. – But first a few paragraphs about the new clubs in the Formula Division 2007:
Promotion to the Formula Division
B71 Sandoy and AB Argir will be the new clubs in the Formula Division 2007 after becoming no. 1 and 2, respectively, in the first division 2006 (the second best division).
B71 Sandoy
B71 are not new to the best division. They played there for the first time in 1989. – And what a debut it was! They won the championship title in convincing style and didn't lose a single match in the league (18 matches then). They beat HB Tartan to second place by a staggering 9 points. They also played in the Cup final that year, but this time they were beaten by HB in 2 games. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw; a match that has often been the described as the best match ever played in the Faroes. B71 lost the re-match 0-2.
The '89 B71-team was blessed with a lot of technically sound players, but what really made the difference was their two Polish players, goalkeeper Wieslaw Zakrzewski and their midfield dynamo, Piotr Krakowski who is probably the best player to ever have played in the Faroese league.
However, in the following season (1990), B71 ended in last spot and were relegated.
Since then, they have been moving up and down between the two divisions, but they never became the same force they were in 1989. However, in 1993 B71 won the Cup competition, beating HB 2-1 in the re-match, after the first final had ended in a 1-1 draw.
Piotr Krakowski has been the coach at EB/Streymur for the last 4 years and will also be there in 2007.
In fact, B71 have no coach at the moment, as their 2006 coach, Serb Dragan Kovacevic has joined Skála, with whom he has signed a 2 year contract.
AB Argir
AB Argir have never been in the top flight before. Argir is part of Tórshavn's municipality and is situated only a couple of hundred meters south of Tórshavn; divided only by a river.
AB is also looking for a new coach for next season, as this season's playing coach, Rúni Nolsøe, has decided to stop because he doesn't think he has enough experience to be a coach at the highest level yet. This was Nolsøe's first season as coach. He quit soccer at the highest level last season, after a glorious career with HB, with whom he won 4 championships. Originally he played with VB Vágur.
Transfers, signings etc.:
Todi Jónsson, who has played for Norwegian club Start Kristiansand for 2 seasons, has decided to quit Norwegian soccer at the end of the season (which is in the first week of November). Todi has been commuting between Kristiansand in Norway and Copenhagen in Denmark, where he lives. There is no news yet about where and on which level Todi will continue his career.
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B36 Tórshavn revealed after their recent Cup victory, that their coach Sigfríður Clementsen and his assistant Magni Mohr were stopping at the end of the season. The successful pair won 1 championship and 1 Cup title and produced some remarkable results in the European Cups in their 2 year reign.
New coach at B36 will be Kurt Mørkøre, who used to be a prolific goal scorer for KÍ Klaksvík. In the last years he has lived in Norway.
Kurt also revealed that his brother, Allan Mørkøre, will be assistant coach; - a playing assistant coach. Allan played with B36's title-winning side in 2005 and was one of their most important players and scored one of the goals in B36's 2-1 win over HB on the last day of the season which earned B36 the trophy. He then quit soccer on the highest level and moved to AB Argir in the second best division where he this season helped AB secure second spot, which earned them promotion to the highest division. But now he's back with B36. And at the highest level.
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HB's goalkeeper Bárður Johannesen has decided to quit soccer at the highest level. He won 4 championship titles with HB and 2 Cup titles. With 3 clean sheets in the last 3 matches, he made his contribution to HB's dramatic title win this season.
But HB will have another very good goalkeeper between the posts next season, as HB have secured the signing of VB/Sumba's Polish goalkeeper Marcin David. A first class goalkeeper!
HB have also strengthen their midfield with Milan Kuljic from Serbia. Actually, Kuljic was meant to play for HB in 2006, but as he was not given a work permit, he had to return to Serbia, after having played for VB previously.
On the other hand, HB's other Serb, Jovan Radinoic-Panic, who HB signed when it was clear that they wouldn't have the service of Kuljic in 2006, has switched to FS Vágar 2004 in the second best division. Panic looked to be a class player when he came on for the second half in his first match for HB, when HB visited KÍ in round 7, but however, he didn't turn out to be a player who dominates matches, although he was an important part of HB's often attractive combination play.
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Johan Nielsen, the most successive coach in the Faroes, with a string of titles with HB and GÍ, and who has been coach at Skála for the last years and transformed them into a top team, has switched to NSÍ Runavík.
NSÍ have also signed 2 of the best players from Skála, forward Jónhard Frederiksberg and very influential midfielder, Nenad Stankovic from Serbia. Also Debes Danielsen, who has played 1 season with Skála, but who is originally from NSÍ, will return home.
In addition to those, NSÍ have secured the signing of relegated B68's Brazilan forward, Anderson Castilho.
NSÍ have also signed a new goalkeeper, Predrag Stanckovic, who is the brother of nenad Stankovic.
In addition, NSÍ revealed that they have signed a defender, but so far they haven't revealed the name of that player.
It's not clear if the Formula Division's top scorer the last 2 seasons, Christian Høgni Jacobsen will stay with NSÍ or not. NSÍ revealed that Christian Høgni is going on a 10-day trial with MK Dons in the English 2nd divison. If that doesn't materialize into a contract, he might still not return to NSÍ, but rather to a competing club in the Faroes.
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As you can see, Skála has been hit hard with disappearing players and coach, but not all traffic is going out though. – Some is coming in:
As mentioned above, Skála have signed a 2 year contract with coach Dragan Kovacevic, who was coach at B71 Sandoy in the 1st division this season and steered them to promotion.
Skála have also signed Nigerian forward, Okeke Obele Onyebuchi, or Óbi, as he is called in the Faroes, from B36 Tórshavn. Óbi spent most of the 2006 season on the substitute bench.
Skála will also have a new goalkeeper, as they have signed a two-year contract with Predrag Markovic, who has played for TB Tvøroyri for the last two seasons. Markovic comes from Serbia. He’ll replace Vlada Filipovic, who has been with Skála for 2 seasons.
However, Bjarni Jørgensen, who has spent 2 years with Skála is leaving to join Formula Division newcomers, AB Argir, whom he also played for in 2004, when AB played in the 1st division.
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