Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar

Football club infobox
clubname = FH


fullname = Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar
nickname = "FH-ingar"
founded = october 20, 1929
ground = Kaplakriki,
Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
capacity = 2200 seats
chairman = Jón Rúnar Halldórsson
manager = Heimir Guðjónsson
league = Landsbankadeild
season = 2008
position = Landsbankadeild, Champion
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pattern_la2=_blackshoulders|pattern_b2=_blackshoulders|pattern_ra2=_blackshoulders
leftarm2=000080|body2=000080|rightarm2=000080|shorts2=000080|socks2=000080|

FH, in full Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar, is an Icelandic sports club, mainly known outside Iceland for football, from the town of Hafnarfjörður.

Overview

The team are perhaps best known outside Iceland for beating Scottish side Dunfermline in the qualifying rounds of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup 4–3 on aggregate. With the second leg in injury time and the aggregate score at 3–3, Dunfermline were set to go through on away goals. However, Tommy Neilsen scored in injury time to send the Icelandic part-timers into the first round.

The team is the current Icelandic champion for the third consecutive year in a row after winning the division with 36 points out of 54 possible. Tryggvi Guðmundsson became the team top-scorer with eight goals this season. Goalkeeper Daði Lárusson is a regular member of the national team and during the summer of 2006 three players of the club played for the national team: Daði Lárusson, Sigurvin Ólafsson and Ármann Smári Björnsson. Ármann Smári also joined Norwegian team Brann after a superb spell for the first 15 rounds. Baldur Bett also left the squad in the post-season and joined the rivals Valur Reykjavik on a free transfer.

The club stadium Kaplakriki now undergoes a major re-development as the southern stand will expand, bringing the seating capacity to 3.500 and further plans aims to take the seating capacity to close to 6 000 which would make the stadium by far the largest one in Iceland, excluding the Laugardalsvöllurstadium. Also there will be made some new club houses, indoor track and field house and roof over the stands.

On 20 October 2006 the club signed the famous Icelandic twins Arnar Gunnlaugsson and Bjarki Gunnlaugsson and their signing has been marked as a step forward for the club as the twins have played for clubs like Bolton Wanderers F.C., Stoke City, Feyenoord, FC Nürnberg and most prominently of all Leicester City F.C.. The Twins have now returned to their childhood club Íþróttabandalag Akraness and have on a transfer made in late July 2008. On 1 November 2006 they signed the 26-year-old Matthías Guðmundsson from Valur Reykjavík.

The 2007 season saw FH finishing second in the premier division behind main rivals Valur, after losing to them in one of the final games of the season. FH managed to win the Visa-bikar with a 2–1 victory over Fjölnir in the final which secured them a spot in the UEFA Cup qualification round.

In October 2007, Ólafur Jóhannesson left as FH manager to take over the Icelandic national side. his five years in control of FH his team won the Premier division three times, were placed second twice, won the league cup three times and the cup once. Guðjónsson, former assistant-manager and former FH captain, was hired as his replacement.

On 1 August 2008 they were drawn with F.A. Premier League team Aston Villa in the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup. They were beaten 4-1 in the home leg on 14 August, and drew 1-1 in the away tie at Villa Park on 28 August losing 5-2 on aggregate.

On September 27th 2008 FH won the Icelandic Premier division for the 4th time in 5 years. In one of the most exciting last days of the competition to this date their main rivals Keflavík were odds on favorites to win the title with a 2 point lead on FH going into the last round. Fh had a game against Fylkir while Keflavík played hosts to Fram, who themselves had to win to secure third place and the last spot in uefa cup next season. FH had to win their game by two goals to benefit from a draw in Keflavik. The games finished 2-0 for FH against fylgir, Goals from Matthías Vilhjálmsson and Guðmundur Sævarsson, while Keflavik after being one a goal up lost 2-1 to Fram. Captain Davíð Þór VIðarsson lifted the cup to the dismay of the Keflavík fans.

Honours

*Icelandic Champion: 4
** 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008
*Icelandic League Cups: 4
** 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007
*Icelandic Super Cups: 3
** 2004, 2006, 2007
*VISA-bikar (Icelandic F.A cup): 1
** 2007

Notable players

*Arnar Viðarsson
*Bjarni Viðarsson
*Emil Hallfreðsson
*Ármann Smári Björnsson
*Hannes Sigurðsson
*Arnar Gunnlaugsson
*Bjarki Gunnlaugsson

Current squad

External links

* [http://www.fh.is/ Official website]
* [http://www.fhingar.net/frettir.php?p=frettir supporters site]
* [http://www.fhmafian.net Another supporters site]