Akademisk Boldklub or AB is a Danish professional football club from Copenhagen, currently playing at the second highest level in Danish domestic football, the 1st Division.
History
The club was formed in 1889 by a group of academics, and the only requirement to play for the club at that time was to be a university student. The club was dominant in early Danish football and won the Danish championship, which was introduced in 1913, in 1919 and 1921. In all, AB has won the championship on 9 occasions (1919, 1921, 1937, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1951, 1952 and 1967).
One of the most renowned players of the club is Harald Bohr, the brother of Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr, who himself played a number of games as goalkeeper. Other famous footballers from the AB history include Knud Lundberg, who represented the Danish national team in not one, but three sports (basketball, handball and football), and Karl Aage Hansen, who scored 17 goals in 22 matches for the national team. Both Lundberg and Hansen played for the club in its heyday, from the end of the Second World War to the mid-fifties, a period when the club won four championships in ten years.
Since the 1970s, and especially after the introduction of professional football in the 80s, the club has had a difficult time and has been outside the topflight of Danish football. Although, the late 90s were an exception — in 1996 the club got promoted to the top Danish Superliga division, and enjoyed a couple of successful years, winning the Danish Cup in 1998–99, and finishing third in both 1999 and 2000.
In 2004 the club was relegated after a bad season. On top of the fact that they finished 11th, they were deducted 9 points (and thus finished last) as it was discovered that their player Ali Akida had been playing under a false name.
In 2007 the AB board announced that AB would be back in the Superliga by 2010 and to help with that they brought in several good players like Casper Henningsen, Simon Bræmer and Carsten Fredgaard.
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History
The club was formed in 1889 by a group of academics, and the only requirement to play for the club at that time was to be a university student. The club was dominant in early Danish football and won the Danish championship, which was introduced in 1913, in 1919 and 1921. In all, AB has won the championship on 9 occasions (1919, 1921, 1937, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1951, 1952 and 1967).
One of the most renowned players of the club is Harald Bohr, the brother of Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr, who himself played a number of games as goalkeeper. Other famous footballers from the AB history include Knud Lundberg, who represented the Danish national team in not one, but three sports (basketball, handball and football), and Karl Aage Hansen, who scored 17 goals in 22 matches for the national team. Both Lundberg and Hansen played for the club in its heyday, from the end of the Second World War to the mid-fifties, a period when the club won four championships in ten years.
Since the 1970s, and especially after the introduction of professional football in the 80s, the club has had a difficult time and has been outside the topflight of Danish football. Although, the late 90s were an exception — in 1996 the club got promoted to the top Danish Superliga division, and enjoyed a couple of successful years, winning the Danish Cup in 1998–99, and finishing third in both 1999 and 2000.
In 2004 the club was relegated after a bad season. On top of the fact that they finished 11th, they were deducted 9 points (and thus finished last) as it was discovered that their player Ali Akida had been playing under a false name.
In 2007 the AB board announced that AB would be back in the Superliga by 2010 and to help with that they brought in several good players like Casper Henningsen, Simon Bræmer and Carsten Fredgaard.
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