Icelandic KA Akureyri are the next club to be guests at Jan Breydel in the battle for a ticket to the group stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League. You can read all the Club Facts below!
THE MATCH
Some European stats for this match:
- This is Club Brugge KV's 346th European match and KA's 9th (or 11 including Intertoto).
- This is the 21st clash between a Belgian and Icelandic club in Europe.
- This is Blauw-Zwart's 52nd European campaign and KA's 3rd
THE OPPONENT
KA Akureyri is the 128th unique club Club has faced in its European history. It is the 2nd Icelandic opponent. Club played against an Icelandic team once before. In 2001, ÍA Akranes was Club's opponent in the UEFA cup preliminary round. Club then made it 4-0 at home (Rune Lange (2x), Nzelo Lembi, Andrés Mendoza) and in the return game it was 1-6 (Andri Karvelsson | Nzelo Lembi, Gaëtan Englebert, Peter Van der Heyden, Gert Verheyen, Andrés Mendoza and Sandy Martens). KA did not meet a Belgian opponent before.
Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar (Akureyri football club) was founded in 1928. But the same year, the club merged with another team from the city of Þór Akureyri. This merger club continued under the name ÍB Akureyri. But in 1974, the merger was undone and the Z sections continued under their own names again. The club became Iceland's national champion once (in 1989). It also won the cup 1 time (in 1969). KA is an omni-sports club. Besides the football branch, there is also a handball, judo and volleyball team, among others.
Last season, the club finished as vice champions in the Nordic country. It was their best result since that single title. Between 1989 and now, the club played in second division for 21 years. After the title in 2016, the club slowly climbed up with last year's second-place finish being the pinnacle.
The Icelandic league is a summer league, starting in mid-April and continuing in summer until mid-September. Then regular league ends after 22 playing days and concludes at the end of October with short play-offs of 5 playing days. So then the league is at a standstill for 5.5 months.
After 17 playing days in the regular league this season, KA cannot repeat last year's success. It is currently in seventh place in Iceland's Úrvalsdeild .
Club top scorers are Bjarni Adalsteinsson, Sveinn Margeir Hauksson and Ásgeir Sigurgeirsson who all 3 hit four goals.
KA is in its third European campaign. In previous campaigns in 1970 (Cup Winners' Cup vs FC Zurich (Sui)) and 1990 (European Cup I vs CSKA Sofia (Bul)), the club went straight out in the first round. But this season, the club is still unbeaten after 2 preliminary rounds and already managed to eliminate Connah's Quay FC (Wal) and Dundalk FC (Irl).
With Hallgrímur Mar Steingrímsson, Daníel Hafsteinsson, Bjarni Adalsteinsson and Sveinn Margeir Hauksson, the club has 4 players who have already managed to score twice each in this Conference League campaign.
The club has 19 Icelandic players, most of whom are not professional footballers. There are also 6 foreigners with Kristijan Jajalo (Bih), Dusan Brkovic (Srb), Rodri (Esp), Harley Willard (Sco) and Jóan Simun Edmundsson and Paetur Petersen (both Far).
Coach of the club is Icelander Hallgrímur Jónasson (37). After a career as a central defender that took him to Swedish and Danish clubs, Jónasson returned to KA back home in 2018. For the last two seasons, he was assistant coach under Arnar Grétarsson (former Sporting Lokeren midfielder) in addition to being a player. Since the new season, Jónasson has been KA's head coach after Grétarsson moved to Valur Reykjavik.
Some facts about KA's players.
- Striker Jóan Símun Edmundsson (Far) is KA's newest acquisition. He joined this summer from SK Beveren, for whom he spent 2 seasons (17 matches, 2 goals, 4 assists).
- Right-back Thorri Mar Thórisson is the twin brother of Nökkvi Thórisson, who played in Beerschot's attack last season.
There are 3 compatriots who once played for the club.
- Defender Bryan Van Den Bogaert (ex-Antwerp, Westerlo, RWDM) played at KA from February 2022 to January 2023.
- Midfielder Sebastiaan Brebels (currently Lierse Kempenzonen, also ex-Cercle, Essevee, among others) played for the club between February 2021 and July 2022.
- Defender Jonathan Henrickx (currently Tubize, including ex-Fortuna Sittard, Lommel) played for the Icelandic club between February 2018 and August 2021).
Thordur Gudjonsson, the Icelandic midfielder who played champion in Belgium with KRC Genk in 1999, is also a former KA player.
Club once had only 1 Icelander in its ranks. National icon Eidur Gudjohnsen played for Blauw-Zwart for 1.5 years between 2013 and 2015. In own country, he played for Valur and KR Reykjavik early in his career.
Club Brugge got into the third preliminary round by eliminating Denmark's AGF Aarhus in the previous round. Club had won the out-match at home 3-0 thanks to goals from Tajon Buchanan, Mats Rits and Hugo Vetlesen. In the return match, Club lost by the narrowest of margins last Thursday. In history, Club has won the away match at home 6 times with 3 goals difference and this was the fourth time that this was sufficient for qualification. Last Monday, it was announced that the winner of the 2 mutual duels will take on Spanish side CA Osasuna in the Conference League play-offs.
