About FCKFC

F.C. Copenhagen Fan Club (FCKFC) was founded on October 24, 1991.

The association is therefore older than the club, which was officially founded on June 1, 1992.

The association was established as an offshoot of the former KB Fan Club in connection with the decision that KB and B1903 would establish a joint venture for their respective first teams.

FCKFC is the club's official fan club and has, over the years, been the club's partner in developing activities for supporters and serves as a natural link between the club and the fans.

The fan club was established with inspiration from England, which also led to the creation of a dedicated children's club (The Young Lions) and the mascot concept, where one of the youngest members runs onto the field with a player. In the early years of the association, one of its main tasks was to organize the atmosphere at matches in Parken and provide transportation to the club's away games.

The first tifo displays

Already in the mid-90s, the fan club began producing the first tifo displays—though smaller than those we know today—but many will surely remember the enormous player jersey that was often displayed on the C-stand throughout the 2000s.

In 1997, the fan club hired its first full-time employee in the office (who at that time was also the chairman of the association, Thomas Kristensen) to manage the day-to-day operations. Since then, FCKFC has had paid staff to run the association daily. In 2004, another full-time employee was hired, and the payroll was largest when an additional young worker was employed.

In the early years of the association, membership numbers grew slowly, and for many years the club was considered smaller in terms of fan base compared to its archrivals from Vestegnen.

In those early years, it was rare to see other FCK fans on the streets, and during this period, FCKFC also had limited funds, which made it less visible in terms of tifo displays compared to today.

Camaraderie and player meetups

In the stands, almost everyone knew each other, and the free seating made it easy to meet other fans. This fostered a sense of community that was very different from today. The fan club had a small stall under Lower C, which functioned both as a meeting point during breaks and as the place where fans spent their savings to join away trips in Denmark.

Even though F.C. Copenhagen was already a large club with great potential, fans and players were united in a way that is no longer the case. The fan club arranged bowling nights with the players, where it wasn’t uncommon for the players to be the last ones to leave the party.

FCKFC also had great success with the "3 Men Forward" panel, which ran for several years. It was a simple concept: a panel of three F.C. Copenhagen representatives answering fan questions for a few hours.

The birth of the fan stand

Football culture has changed a lot since FCKFC was founded. Attending football matches has become a completely different experience, and the social aspect, which was the basis for the fan club’s creation, is no longer the main focus. As modern football has evolved, the distance between players and fans has grown, even though the collaboration with the club itself has never been stronger. The partnership between F.C. Copenhagen and FCKFC has played a significant role in shaping the Copenhagen football culture we know today.

In 2005, FCKFC initiated a dialogue between C2 (the section of Lower C that was responsible for creating the atmosphere at that time) and F.C. Copenhagen. This dialogue led to the project of creating a dedicated fan stand, resulting in the stand we now know as Section 12.

The fan club has always sought to lead the way in creating the best conditions for fans. Therefore, FCKFC also became co-founders of the umbrella organization Danish Football Fan Clubs (DFF), where football fans across clubs unite to ensure proper conditions at all Danish stadiums and solve challenges together.

Membership growth and decline

Economically, things changed in 2006 when the club qualified for the Champions League for the first time. The positive hype surrounding the club also influenced membership numbers, which in that fall grew to over 22,000. The office worked around the clock and signed up 4,500 new members in just two months. That same fall, the largest away trip to date was organized, renting an entire terminal at the airport to send fans to Manchester.

Since 2006, membership numbers have slowly declined. There have been various reasons for this.

The primary reason for the decline, however, has been the general decreasing interest in football in Denmark. This has been a challenge faced by all Danish football fan clubs, and modern football culture has also made it more difficult for fan clubs to thrive. TV broadcasts keep people from attending matches, and some of the association's previous tasks have naturally been taken over by F.C. Copenhagen as part of its development.

New roles

Therefore, it became necessary for FCKFC to redefine the concept of a fan club. Today, FCKFC's role is more focused on handling many of the administrative aspects of fan culture, ensuring that all supporters have the best conditions for FCK’s matches.

One of the bigger cases FCKFC has led was the lawsuit on behalf of the 484 F.C. Copenhagen fans who were unlawfully arrested in Brøndby on December 1, 2013, but the fan club also handles smaller issues that don’t make the headlines. These include everything from expanding food stall options, ticket prices, and security checks to holding dialogue meetings with the police.

Besides ensuring that fans have the basic conditions in place, the association's greatest assets have become the tifo group and away trips. FCKFC spends significant amounts of money and countless hours on tifo displays each year. This is an area that is extremely important to the association, as tifo displays not only create atmosphere and support the players but also spread the good message and make F.C. Copenhagen visible beyond the country's borders.

Even though the fan club no longer needs to rent an entire terminal for away trips, these trips are still highly valued. It has never been cheaper to travel independently around Europe, but there is still demand for easy and quick transport, and FCKFC has become incredibly efficient in this area thanks to years of experience.

Of course, the fan club steps in to help if unexpected challenges arise in Europe or if it turns out that there are 100 km from the stadium to the airport and trains don’t run at night.

Over the years, there have been both ups and downs, and FCKFC's history is no exception.

A few turbulent years with disagreements within the board and significant turnover among board members cost the association dearly, and it took several years to regain its footing.

In 2011, the fan club faced the task of forming an entirely new board, and fortunately, experienced and sensible individuals united to take on this challenge, which they have managed ever since. There have been only a few changes in recent years, which has brought greater calm and balance. The board has worked hard to make the fan club an inclusive association where all types of fans are welcome, regardless of which stand they watch football from or what stage of life they are in.

Today, FCKFC has again fewer than 10,000 members, but despite the decline, we are still Denmark's largest (and best) fan club.