B36 Torshavn

Founding

B36 Tórshavn was officially founded on 28 March 1936, but had already been playing matches since 1935. The capital was growing, and there was a lot of interest in football. B36 was founded by young people who wanted to play football, but had no opportunity to play for the existing club, HB Tórshavn. The initiative was taken by an entrepreneur called Niels Ejdesgaard, who became the first chairman of the new football club. When B36 was founded, they battled with local rivals for the rights to the Gundadalur Stadium, although both teams used the venue and played a number of derby matches there during that initial season. The conflict was solved by the mayor of Tórshavn, who decided that the stadium was to be shared equally between the two clubs. In 1946 the club were celebrated as national champions for the first time, and in 1965 the club won its first national cup.

Hard times

In 1962, B36 Tórshavn celebrated its fifth national championship, but dark times were to follow. The club would wait 35 years for its next national championship. To make matters worse, rival team HB Tórshavn experienced a lot of success in the same period. In the middle of the 1980s, B36 Tórshavn was relegated twice from the best division. Then in 1987, Kristian á Neystabø took over as chairman and Kjartan Mohr as cashier. They took on the task of rebuilding the club, and succeeded in making a turnaround. The results improved, and the cup was won in 1991, although the National Championship was lost in the final match that same year. Then, in 1997, the club celebrated its first national championship in 35 years. Since then, B36 Tórshavn has been five-time champions, and have won the cup three times.

Local rivalry

In the last 20–25 years, the local rivalry with HB Tórshavn has increased, and now the two clubs are about equal in strength. In 2018, the teams fought a fierce cup final, which B36 Tórshavn won on penalties, after one of the most dramatic cup finals ever at The Faroe Islands. After two red cards in the end of the match, B36 Tórshavn was playing 9 against 11 from the stoppage time in the ordinary match and through all the extended time. In the 95th minute, B36 Tórshavn equalized to 2–2 with the last shot in the ordinary match from the youngster Hannes Agnarson, and went on to keep HB Tórshavn from scoring. This 9 against 11 was a repetition of the previous years 2nd leg of the cup semi finals, where B36 Tórshavn also played with 9 men in all the extended time and about 20 minutes of the ordinary time. Despite being down with 2 men, B36 Tórshavn won the match 3–2, when club legend Róaldur Jacobsen scored from 72 meters in the last minute.

Players abroad

Normally Faroese players who move abroad to play football are youngsters who join foreign clubs as academy players, but recently B36 Tórshavn has sold two senior players to norwegian football teams. In 2018 the Faroese international defender Odmar Færø was sold to Hamarkameratene, where he played one season. He then returned to Faroese league to play for KÍ Klaksvík. Likewise, the former Faroe Islands national under-21 football team player Meinhard Olsen was sold to Kristiansund BK in 2018. After a short spell with B36 in 2020 he again went abroad, and is now playing with Mjøndalen IF Fotball in Norway. In June 2019, he made his debut on the Faroe Islands national football team in a match against Spain.

In 2022 Martin Agnarsson was sold to the danish Superliga team Viborg FF, after the teams had met in UEFA Europa Conference League. Martin is currently a regular player on Faroe Islands national under-21 football team. In november 2022 he had his debut on the Faroe Islands national football team in a friendly against Kosovo.

International players

B36 Tórshavn regularly delivers players to Faroese National Team. Most recently, Andrass Johansen, Hannes Agnarsson, Jann Benjaminsen and Magnus Egilsson were called up for the matches against Liechtenstein and Denmark. A current player on The Faroese U21 National Team is Gutti Dahl Olsen.

Last year Taufee Skandari made his debut for Afghanistan. This was the first time ever, that a non-Faroese player in the Faroese league has been selected to a national team. He had his debut in a match against Kyrgyzstan in the 2023 CAFA Nations Cup.

Former international players in the current team are: Andrias Eriksen and Eli Nielsen.

Andrias Eriksen, Eli Nielsen, Hannes Agnarsson, Benjamin Heinesen, Andrass Johansen, Jann Benjaminsen, Símun Sólheim and Silas Eyðsteinsson have all played on The Faroese U21 National Team.

International matches

Clubs in the Faroe Islands first took part in European competitions in 1992, after the Faroe Islands Football Association became a member of UEFA in 1990. B36 was drawn against Avenir Beggen in the Cup Winners Cup qualifying round in 1992. They came close, but didn't make it through to the first round after a 1–0 loss and a 1–1 draw at home.

In 2005/06, the team reached the second round in the UEFA Cup after defeating ÍBV Vestmannaeyar of Iceland 3–2 on aggregate. In the second round, they narrowly lost to Danish Superliga-club FC Midtjylland 1–2 in the away leg and drew 2–2 at home. The team reached the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League in 2006/07 after defeating Birkirkara FC of Malta 5–2 on aggregate and were eliminated in second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, losing both matches to Fenerbahçe 4–0 and 5–0.

In the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, B36 reached the second qualifying round, after defeating St Joseph's, Gibraltar on penalties in the preliminary round, after 2–2 on aggregate. The team also made it through the first qualifying round by defeating OFK Titograd from Montenegro after a 0–0 draw at home and a 2–1 victory away. In the second round, B36 Tórshavn was up against Beşiktaş Istanbul. That opposition was too strong, and the matches ended 0–2 and 0–6.

The campaign in 2020–21 Europa League was the most successful European campaign ever, where B36 became the first Faroese team to get through three rounds in an UEFA club competition. This was the year of the pandemic, so the qualifying matches in were played with one single match each round. The victories were won against St Joseph's, Gibraltar (away), Levadia Tallinn aet. at home and The New Saints after penalties at home. The opposition in the third round became a bit to strong. B36 played away, and lost 1-3 against CSKA Sofia.

In 2022–23 Conference League B36 became the first Faroese team ever, who managed to turn an defeat away into a win on aggregate. They lost 0-2 to Borac Banja Luka, but managed to win 3-1 aet. at home and 4-3 after penalties. The campaign ended in third round, where the danish team Viborg were the opponents.

In the 2023-24 season, B36 entered the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League after defeating Haverfordwest County. B36 won the home leg 2-1, but were defeated 1-0 by the part-time Welsh side in normal time during the return fixture. However, B36 equalised in extra-time after the referee awarded a controversial penalty for a handball to win 3-2 on aggregate.