This headline could easily be used for a text about TSG Hoffenheim, but FC Midtjylland, TSG’s first opponent in the Europa League this season, also define themselves through innovative ideas and regional representation. The club from Herning, a town of 50,000 inhabitants, is even named after its home region.
The club was founded shortly before the turn of the millennium, when the two senior teams of Herning Fremad and Ikast FS were merged. The club, which was promoted to the Danish top tier just one year after being founded, pursues an uncompromisingly statistical approach to scouting – similar to that portrayed in the baseball film “Moneyball”. Rasmus Ankersen, chairman of FC Midtjylland and also sporting director of Southampton and president of Turkish club Göztepe, manages his clubs on the basis of data-based models. Mathematical factors are taken into account when making transfer and training decisions, leaving little room for gut instinct. Tactics are also significantly influenced by numbers: long-range shots are largely taboo, but set-pieces are of paramount importance.
Ankersen once said in an interview: “We can’t beat our opponents with our financial means, so we have to be smarter than them.” This approach to scouting has already paid off financially, and the best example is well known in world football: striker Alexander Sørloth moved to Herning for €450,000 in 2017 after a poor season at FC Groningen, was then involved in 24 goals in 26 competitive matches at Midtjylland (15 goals, nine assists) and subsequently moved to Crystal Palace for €16 million.
FC Midtjylland put Herning on the Danish and international football map. FCM have now won the Danish title four times, managing to disrupt the capital-city duopoly of FC Copenhagen and Brøndby IF. This is the 17th time Midtjylland have qualified for European competition.
The club plays its home games in the MCH Arena, which has a capacity of 11,809. The Danes were eliminated in the Champions League play-offs by Slovan Bratislava (1-1/3-2) and are therefore competing in the Europa League. The club have only ever participated in the group stage of the Champions League, though they have made it to the knockout stage of the Europa League on four occasions, albeit never progressing past the first round. Statistics have only been able to take them so far.