Faroe Islands
PREMIER LEAGUE
The title race could not have been more thrilling, with KI and B36 level on points after the penultimate round of games and the two teams meeting on the final weekend. KI won 3-0 away to secure a first domestic championship in two decades.
League champions in 2018, HB offered a threadbare title defence but gained some crumbs of comfort in the knockout arena, beating Vikingur 3-1 in a fog-bound Final. The pick of HB’s goals was their opener, a fine direct freekick curled in by winger Adrian Justinussen.
KI have a ticket for the first qualifying round of the Champions League. Runners-up B36 and thirdplace NSI join cup winners HB in the Europa League preliminary round.
Normally, bottom club
IF – who won only once during the entire campaign – would have gone down, but they were saved by the fact that the top three sides in the second tier were the reserve teams of top-flight clubs (KI, Vikingur and NSI) and therefore could not be promoted.
In his final season before retiring, towering centreback and captain Atli Gregersen was as solid and inspirational as ever. The 37-year-old has had a wonderful career, capped 59 times for his country, skippering the national team and appearing in over 250 games for Vikingur.
Strategically, tactically and emotionally, KI boss Mikkjal Thomassen pushed all the right buttons in 2019. In charge for the last five years, the former Faroes international midfielder is living proof that leadership continuity works.
Twenty-year-old American forward Darius Lewis showed great promise as an impact player for champions KI. A graduate of the Philadelphia Union academy, he knocked down the first-team door with a hatful of goals for the club’s second string.