Danish club side Aarhus Fremad has won the country’s second division title and will play in the first division next season. It needed a final day 1-1 draw against Amager Fremad for the title to be confirmed.
It was in 2023 when Nigerian tech billionaire Shola Akinlade took over 55 percent majority ownership of the Aarhus Fremad, and paid his first visit to the club on Easter Monday.
It was a move that had its resonance in the Nigerian football industry, as it showed the breadth of opportunities available for doing sports business across borders.
They went into the final day on June 14 with the title in mind, having celebrated promotion on May 31 after a goalless draw against Middelfart, the team that eventually picked up the second promotion spot.
Aarhus Fremad: From heartbreak to triumph
Fremad were on the verge of getting a promotion to the first division last year. They finished the regular season in second position and went into the play-offs with hopes of finishing among the top two sides to be promoted.
But they lost one of their top scorers to another team and ended up three points behind the top two finishers, IF Kolding and B93, teams with full-time professionals.
Their 2-1 loss at the Riisvangen Stadium to FC Roskilde on the final match day of the season left the players and their fans shattered. But they picked up from where they left off to clinch the title this year and secure promotion to play with the bigger boys in the first division.
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Lars Kruse on Improvements to contracts
The club’s success has come on the back of significant financial investments and changes to the way it operates.
Lars Kruse, Aarhus Fremad’s director, says that there have been improvements made to the contracts of players as the club has moved to a full professional mode based on the investment by Nigerian tech entrepreneur Akinlade.
“We were training once a day back then and we didn’t pay the players that much so they could only train in the afternoon,” Kruse told Soccernet.ng. “So now we’ve moved into a full time set up where they train every morning four times a week.”
Players now earn the basic full-time salaries of 1,800 euros, as stipulated by the Danish players' union, up from around 700 euros before the investment. “It’s not millions, but it is a big difference for us,” said Kruse.
First Nigerian player
In October 2023, the club welcomed its first Nigerian player to its clubhouse at the Riisvangen Stadium. Oluwasegun Olalere, a defender, joined on loan from Sporting Lagos after playing at Remo Stars.
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Akinlade founded Sporting Lagos in 2022 as his first entry into the sport. It is a platform that he hopes can channel Nigerian talent to Europe through Fremad.
He told me in Aarhus in 2023 about his long-term vision. “We want to create a pathway for some of the exciting talent we have in Africa and to provide opportunities for the best talent to move. It is something that we are excited about,” he said.
It was a difficult process to get Olalere into Denmark. Fremad had never had a transfer from Africa, so the visa process took months to accomplish.
“It is important that the Nigerians who come here are well taken care of. We want them to be well treated and live in an okay place and basically make sure they are not home sick and getting lonely. It is far away, both culturally and climate-wise,” said Kruse. “But the players have been kind to him.”
Fremad visit Lagos
In January 2024, during the break in the Norwegian calendar, some members of the technical crew of Fremad visited Sporting Lagos to cement their partnership.
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They spent time sharing their experience with the Lagos team and watching for potential players who could make the move to Denmark.
Foreign ownership in Danish football
After missing out on promotion into the Danish first division in 2024, Fremad finally made it this year and won their division.
“A lot of people were sceptical (of the purchase) in the beginning. But we’ve proved them wrong as it is just everyday business for us,” said Kruse. “Foreign ownership is quite a common thing now in Danish football. It is more that we need to get rid of the bad ones. I hope that we have showed a good example here of how you can do it in a good way.”
“I really enjoy the collaboration with Shola and his team. Hopefully, we can convince more people in Danish football that foreign investment isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
