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“I like a bit of chaos and structure both on and off the pitch,” says Midtjylland’s technical director, Kristian Kjær. “Getting the right mix is most important.” Perfecting this balance has enabled the Danish side to thrive in Europe, powered by a global recruitment model and innovation.
Nottingham Forest travel to the MCH Arena on Thursday seeking to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, having also lost to Midtjylland in the group stage this season. This is the furthest the Danish club, founded in 1999, have progressed in Europe. “It must have been insane to be starting the club [just over] 25 years ago and then see where we are today,” says Kjær. “What a ride.”
Seventeen nations and four continents are represented in an eclectic group, designed to play direct football. Making the team cohesive is the first challenge. There was a team bonding camp in Scotland and players are encouraged to suggest a national dish to be enjoyed in the canteen.
“It takes one bad apple to ruin a good culture,” says Kjær. “One of the secrets in Midtjylland is that we are trying to bring in good people with the right mindset, who are also skilled and want to share their wisdom and also are open to new ideas. One of our core principles is that we like to be a family club. We take care of each other, not only on the pitch but off it, too. We believe when you know each other a bit more in detail, it’s also easier to be demanding.”
Four Danish Superliga titles have been lifted in the past 11 years, but Europe has been a struggle at times. Their most notable continental outing in England before this season was as the opponents in Marcus Rashford’s Manchester United debut, when he announced himself with two goals in the Europa League. Midtjylland are now making their own Europa League mark, winning six league stage matches on their way to finishing third in the table, above Real Betis, Porto and Roma.
“Claus Steinlein, the chairman, thinks very highly of the club and rightly so – he dreams big,” says the midfielder Philip Billing. “The first time I met him, he talked through some things, like winning the Europa League.”
Data has always played a key role. Midtjylland were early adopters of identifying set pieces as an undervalued element and are investigating how to integrate artificial intelligence to “find the next percentage”. This approach was heavily influenced by the previous owner, Matthew Benham, who sold his majority share to Anders Holch Povlsen, Scotland’s largest landowner, in 2023.
“When we started with the focus on set pieces, we were criticised nationally and internationally,” says Kjær. “Now it seems like Arsenal can win the Premier League by putting a bit of attention to the set pieces. It’s about finding those different new things that can add something to the game and also fine-tuning what you are already good at.”
About 20 scouts attend every Midtjylland European fixture, with Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga sides keeping tabs on the forward Franculino Djú, winger Darío Osorio and defender Ousmane Diao, among others. Midtjylland developed Atlético Madrid’s Alexander Sørloth, Sporting’s Ousmane Diomande and Lazio’s Gustav Isaksen, the last of whom came through the academy, whose graduates have played 28.8% of available minutes in the Danish Superliga this season.
“We are always trying to identify players who fit our style of play and who see not only being able to play in Danish and European competitions, but also in the world’s top four leagues,” Kjær says. “We try to identify the undervalued players or the players that play in leagues where they can see our club as a stepping stone into European football.”
Osorio, a Chile international, had interest from Milan and RB Leipzig before settling on Midtjylland, who offered a different selling point and a clear path to convince him to sign a five-year deal. The training ground, opened in 2023, is “almost Premier League standards”, according to Kjær, and the exposure to the first team and European competitions makes Midtjylland increasingly attractive.
“There’s a lot of players here that can for sure go on to the next level because they’ve got the whole package,” says Billing, a former Premier League midfielder. “I could name everyone because I really think the team is that good with the young talent.”
To develop promise into financial assets, the talents are combined with experience. The 29-year-old Billing returned to his homeland in the summer to boost the average age to just over 24. He spent 12 years with Huddersfield and Bournemouth, including six seasons in the Premier League, and had offers to stay in England, but was homesick.
“Midtjylland came in and with the project they’re doing and how they saw me going into the club, I thought it just sounded refreshing and something I would like to be a part of,” he says. “It wasn’t an easy decision but it’s a decision I’m happy I’ve made. I’ve got the love back for football, and am enjoying it again, almost like a kid.
“When you come here everybody around the club, whether it’s players or the people behind the scenes and the young players, everybody is working towards one goal. It’s making not only good footballers, but also making good human beings, making sure that wherever you go in life, whether you become a professional footballer, you have success in football, or whether you go on to do something else, that you have a good foundation.”
Billing acknowledges that footballers in England live in a bubble, cut off from the realities outside. At Midtjylland, they share the canteen with children from the school next door, who Billing is known to have snowball fights with. “I don’t think you see that in the Premier League,” Kjær says, joking.
“The kids will have their role models. At the same time, not only Philip, but also all the other players, the kids remind them of the reason why they started playing football. To bring people together for a greater good, to invest time getting to know each other, we believe strongly in that philosophy.”
