Vejle Boldklub (Vejle [Foot]ball club), often simply referred to as VB, is a Danish professional football club, from the town of Vejle. The club was founded on May 31891 as a cricket club, and football was introduced at the club in 1902. VB has traditionally been a successful part of Danish football since the 1950s, with five Danish championship and six Danish Cup titles. Since relegation in 1991, the club has struggled to retain a stable position in the top Danish Superliga division. After winning the Danish 1st Division, the second best Danish league, they are currently competing in the 2006-07 Superliga season, although a spectacularly bad start to the 2006/07 season saw them defeated in their first nine games.
In 1956, VB where promoted to the best Danish division, then known as the 1st Division. Vejle Boldklub won its first Danish championship in its only second try, when Danish national team forward Henning Enoksen guided the club to the 1958 Danish championship title. The club also won two Danish Cup trophies in 1958 and 1959.
2000: Allan Simonsen in the VB jersey, at an old boys match.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, Vejle fostered many successful Danish football players. The most prolific among them was Allan Simonsen, one of the few worldwide stars in Danish football history who were named European Footballer of the Year in 1977. Simonsen helped VB win the 1971 and 1972 championships, before moving abroad to play professionally. Vejle continued to win the Danish championship in 1978, in a season which also saw the club reach the quarter-finals of the international European Cup Winners' Cup 1977-78 tournament.
In the 1980s, VB's domestic success manifested itself. As the club won its sixth Danish Cup 1981, the cup trophy was given to VB as property. Likewise, the Danish championship trophy became VB property when the returned Allan Simonsen lead the club to its fifth Danish championship in 1984. In 1988, Vejle Boldklub was introduced to professional football, with the founding of Vejle Boldklubs Afdeling For Betalt Fodbold A/S, the branch for paid football in VB.
In 1990, Vejle took part in their first UEFA Cup international tournament, but as Vejle Boldklub had a bad 1991 season, the club was relegated to the second best division, after a record number of 35 seasons in the best league. For the next decade, VB had a varied set of results, moving from 1st Division to the best division, now named the Danish Superliga, twice. Vejle finished runners-up in the Danish Superliga 1996-97 season, but the club failed to keep a number of its leading players, most notably later national team player Thomas Gravesen. VB once again moved out of the Superliga in 2002.
For the 2005-06 season, VB player Henrik Toft was named best 1st Division player of the year, as the club won promotion for the Danish Superliga.
Provisional as of the summer transfer window, 2006
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
