How do you get players from 14 different countries to play together?
According to Superligaen’s top team, FC Midtjylland (from Herning, ed.), you go on a 3-day team-building trip to the Scottish wilderness with the experienced mental trainer and former elite soldier Bjarne Slot Christiansen, better known as B.S.
In a documentary series that can be streamed on TV Midtvest Play, players and coaches must cooperate, look after each other under difficult conditions and learn to shoot.
B.S. Christiansen had arranged for the team to procure food themselves, build accommodation and a fire in double-digit minus degrees.
“Several were under extreme pressure. It was great for me to see how they helped each other. If you are under pressure, you must not give up, but you must ask for help”, says B.S. Christiansen and continues:
“The idea was that they should cooperate to keep warm. It ended with them all sleeping together in a pile around the fire to keep warm.”
International stars
The club has star players from South Korea and Chile. It has created a lot of attention on social media, where FC Midtjylland frequently shares content about the trip.
“We have internationals from 14 different countries and have experienced a lot of attention from South America and received many inquiries because of Dario Osorio (striker from Chile. Ed.). As a consequence, we have gained an international profile as a club,” says Mads Hviid Jakobsen, press manager at FC Midtjylland to TV2.
He says that many have reacted to images showing frustrated players in Scotland’s winter landscape. The majority of comments on Instagram come from internationals.
“We have experienced a great deal of attention. We have received many comments. What they all have in common is that they have been positive. It is not the norm to see footballers in such surroundings,” says Mads Hviid Jakobsen.
