Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian football club from the town of Ålesund, that competes in the Norwegian first division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was founded on 25 June 1914. As of 2004, the football club had 835 members and several teams on both professional and amateur levels. These teams are the 1st and 2nd teams, junior team, and also several age-specific teams.
The local supporter club for AaFK is called "Stormen", or "The Storm", with about 2000 members.
Rivalries
Rival football clubs in the city include Herd, Rollon, Skarbøvik and Spjelkavik, with Molde and Hødd traditionally being the main regional rivals. Hødd has been less competitive with AaFK in recent years, as they have not been in the same division for some time. More recent rivalries have centred on Molde and Strømsgodset, and to some extent Brann.
The club's supporters enjoy a good relationship with supporters of Oslo club Vålerenga, and it is not uncommon for supporters of one club to support the other in competitions where only one team participates. In the 2011 game against Neath in Wales, some supporters of 2010's Europa League opponents Motherwell also made their way to support the club.
Aalesund played their home matches at Kråmyra Stadium until the 2005 season, when they relocated to the new Color Line Stadium with an approximate capacity of 11,000 people. Boosted by the new stadium, recent success and general increasing attendance in Norway, Aalesund has gone from attracting crowds of approximately 1,000 to regularly selling out their stadium [1] in only a few years. Their average attendance of 9,943 in the 2006 1. divisjon became at the time a new record for attendances at the second tier of the Norwegian league system.
