Matchday Memories: On This Day 1979 – Sky Blues Score Six In Faroes Friendly (CBJs Country)!

Gordon Milne-CCFC gaffer

On this Wednesday (May 9th) in 1979 Coventry City under Gordon Milne (now a CCFPA member) had finished their First Division season four days previously with a 3-0 Highfield Road victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers to confirm a creditable tenth placed finish. Today a party of seventeen paid a ‘flying trip’ overseas, travelling north to the Faroe Islands to fulfil a friendly fixtures with the national side to celebrate their F.A.’s 75th Anniversary – an honour for the Coventry side as they became the first European professional club to play there.

Faroe Island FA 1979

The first team to play within this autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark was Tvoroyrar Boltfelag which was established in 1892. The Faroese National FA was founded in February 1979. This representative match with the Sky Blues took place well before the Faroe Islands gained membership of FIFA on 2 July 1988 and UEFA on 18 April 1990.

CBJ in the Sky Blue

The team from such a small island proved no match for the rampant Sky Blues who won 6-0 in front of 4,000 spectators. (Even today there are not many more than 5,000 registered footballers on the islands). Though Danish born, one time CCFPA committee member and popular former Sky Blue midfielder Claus Bech Jørgensen (CBJ) later represented the tiny island nation ten times, netting once between 2004-06 when he was with the Sky Blues! He was eligible through his mother and opted for her birth country as he thought he would not be selected for his own homeland. Claus played 66 times for the Sky Blues between 2003-06, scoring six times including the club’s first ever goal at their new home, the Ricoh in August 2005.

Deadly Duo: ‘Wally’ & ‘Fergy’

Barry in Sky Blue action

On this day, the Sky Blues ‘deadly duo’ of the time Mick Ferguson and Ian Wallace got five goals between them, ‘Fergie’ getting a hat-trick and ‘Wally’ a brace. Fellow CCFPA member Barry Powell got the remaining goal.

Good to see both ‘Wally’ and Barry at our recent Legends Day 2024!

We have not been able to source the teams that took the Faroese field that day. If anyone can help please contact us.

A week later the globetrotting Sky Blues played another overseas friendly in the USA when they took on and were defeated 3-1 by the famous New York Cosmos at Meadowlands.