Denmark in 1978 became tough for AB, as the club struggled to adapt to the new reality. Success in the 1990s In the early 1990s, AB again experienced success as a team of talented players who had been in AB for many years, helped promote AB to the best Danish league. These players remained in AB even though they had offers from many other clubs. Among these players were René Henriksen who later became the Danish national team's captain, Peter Rasmussen who has the match club record with 394 matches and today is the club's CEO and Peter Frandsen who played 392 matches for AB and later became coach for the first-team squad. This team of strong AB players helped promote AB to the second tier in 1993 under the leadership of former Danish champion with AB Johnny Petersen. The team ended as number three in 2nd division East, thus qualifying for two playoff matches against Nørresundby Boldklub. The matches ended 3–3 in the away and 2–2 at home, and AB was thus promoted to a better row for the first time since 1972. After a couple of seasons in 1st Division, Tonni Nielsen was appointed as new coach in AB in 1996, and he helped lead the team to the cup final. AB had previously knocked out Brøndby IF in the quarterfinals, but the club lost to F.C. Copenhagen in the final. AB also got promoted to the best Danish row Superligaen in 1996 – just two years after having promoted to the second tier. AB was thus back in the best Danish series for the first time since 1973. In 1997, Christian Andersen became the new head coach. Christian Andersen represented forward-playing and technically based football, which AB became known for in the late 1990s. The success of the team culminated in 1999 when AB ended on a third place in the league and became Danish Cup Champions after having won 2–1 against AaB. In 2000, AB won bronze medals again, and in 2001, AB participated in the cup final but lost to Silkeborg IF. At the end of the 1990s, AB had a team consisting of many young talented players, many of whom won the Danish Football Association's talent prize. Peter Løvenkrands won in 1998, Martin Albrechtsen won in 2000 and Stephan Andersen won in 2003. After a few years of mediocre results, AB was relegated to