He is the northernmost national champion in the world. The city from Bodo, 52 000 inhabitants, is located in the Arctic Circle, nestled more than 1 000 kilometers north of Oslo.
Its stadium, the Aspmyra Stadion, can only seat 8 500 spectators but it would take more to slow down FK Bodø/Glimt, only one match separates from the group stage of the Champions League. Mid-August, in his den, the Norwegian club scored through Amahl Pellegrino against Dinamo Zagreb for a 1-0 victory.
A hope of “Tom Thumb” which is part of the very recent rise of the Scandinavians at European level. RElegated in 2016, Bodø/Glimt returned to the Norwegian first division two years later. Since then, Kjetil Knutsen’s men have won the first two championships in their history in 2020 and 2021.
After the club’s first two national titles created in 1916, synonymous with qualification for the Europa League Conference (C4), Kjetil Knutsen’s band shone on the continental scene, reaching the quarter-finals of this new European competition last season. In the fall of 2021, Bodø / Glimt even defeated the great AS Roma of José Mourinho with the score of 6-1.
Proof of the interest aroused by this sacred fire from the Arctic Circle, renowned European teams are eyeing players from the club’s training center, like Jens-Petter Hauge, born and trained in Bodø, and transferred to AC Milan in October 2020. Midfielder Patrick Berg, who grew up in Bodø, arrived at RC Lens in January 2022.
We will also have to watch Ola Solbakken (23 years old) or the Icelandic Alfons Sampsted (23 years), tracked in particular by Olympique Lyonnais this summer. And it’s already a victory for the club: having put its name on the European football map.