Bodo Glimt

While the towns of Nordland county, such as Narvik, Mo i Rana and Mosjoen had formed football teams earlier, the Bodo was the only town that Bodo was not able to establish a significant football team until later portion of 1916. The Bodo club was formed by the name of Fotballklubben Glimt ("Glimt" meaning "Flash" in English). One of the founding members was Erling Tjaerandsen. He was also the first club's president and then as an honorary member of the club. Tjaerandsen is also well well-known athlete and skier. Glimt's first game was played against Bodo Highschool, because Glimt was the only soccer club in the town.

In 1919, Glimt was awarded their first trophy: County Champions of Nordland. The 1920s were a time when Glimt had a low morale as well as a lack of funds. At one time, there were discussions about the merger of Glimt to Glimt's sister club, the Ski Club B. & O.I, but following discussions, the plan was not implemented. The club was flooded with a dose of fresh inspiration from soccer stars along with coaches from the southern part of Norway like Jorgen Juve from 1929. In the 1930s, Glimt also began indoor training to minimize the impact of the brutal winters in the arctic.

The new strategy during the 1920s and into the 1930s brought some promising results. Glimt have been an elite club within Northern Norway, winning nine Norwegian championships and a national one in Norway in the 1970s.

It changed the name of its club in 1948 because of an earlier club in Trondelag with the same name. The club it has since changed to it's current title of Fotballklubben Bodo/Glimt. The slash was initially used as a hyphen. However, it was changed gradually in the 1980s to prevent confusion since hyphens are often used to distinguish teams in betting coupons and result tables in newspapers.

Team members of Northern Norway were not allowed to participate in the Norwegian cup competition until 1963. The first time they played on the Norwegian FA cup in 1963, Bodo/Glimt managed to get into the fourth round, following an at-home win of 7-1 against Nordil and two wins on the road. First, they beat Nidelv (from Trondheim) and later a stunning victory over Rosenborg. After the 4th round Glimt was forced to play an away match, this time with Frigg who hails from Oslo. Frigg beat Oslo 2-0 and Glimt was knocked out of the Cup. But, Bodo/Glimt had proven that teams from Northern Norway could play at the same level as southern teams.

It wasn't until 1972 that the northern teams were able to get promoted up to Norwegian highest division. It was because of the belief that team of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark weren't able to compete on an equal level to southern teams. Bodo/Glimt is just one of three Norwegian teams Northern Norway that have played in the Norwegian top division, with the other two are Tromso as well as Mjolner.

Since 1973 Norway was divided into three divisions Two divisions were for teams from the southern regions and one division for northern teams. Bodo/Glimt waited three years to be promoted, thanks to the rules of promotion. First place holders in the two southern divisions received immediate promotion, while the first place holders in the northern division of the second division had to compete in play-offs with the second place holders in the south. This system of leagues caused some bitterness for the North. The situation deteriorated after 1975, when Bodo/Glimt was an early club in Northern-Norway was awarded the Norwegian Cup but was not promoted because of the unique rules of play-offs for clubs from the North.

In the season of 1974 and 1975, Bodo/Glimt won their division (they had played a few draws, but they had no losses) However, they still were eliminated to the Play-Offs.

In the year 1976, Bodo/Glimt managed at last to defeat the league system with the victory of 4-0 against Odd and a draw of 1-1 against Lyn which made Glimt the second team from Norway's North that was promoted up to the upper division following FK Mjolner's promotion 1971. It wasn't until the end of the 1970s that it become clear that the Norwegian Football Association changed the promotion rules. The play-off games that were played for Northern clubs were eliminated. Since then, there was no distinction between which club was playing at its home ground.

After a stunning top division debut in 1977 -- finishing second position in both the league as well as the cup, both played against Lillestrom -Bodo/Glimt Bodo/Glimt was a four-year player at the top until the time of their relegation in 1980. placing last, 12th.

The 1980s were among the most difficult time in the club's history as Bodo/Glimt being in 2nd division as well as three divisions in regional play. In the time in the mid-1980s, they weren't the top team in Bodo as their rivals Grand Bodo surpassing them in the standings. But things changed when they came to 1991. Coach Jan Muri in charge, Glimt was promoted to the 1st division. In the following season, they appointed Trond Sollied as the coach and the team took home the 1st division of their 1992 campaign. In 1993, finally, Bodo/Glimt was back in the top division and in their first season in 1977, they were second within the league. The team also won the Cup final (a victory of 2-0 against Stromsgodset). It was a great achievement. Cup-Championship was the culmination of three amazing seasons that saw them go between 2nd and 2nd in the top division in just three years - an accomplishment that is rarely experienced within Norway's Norwegian leagues system.

Since their return to the top division, Bodo/Glimt have experienced a unreliable performance chart. A great league performance in typically then followed by near relegation following season. This was evident in both the seasons of 1993 and 1994, when Glimt took home the cup and was league runners-up. However, in 1994 only a greater goal-difference enabled Bodo/Glimt to remain in the top division.

Another illustration of the rollercoaster of Bodo/Glimt league performances can be seen in the 2004 and 2003 seasons. The team in 2003 was runner-up to the league champions Rosenborg. They also fell in their 2003 Norwegian Cup Final to Rosenborg. In the 2004 season, Glimt was third in the league and was forced to play a two-game qualifying match against Kongsvinger to avoid being relegated. Glimt was defeated in the first match 1-1 in Kongsvinger however, and then swept aside Kongsvinger in Bodo with a score of 4-0. They won 4-1 in the aggregate.

Following the return of the club during 1993 Glimt continued to play in the Norwegian premier division throughout 12 seasons, which is an overall total of 16 seasons in the top division. However, in the 2005 season, Bodo/Glimt was relegated.

The season within the Adecco League proved harder than many fans expected. Many were dissatisfied when Glimt was unable to get the third place play-off slot they had enjoyed for most of the of the season. They ended up finishing fifth. The season was marred by financial problems, requiring Glimt to trade their top scorers Havard Sakariassen and captain Cato Andre Hansen to promotion rivals Bryne during the middle in the course of their season. The move was necessary to help stabilize their financial situation and was so low that Norwegian Football Association threatened to not grant the team their playing licence for the next season. This would have led to a disastrous transfer into the 2nd division.

The disappointing results at the final stages of the season caused the board of supporters' club to publish an open letter where the drinking and training practices of a few players who were not named were condemned. A bizarre twist came about few weeks later, supporters team was threatened an action in the multi-million class by the coach who was formerly in charge Trond Sollied who was briefly mentioned in a by-sentence the letter as being in charge at the time the bad behaviour of the team began. All allegations were promptly withdrawn by the club's supporters.

In the second year of Adeccoligaen Bodo/Glimt was promoted into Tippeligaen after two promotion games the previous year, and in 1976, against Odd. Bodo/Glimt was the only team in Norway to be promoted in the games to Tippeligaen. It was also the last match played by Bodo/Glimt in the memory of Norwegian famous players Erik Hoftun and Kent Bergersen. Returning back to Tippeligaen was a success since the team did well to finish 4th in 2008. However, in the following season, they followed the trend of the club to struggle following a great season and Bodo/Glimt was relegated again with an unbeaten 15th position, which was being second last in the league.

As of 2013, Glimt/Bodo were again elevated to Tippeligaen following champions of Adecco-ligaen. The coach Jan Halvor Halvorsen managed to keep Glimt in the top position for the following two seasons.

Prior to the start of the season in 2016 the club's legend Aasmund Bjorkan was chosen as the head coach. The team began well and was at the top of their league table after just three games. Then, Glimt lost the next six games. The top spot in the league appeared to be secure, with just four games left, however Glimt was unable to win all of them and was then relegated. Despite being relegated, Aasmund Bjorkan stayed on as the head coach and the club hired then undiscovered Kjetil Knutsen as an assistant coach. Bodo/Glimt won the league with 16 points and was subsequently in the top league. Aasmund Bjorkan won the title of coach of the year however, he resigned as head coach and assumed the position of the sporting director for Bodo/Glimt ahead of the season in 2018. Assistant coach Kjetil Knutsen was elevated into head coach. Glimt had a good performance in 2018, but their 14 draws left them in the 11th position however they maintained the status of a top team.

In the lead-up to the season of 2019, Glimt was mentioned among the candidates for relegation by a majority of analysts, especially because Glimt had already lost key players, such as Captain Martin Bjornbak and top scorer Kristian Fardal Opseth. Glimt was a surprise to everyone, and secured a second place at the Norwegian Eliteserien. Kjetil Knutsen received the title of coach of the year while Hakon Evjen won the title of as player of the year as well as Young Player of the Year. Prior to the start of the 2020 season Glimt once again sold crucial players, including the captain Ricardo Friedrich and Hakon Evjen however, it was not listed as a contender for the title. But, Glimt performed a record year by winning 26 games as well as scoring 103 goals over 30 games. Bodo/Glimt took home the Eliteserien for the first time in the history of football, being the very first club to come from Northern Norway to win the Eliteserien. Also, Kjetil Knutsen won the award for coach of the year. Philip Zinckernagel was named player of the year after with the team with 18 goals as well as 19 assists. In the lead-up to the 2021 season Bodo/Glimt had sold three of their frontmen Philip Zinckernagel, Jens Petter Hauge, and Kasper Junker. The trio scored combined 60 goals, and contributed 35 assists during the season 2020. Glimt was unable to find any replacements to replace them. Pundits were skeptical of Glimts championship chances, however once again Glimt amazed everyone, and became champions twice in a row following an 3-0 win at Mjondalen in the final game of the season.

In the wake of the league's final score of 2019, Glimt qualified for the UEFA Europa League. After two wins over Lithuanian teams Glimt was up against AC Milan at San Siro in the third qualifying round, only losing 3-3. For the 2021-22 European season, the performances significantly improved. After losing their first Champions League qualifying round match in the first qualifying round against Legia Warszawa, Glimt qualified for the Europa Conference League group stage (in the process, defeating Zalgiris in Vilnius again for the first time in the space of two years).

Being drawn in the group of C Glimt initially defeated Zorya Luhansk in the first round, before drawing CSKA Sofia 0-0 away. Glimt won the group, and then beat favourite A.S. Roma 6-1 at home in Aspmyra. This was the most humiliating defeat for Roma in European tournaments since they lost 1-1 against Barcelona at the end of Barcelona's 15-16 Champions club group phase and their most devastating defeat in any other Champions League event. The away match the following week at Stadio Olimpico ended 2-2. The team won their home match with CSKA Sofia and drawing their away match with Zorya, Glimt finished in second spot at the stage of group play with not one loss (and one point ahead of Roma). In the knockout phase, Glimt first defeated Celtic F.C. at home at home and on the road in play-offs and the following day, they defeated AZ on an aggregate basis in the round of 16. The aggregate victory over AZ was sealed with the extra-time goal of Alfons Sampsted at Alkmaar. Glimt continued to draw Roma as their opponent again in the quarter-finals. The first quarter-final match at Aspmyra ended in the Glimt victory by a score of with a score of 2-1. It is noteworthy that out of the 11 players who started in the group stage winning just four were in the initial line-up of players for the quarter-finals at home.

1971 was the year that northern Norwegian teams were eligible to be promoted to the top division. (First possible year for the top division would be 1972). The winner in the northern Norwegian group in the second tier was required to play in the promotion playoffs against the teams that were second in Southern Norwegian second groups of the second tier. 1979 was therefore the first time that northern Norwegian teams played on the same with Southern Norwegian teams.

Third tier was changed as 2. divisjon (Top Tier renamed Tippeligaen 2nd tier was renamed 1. divisjon) prior to the 1991 season.

Bodo/Glimt has participated at European Cups a number of times. The first time was 1976, when they were defeated in a match against Napoli at the cup winner's Cup. They also fell against Inter Milan, and in 1994, they lost to Sampdoria during the exact same tournament. In 2004, they lost to Besiktas in the opening round of UEFA Cup and in 2020 to A.C. Milan in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Because of a shorter season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the match in the match against Milan took place as one game in the stadium of San Siro, with no return match. Glimt was defeated by a narrow margin 3-2. The following year, the club had their first UEFA Champions League appearance, playing Legia Warsaw from Poland Ekstraklasa in the initial qualifying round. After losing in the initial round, the club was able to play their first game in the group stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League, where they had impressive outcomes so far, beating A.S. Roma 8-3 on average and getting the final stage to defeat Celtic F.C. and earn a spot at the 2022 Round of 16.

As of the match that was played on 27 July 2022.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1976–77	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Napoli	0–1	0–2	0–3
1978–79	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Union Luxembourg	4–1	0–1	4–2
		Second round	Internazionale	0–5	1–2	1–7
1994–95	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying Round	Olimpija RÄ«ga	6–0	0–0	6–0
		First round	Sampdoria	3–2	0–2	3–4
1996–97	UEFA Cup	Qualifying Round	Beitar Jerusalem	2–1	5–1	7–2
		First round	Trabzonspor	1–2	1–4	2–5
1999–2000	UEFA Cup	Qualifying Round	Vaduz	1–0	2–1	3–1
		First round	Werder Bremen	0–5	1–1	1–6
2004–05	UEFA Cup	Second qualifying round	Levadia Tallinn	2–1	1–2	3–3 (8–7 p)
		First round	BeÅŸiktaÅŸ	1–1	0–1	1–2
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	First qualifying round	Kauno Žalgiris	6–1	—	—
		Second qualifying round	Žalgiris	3–1	—	—
		Third qualifying round	Milan	—	2–3	—
2021–22	UEFA Champions League	First qualifying round	Legia Warsaw	2–3	0–2	2–5
	UEFA Europa Conference League	Second qualifying round	Valur	3–0	3–0	6–0
		Third qualifying round	Prishtina	2–0	1–2	3–2
		Play-off round	Žalgiris	1–0	2–2	3–2
		Group C	Roma	6–1	2–2	2nd place
			Zorya Luhansk	3–1	1–1
			CSKA Sofia	2–0	0–0
		Knockout round play-offs	Celtic	2–0	3–1	5–1
		Round of 16	AZ	2–1	2–2 (a.e.t)	4–3
		Quarter-finals	Roma	2–1	0–4	2–5
2022–23	UEFA Champions League	First qualifying round	KÍ Klaksvík	3–0	1–3	4–3
		Second qualifying round	Linfield	8–0	0–1	8–1
		Third qualifying round	Žalgiris

Detail of the honours as below mentioned.

Eliteserien

• Winners : 2020, 2021
• Runners-up: 1977, 1993, 2003, 2019

1. divisjon

• Winners : 2013, 2017

Norwegian Cup

• Winners : 1975, 1993
• Runners-up: 1977, 1996, 2003, 2021–22

North-Norwegian championships

• Winners : 1930, 1933, 1934, 1939, 1952, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1969
• Runners-up : 1949, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1966

On the 17th of July, 2022

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  DEN Japhet Sery Larsen 3 DF  ISL Alfons Sampsted 4 DF  NOR Marius Høibråten 5 DF  NOR Brice Wembangomo 6 DF  NOR Isak Amundsen 7 FW  NOR Amahl Pellegrino 9 FW  NOR Ola Solbakken 10 MF  NOR Hugo Vetlesen 11 FW  NOR Runar Espejord 12 GK  RUS Nikita Khaykin 14 MF  NOR Ulrik Saltnes (captain) 15 MF  NOR Anders Konradsen 16 MF  NOR Morten Konradsen 17 MF  NOR Gaute Høberg Vetti 18 DF  NOR Brede Moe 19 MF  NOR Sondre Brunstad Fet

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  NOR Fredrik Sjøvold 23 MF  NOR Elias Kristoffersen Hagen 24 FW  NOR Lasse Selvåg Nordås 25 GK  NOR Marcus Andersen 26 DF  NOR Sigurd Kvile 27 FW  NOR Sondre Sørli 32 FW  NOR Joel Mvuka 35 MF  NOR Adan Abadala Hussein 37 MF  NOR Ask Tjærandsen-Skau 43 DF  NOR Brynjar Johnsplass 77 MF  GHA Gilbert Koomson — GK  NOR Julian Faye Lund — FW  TUN Sebastian Tounekti — FW  NOR Lars-Jørgen Salvesen — DF  CZE Lucas Kubr — MF  SVN Nino Žugelj

For transfers during the season, refer to transfer winter 2021-22 as well as transfers summer 2022.

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•  Jørgen Juve (1939)
•  Arvid Halvorsen (1963–1965)
•  Andreas Berg (1965–1969)
•  Karl Adamek (1970)
•  Andreas Berg (1971–1975)
•  Odd Bjørn Kristoffersen (1975–1977)
•  René van Eck (1978)
•  Odd Bjørn Kristoffersen (1978)
•  Erik Ruthford Pedersen (1979–1980)
•  Joe Hooley (1981)
•  Harald Berg (1981)
•  Odd Bjørn Kristoffersen (1981)
•  Truls Klausen (1982)
•  Andreas Berg (1983)
•  Harald Berg (1983)
•  Jacob Klette (1984)
•  Øystein Gåre (1985–1989)
•  Odd Bjørn Kristoffersen (1989–1990)
•  Jan Muri (1991)
•  Trond Sollied (1992–1996)
•  Øystein Gåre (1997–1998)
•  Dag Opjordsmoen (1999–2001)
•  Øystein Gåre (2001–2004)
•  Kent Bergersen (2005–2007)
•  Kåre Ingebrigtsen (2008–2011)
•  Cato André Hansen (2011–2012)
•  Jan Halvor Halvorsen (2013–2015)
•  Aasmund Bjørkan (2015–2017)
•  Kjetil Knutsen (2018–)

The club is famous for its play in yellow kit. But it was not until the late 1970s the mid 70s that FK Bodo/Glimt changed their white shorts to a yellow strip. In the year 1980, the club made its first deal as a kit manufacturer with the German company Adidas although the club had been wearing shorts and track jackets from Adidas from 1976. Nordlandsbanken is a major bank within the area, is the major sponsors of the club. It was featured on their shirts up to 2011. Since 2007, Diadora has been manufacturing the kits.

Glimt supporters are referred to by the names of "1916", "Den Gule Horde" (The Yellow Horde), "Glimt i Sor" (Glimt in the South) and "Glimt in Steigen" (Glimt within Steigen). The 1916 group The group and Den Gule Horde have merged to create the Supporter Group "J-feltet" which is named after the part of the stadion in which the singing supporters reside. Glimt i Sor is a supporter group that is based in Oslo which is the capital city of Norway and includes members across the southern part of Norway. There is another smaller group known as "Glimt in the Midten" (Glimt within the middle) situated in and close to Trondheim. Its Steigen group is one of a smaller group of supporters that are well-known for their online presence, particularly on Twitter.

Glimt supporters were one of the pioneers to establish the custom of singing fans dressed in club colors in Norwegian arenas during the 70s. They are famous throughout Norway because they brought a massive toothbrush to matches, a custom that began when supporter leaders started using toothbrushes to lead the singing. This was because people frequently carried the toothbrush in their pockets during their travels to the match. A representative of Jordan Norway, the country's largest dental firm, noticed this during a match and offered the players an opportunity to become sponsors. For a long time, teams from other countries have received a toothpick (of typical size) from the team captain of Bodo/Glimt before games.