Bodø/Glimt's meteoric rise to the top of European football

Just seven years ago, in 2018, Lazio missed out on Champions League football in a dramatic final matchday loss to Inter Milan at the Stadio Olimpico. In that same year, Bodø/Glimt had just been promoted back into the Eliteserien, a common instance for them as they had been yo-yoing back and forth between the first two divisions of Norwegian football for decades. Yesterday, seven years later, the boys in yellow knocked the Italian giants out of the Europa League and became the first club from Norway to qualify for a semifinal of any European competition.

This story starts in 2018 for two reasons: the first, which we already mentioned, is that Bodø/Glimt had just been promoted, and the second is that the 2018 Eliteserien was their first campaign with manager Kjetil Knutsen at the wheel.

Aasmund Bjørkan, who had coached the club in their 2016 relegation and subsequent 2017 promotion campaigns, stepped down from his role to take on the challenge of becoming sporting director, promoting his unknown assistant Knutsen to become manager. A good 2018 season saw Glimt earn safety in 11th place despite not winning any of the last nine matches, meaning Knutsen's good job allowed him to stay and build on the core that was already taking shape with players like Saltnes, Berg, Moe and Hauge already appearing regularly on the team sheet.

 

The following year was already much better: Bodø/Glimt was finally fighting for the top spots in the league, and despite a heavy 6-0 defeat away at Valerenga, a massive revenge 5-0 win against them at home saw Glimt go top of the table as late as matchday 19 out of 30. A poor run of form to end the campaign meant the club missed out on its first ever league title, as Molde ran away with it and dominated the second part of the season, but the improvements were clear and the club won qualification to the Europa League first qualifying round for the following season.

All the hard work paid off in 2020. A perfect start to the season saw Glimt win all ten of their first league matches, basically securing the title halfway through the season already. The team completely dominated the league, with a record of 26 wins, 3 draws and only one loss winning them an incredible 81 points out of 90.

But 2020 in Bodø is also remembered for the first European campaign of the new era. Glimt had already competed many times in the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup, but only reached the second round once in 1979, and had not played in Europe at all since the 2005 UEFA Cup. Because of the COVID pandemic, the qualifiers for the Europa League were disputed in a single knockout match rather than two-legged ties: this is because the 2019-20 season ended so late, UEFA had to speed up the beginning of the 2020-21 competitions. Bodø dominated the first two qualifying rounds against Lithuanian clubs Kauno Zalgiris and Zalgiris Vilnius, winning 6-1 and 3-1 respectively, showing that they could compete on the continental stage and earning an unthinkable away day at the San Siro to play against AC Milan.

The trip to Milan was slightly ruined by the fact that no fans were allowed inside the stadium because of the restrictions, but Bodø gave AC Milan a run for their money and even got in front with a goal from Junker, although the lead only lasted one minute. A Calhanoglu brace and a goal from Lorenzo Colombo meant Bodø/Glimt were out of the competitions with a honourable 3-2 defeat, with the last goal scored by Jens Petter Hauge, who made such a good impression that AC Milan signed him just a week later!

Hauge, who had scored 17 goals in 21 matches throughout the season at that point, was possibly the brightest talent at the club, although Danish teammates Zinckernagel and Junker scored even more than him with 22 and 28 goals respectively. That 2020 Bodø/Glimt team was a goal machine!

Bodø won the league in 2021 again, this time in a nail biting title fight with Molde and Viking, and won by just three points after going undefeated for the last 20 league matches. The 2020 title had earned them a spot in the Champions League qualifiers for the first time in club history, but they crashed out straight away against Legia Warsaw and had to switch their focus to the new UEFA creation: the Conference League.

Easily defeating Valur and just beating Prishtina and Zalgiris Vilnius again, the Norwegians qualified for their first ever European group stage, where they ended up with AS Roma, Zorya Luhansk and CSKA Sofia. Bodø/Glimt incredibly went undefeated: they won all three matches at their home ground Aspmyra, and drew all three away games.

The most notable match of this phase was without a doubt their iconic 6-1 victory over Jose Mourinho's Roma, a result that still gives the fans in Bodø pride and the fans in Rome shame.

Second place in the group stage, just one point behind Roma: the European campaign would go on in 2022, and Bodø did not stop, defeating Celtic 5-1 on aggregate in the play-offs, then AZ Alkmaar 4-3 in the round of 16, before being paired with AS Roma again for a rematch of the group stage clashes in the quarter finals. Bodø once again won at home, this time 2-1, marking a perfect European season at Aspmyra, but eventual Conference League winners Roma were too good in the second leg and put the ball in the net four times at the Olimpico.

In July another European campaign began, once more in the Champions League, as they were still Champions of Norway: 4-3 to KI Klaksvik, 8-1 to Linfield, 6-1 to Zalgiris (again...), and a playoff against Dinamo Zagreb to see who qualifies for the group stage. Once again Bodø win at home, 1-0, and once again they crash out away, 4-1. Grouped with Arsenal, PSV and Zurich in the Europa League, they get third place and are demoted to the Conference League, where Lech Poznan knocks them out in the playoffs.

A new attempt for Knutsen's boys starts in July 2023: this time the qualifiers are for the Conference League because Molde won the league in 2022. 7-2 to Bohemians, 6-0 to Pyunik, 5-4 to Sepsi, and second place in a group with Club Brugge, Besiktas and Lugano. An unlucky playoff with Ajax sees Bodø eliminated 3-4 in extra time, and the dream of going far in Europe is starting to fade off.

July 2024, another shot at the Champions League qualifiers because in the meantime Bodø won their third league title: 7-1 to Riga FS, 5-1 to Jagiellonia, then another playoff loss in the Balkans, this time to Red Star. So Europa League it is: ninth place in the league phase, Bodø doesn't qualify for the round of 16 on goal difference. No problem: a chaotic 5-2 win over Twente in extra time gives them the pass to the round of 16, where they defeat Olympiacos 4-2. For the second time in recent years, Bodø have qualified for a European quarter final, but this time it's the Europa League, not the Conference League, and this time it's Lazio and not Roma.

As always, Bodø seem unplayable at home on their artifical turf: Saltnes brace, 2-0, goodnight and see you in Rome. The fans also displayed a beautiful tifo to celebrate the defeats of AS Roma in Norway, telling Lazio fans that they will have the same fate as their rivals.

In the second leg the Olimpico is full, Lazio's ultras display a Oasis inspired tifo, and the biancocelesti score first with Castellanos. Attack after attack, cross after cross Lazio try to score and send it to extra time, but it's Bodø who have a massive chance with Helmersen to end the tie, although he inexplicably can't push it into the wide open net but hits the Lazio keeper instead. However, injury time comes and Bodø still hold onto their one goal lead, but the inevitable happens: Noslin is in the right place at the right time to score from close range and send Lazio fans wild and the tie to extra time, where Dia makes it even worse, scoring the third goal. Bodø keeps focus and stays in the match though, and it is Helmersen, the man who missed an open goal, who makes it 3-3 on aggregate and sends it to penalties.

The rest, at this point, is history. Bodø/Glimt become the first Norwegian club to ever qualify for a semifinal of any European competition, and will play against Tottenham Hotspur for a spot in the final in Bilbao.

From 2018 until today, Bodø have done all this with the same manager, Knutsen, and a core group of players who are still at the club, as we mentioned Saltnes, Moe, Berg, even Hauge came back to the Arctic circle to play for Bodø, but we could also mention players who have now left but have been a significant part of the club's recent success like Amahl Pellegrino, Solbakken, Grønbaek, Boniface and Botheim.

A wonderful football story in one of the most unique regions of Europe.