FK Bodø/Glimt

Football club infobox
clubname = Bodø/Glimt


fullname = Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt
nickname = "Glimt"
founded = September 19, 1916
ground = Aspmyra stadium Bodø
capacity = 7,800
chairman = Benn Eidissen
manager = Kåre Ingebrigtsen
league = Tippeligaen
season = 2007
position = Adeccoligaen, 3rd "(promoted by play-off)"
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pattern_la2 = |pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2 = 0000CC|body2=0000CC|rightarm2=0000CC|shorts2=0000CC|socks2=0000CC

FK Bodø/Glimt is a Norwegian football club from the town of Bodø and was founded in 1916. Its nickname is the original club name: Glimt.

Bodø/Glimt have been Northern Norwegian champions nine times, Norwegian Cup Champions twice and league runners-up three seasons (1977, 1993 and 2003).

Glimt are known for their yellow kits and the huge yellow toothbrushes that the supporters carry to the matches — a supporter symbol from the 1970s. They were relegated at the end of the 2005 season, but returned to the top division on November 12, 2007, with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Odd Grenland in a playoff.

Their supporters are known as "Den Gule Horde" (The Yellow Horde).

History

While neighbouring towns like Narvik and Mo i Rana had started their football clubs earlier, Bodø's was started relatively late in 1916. The Bodø club was founded as Footballclub Glimt (Glimt meaning flash in English). One of the founders was Erling Tjærandsen, who also became the club's first club president, and later a club member of honours. (Tjærandsen was also known as a footballer and skier.) Glimt's first match was against Bodø Highschool (because Glimt was the only football club in town).

In 1919 Glimt won their first title: County Champions of Nordland. But the charming novelty soon wore off. In the 1920s, Glimt suffered from bad morale and poor finances. At one point, there were talks about merging Glimt into the skiclub B.&O.I., but nothing came of the discussions. The club spirit received an infusion of new spirit through visiting football stars and coaches from southern Norway such as Jørgen Juve in 1929. In the 1930s Glimt also began indoor training to reduce the impact of Bodø's harsh Arctic winters.

This new approach in the late 1920s and early 1930s yielded positive results, and Glimt have since been a top club in Northern Norway(wining nine North-Norwegian championsships) and in Norway overall since the 1970s.

Teams from Northern Norway were not allowed compete in the Norwegian cup-competition until 1963. In their first cup play in 1963, Bodø/Glimt got to the fourth round after a home win 7-1 over Nordil, then had two away wins over Nidelv (from Trondheim) and Rosenborg. In the fourth round, Glimt had to play another away game, this time against Frigg from Oslo. Frigg won 2-0, so Glimt was out of the Cup. But Bodø/Glimt had proven that teams from Northern Norway could play at the same level as the southern teams.

It was not until 1972 that northern teams had the right to gain promotion to the Norwegian top division. This was due to the old belief that the teams from Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark could not compete at the same level as the southern teams. Bodø/Glimt is one of three teams from the northern parts of Norway that have played in the Norwegian top division (Tippeligaen), the others being Tromsø I.L. and F.K. Mjølner (from the town of Narvik).

From 1973 Norway had three second divisions: two divisions for the southern teams and one for the northern teams. Bodø/Glimt took three years to gain promotion, due to the rather odd promotion rules. The first place holders in the two southern divisions gained instant promotion, but the first place holder in the northern second division had to compete in play-off matches against the two second place holders from the south. The league-system made a lot of bitterness in the north. This bitterness worsened in 1975 when Bodø/Glimt , as the first club form Northern-Norway, won the cup, but did not gain promotion due to the special play-off rules for the North-Norwegian clubs.

In the 1974 and 1975 season, Bodø/Glimt won their division (they had played a few draws but no losses), but still lost in the play-offs.

In 1976, Bodø/Glimt managed at last to beat the league-system with a 4-0 win over Odd Grenland and a 1-1 draw against Lyn, making Glimt the first North-Norwegian team to "gain" promotion to the top division. Not until the late 1970s the Norwegian Football Association changed the promotion rules, the play-off matches for Northern clubs where dropped. From then on there was no difference where a club had its home-ground.

After a glorious top-division debut in 1977 — second place in the league and the cup, both against Lillestrøm S.K. — Bodø/Glimt played four seasons at the top level before relegation in 1980, finishing last at 12th place.

The 1980s were the darkest hours in the club history, with Bodø/Glimt playing in the 1st division and the regional 2nd division. But the tide turned in 1991. With coach Jan Muri in charge, Glimt was promoted to 1st division. The following season they hired Trond Sollied as coach, and the team won the 1st division in the 1992 season. At last, in 1993, Bodø/Glimt was back in the top-division, and as in the debut season of 1977 they took second place in the league. This time they also managed to win the cup final (a 2-0 win over Strømsgodset I.F.). The Cup-Championship was the crowning of three remarkable seasons, going from 2nd division to 2nd place in the top-division in only three years — an achievement rarely seen in the Norwegian league system.

Since the reentering in the top-division Bodø/Glimt have had a rather strange performance-chart. A good league performance one season have usually been followed with nearly relagation the next season is illustrated with the 1993 and 1994 seasons when Glimt won the cup and became league runners-up, in 1994 a better goal-difference allowed Bodø/Glimt to stay in the top division.

Another example of the rollercoaster ride of Bodø/Glimt league performance is the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In 2003 season the club finished runner up behind the leagues valedictorian Rosenborg. The team also lost the 2003 cup final to Rosenborg. In the 2004 season Glimt finished third last and had to play a two-game qualification match against Kongsvinger I.L. to avoid relegation. Glimt lost the first game 0-1 in Kongsvinger, but soundly defeated Kongsvinger in Bodø by the score of 4-0. Therefore, winning 4-1 on aggregate.

Since the club's comeback in 1993, Glimt have played continuously in the Norwegian top division for 12 seasons, for a total of 16 top division seasons. In the 2005 season however, Bodø/Glimt was relegated.

Life in the Adecco league proved harder than most fans had anticipated, and many were disappointed when Glimt failed to secure the third place play-off spot they had held during most of the course of the season, finally ending in fifth place. The season was tainted by financial difficulties, forcing the team to sell their top scorer Håvard Sakariassen and captain Cato Andrè Hansen to promotion rivals Bryne in the middle of the season. This had to be done in order to stabilize their financial situation, which was so poor that the Norwegian Football Association threathened to not give the team their playing license for next season, which would have resulted disastrously in forced relegation to the second division.

The poor results towards the end of the season finally prompted the board of the supporter's club to write an open letter in which the training and alcohol consumption habits of certain unnamed players were critizised. In a bizarre twist a few weeks later, the supporter's club was threathened with a lawsuit in the multi-million class by former coach Trond Sollied, who was briefly mentioned in a by-sentence of the letter as having been in charge when the bad habits of the team had begun. All claims were quickly retracted by the supporter's club.

In the second season in Adeccoligaen, Bodø/Glimt made their target from the first season in Adeccoligaen, a promotion back to Tippeligaen after two promotion matches - once again, as in 1976 - against Odd Grenland. Bodø/Glimt was the first team on nine years in Norway for winning the promotion matches to Tippeligaen. This was also the last match and day at work in Bodø/Glimt for the Norwegian legend Erik Hoftun and Kent Bergersen

Achievements

*Norwegian Premier League:
**Runners-up (3): 1977, 1993, 2003

*Norwegian Football Cup:
**Winners (2): 1975, 1993
**Runners-up (3): 1977, 1996, 2003

*North-Norwegian championships
**Winners (9): 1930, 1933, 1934, 1939, 1952, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1969
**Runners-up (5): 1949, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1966

European Cups

Bodø/Glimt have participated in European Cups a number of times. The first time was in 1976, when they lost against Napoli in the Cup Winners' Cup. In 1978, they lost to Inter Milan, and in 1994 to Sampdoria in the same competition. Their latest loss came to Besiktas in the 2004 UEFA Cup.

Current squad

"As of April 11, 2008."

Coaching staff

Administrative staff

Famous players

Bodø/Glimt players with caps for Norway:

Erik Hoftun - 30, Bengt Sæternes - 7, Harald "Dutte" Berg - 45, Runar Berg - 5, Stig Johansen - 3, Jon Abrahamsen - 3, Arild Olsen - 2, Tom Kåre Staurvik - 2.

Cup Champions for Bodø/Glimt:

1975: Jon Abrahamsen, Tor Eriksen, Einar Kolstad, Oddbjørn Kristoffersen, Trond Tidemann, Arild Olsen, Harald "Dutte" Berg, Jakob Klette, Ove Andreassen, Arne Hanssen, Terje Mørkved, Sturla Solhaug og Trygve Nygård, Truls Klausen.

1993:Rohnny Westad, Ola Haldorsen, Trond Sollied, Charles Berstad, Andreas Evjen, Runar Berg, Tom Kåre Staurvik, Tommy Hansen, Aasmund Bjørkan, Bent Inge Johnsen, Harald Brattbakk, Tor Arne "Totte" Aga, Petter Solli, Thor Mikalsen, Ivar Morten Normark.

Statistics

Best win (topdivision): 8-0 against Lyn 1993 season.

Worst loss (topdivision): 0-6 against I.K. Start 1994 season, And 0-6 against Lyn 2005

Best win (cup): 11-2 against Mosjøen 2002 season.

Worst loss (cup): 0-5 against Viking F.K.1974 season and 0-5 against Odd Grenland 2000 season.

Bodø/Glimt's total points in top division:

Matches Win Draw Lose Goal Dif. Points 366 134 89 143 606-604 383

Worst cup achievement: 1st round loss against Grovfjord 0-1, 1991 season. The only time Bodø/Glimt have lost in the 1st round.

External links

* [http://www.glimt.no Official web site for Bodø/Glimt]
* [http://www.glimtforum.net/phpBB2/index.php Glimtforum.Net - Discussion forums]