Vålerenga IF Fotball

Infobox Football club
clubname = Vålerenga Fotball


fullname = Vålerenga Fotball
nickname = Enga, Vål'enga, the Bohemians,
the Pride of Oslo, St. Hallvard's men
founded = July 29 1898
ground = Ullevaal Stadion Oslo
capacity = 25,572
chairman = Odd Skarheim
manager = Martin Andresen
coach = Tor Ole Skullerud
season = 2007
position = Tippeligaen, 7th
pattern_la1=_vif|pattern_b1=_vif|pattern_ra1=_vif
leftarm1=00008B|body1=00008B|rightarm1=00008B|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FF0000
pattern_la2=_vif2|pattern_b2=_vif2|pattern_ra2=_vif2
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Vålerenga Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Oslo, founded in 1913, named after the nearby neighbourhood of Vålerenga. They finished 7th in the 2007 Norwegian Premier League.

Vålerenga's home ground, as of October 2005, is Ullevaal Stadion, the stadium for the Norway national football team. The previous stadium was Bislett stadion, which hosted speed skating and track and field events in addition to football, and hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics.

History

Early days

The history of Vålerenga goes back to "Fotballpartiet Spark" which was founded in 1898, which became "Idrettslaget Spring" on July 29 1913. Later the club changed its name to "Vaalerengens Idrættsforening".

Vålerengen won the Oslo Championships four times before a national league (Norgesserien) was established in 1937. In the 1948/49 season Vålerengen finished second.

1960s–1980s

In 1965 Vålerengen won the 1st division (now "Tippeligaen") for the first time, and in the 80s they won 3 league championships and 1 cup championship. During that decade they also were twice cup runners-up and placed 3rd in the league in 1985.

1990s

In 1990 Vålerenga were relegated after 14 seasons in the top division. Vålerenga was close to further relegation in the 1992 season, but managed to remain in the second highest division thanks to a last round 3-0 win against Eik-Tønsberg. In 1994, Vålerenga returned to the top division, but were relegated again in 1996. In 1997 Vålerenga won the cup and the 1st division and were again promoted to Tippeligaen. As earlier in the 90s, the stay in the top division lasted only a few years.

2000–2004

In the 2000 season Vålerenga lost the play-off matches against Sogndal and was relegated to the 1st division. Vålerenga returned to Tippeligaen in 2002.

The 2003 season was poor for Vålerenga and they wound up third last in the league sending them into playoffs against Sandefjord to avoid relegation. The result was a 0-0 draw in Sandefjord and a 5-3 victory in Oslo and so Vålerenga retained the position in the top league and avoided relegation.

Vålerenga rebounded nicely in the 2004 season and proved a serious challenge to the dominant Rosenborg team in the bid for the league's gold medal. After a franctic final round where Vålerenga beat Stabæk 3-0, they missed out on the league title since Rosenborg beat Lyn, Vålerenga's city rivals 4-1. Vålerenga won the silver medal, finishing 2nd to Rosenborg equal on points and goal difference, but Vålerenga had scored one fewer goal than Rosenborg during the entire league campaign, leaving Rosenborg as league champions.

Champions 2005

At the start of the 2005 season it was apparent that Rosenborg was in bad shape and it seemed like Vålerenga's season to go all the way. After a strong season opening, the club sensation Start - newly promoted to the Premier League - looked to give Vålerenga a fight to the finish, and the two clubs basically alternated on leading the series to the very last round. On October 29 it looked to be a thrilling last round reminiscent of the previous year, as both Start and Vålerenga had the exact same amount of points, but Start with a slightly better goal difference. Start met Fredrikstad at home, while Vålerenga met Odd Grenland away. As the opening whistle blew the scene was set for some nail-biting football minutes around Norway. Eventually Fredrikstad, who faced relegation if they lost, beat Start 3-1 while at the same time Vålerenga managed a 2-2 draw against Odd Grenland. Vålerenga stepped one up from the previous year, and won the title with a one point margin. History was made on several levels that night as it marked the first time in 21 years that Vålerenga won the league, and most notably it put an end to the 13 year long reign of Rosenborg.

2006 onwards

The follow-up season of 2006 didn't start out as well for the reigning champions, and a poor start left them at the very end of the table after seven rounds, having gained only 5 points. A steady rise in form though still brought the team to 6th place by the time the season was half-through. Late July brought a string of bad results, including embarrassing losses to main rival Lyn, and the exit from the UEFA Champions League qualifier after losing 5-3 on aggregate to Czech club Mladá Boleslav in the 2nd qualifying round. Vålerenga had aimed to qualify for the tournament after missing out the previous year by being defeated by Belgian side Club Brugge on a penalty shoot-out. After losing five out of seven games between July 22 and August 19 head-coach Kjetil Rekdal decided enough is enough, and announced his resignation. Assisting coach Petter Myhre took over, and as a consequence the club regained their form and scored 25 out of the last 30 possible points, bringing the club to yet another medal in the league, the third consecutive, as well as a qualification spot for the 2007-2008 UEFA Cup. Vålerenga has also qualified for play in the 2006-2007 Scandinavian Royal League after finishing among the top four teams in Norway.

Recent league history

Transfers off-season 2007/2008

In:

*flagicon|NOR Lars Iver Strand - Transferred From "Tromsø"

*flagicon|ESP David Rodriguez Fernandez - Transferred From "Asker"

*flagicon|NOR Mohammed Abdellaoue - Transferred From "Skeid"

*flagicon|NOR André Muri - Returned from (loan in) "Odd Grenland"

*flagicon|USA Troy Perkins Transferred from "DC United"

*flagicon|NOR Bengt Sæternes Transferred from "Odense"

*flagicon|NOR Kristofer Hæstad Transferred from "Start"

*flagicon|NOR Frode Larsen Transferred from "Lyn"

*flagicon|NOR Fredrik Carlsen Promoted from youth squad

*flagicon|NOR Amin Nouri Promoted from youth squad

Out:

*flagicon|ISL Árni Gautur Arason - "Thanda Royal Zulu"

*flagicon|NOR Thomas Holm - Transferred To "Molde"

*flagicon|NOR Steinar Strømnes - Bosman

*flagicon|NOR Jalal El-Gharbi - Bosman

*flagicon|NOR Arnar Førsund - Transferred To "Ham-Kam"

*flagicon|NOR Jan-Derek Sørensen - Transferred To "Bodø/Glimt"

*flagicon|NOR Alexander Mathisen - Transferred To "Aalesund"

*flagicon|NOR Christian Grindheim - Transferred To "Heerenveen"

*flagicon|POL Sebastian Mila - Transferred To "ŁKS Łódź"

See also

*Vålerenga (Place)
*Vålerenga Ishockey
*Vålerenga Trolls

References

Nome, Petter. "Vi er Vål'enga". Oslo: Cappelen, 1997. ISBN 82-02-17623-9.

External links

* [http://www.vif-fotball.no/ Official pages]
* [http://www.vpn.no/ Vålerenga Fotball På Nett - the biggest site for unofficial news and views]
* [http://www.klanen.no/ Klanen, official Vålerenga supporters club]