When you visit Bodo, one word you will hear a lot when people describe it is 'unique'. The Norwegian town situated about 80 km above the Arctic Circle is a stunning place that sits beautifully in the surrounding nature and does its best to fit into it rather than disturb the peace.
Its brand new hotel where we stayed is made mostly out of wood, sitting atop a hill from which you can look at all the pine forest hiking trails and fjords you want to visit. When you drive through the city, you will notice that the majority of the cars are electric.
But there is something you’ll see even more than quiet EVs. Windows and balconies are full of the yellow and black flags and scarves of Bodo/Glimt, the team that went from “Hey, you guys are playing football over there too?” to slaying European giants within a matter of years.
“I’m not a football fan in general, but I am a Bodo/Glimt fan. You can’t escape it here,” says Julie from our hosts at Visit Bodo with a smile when she greets us at the airport. Over the next few days, we will find out just how true the statement is.
Historic triumph
Let’s put the club’s situation in context. They weren’t really supposed to make it this far. Bodo is a town of just 55,000 people, and their club is one of the handful of those playing football above the Arctic Circle, one of the only two clubs from north of Norway playing in the country’s top division.
In the first 100 years of existence, the club yo-yoed between the first and second (and even third) division and had two domestic cup triumphs to their name. That was it.
Though let’s not put the first cup win aside too quickly. “Before 1975, the people from Northern Norway were often discriminated against. Even when you tried to lease an apartment in the South, the contract said ‘No people from Northern Norway'. When Bodo/Glimt won the cup that year, everything changed,” says Orjan Heldal, the club’s commercial director.
The historic triumph is remembered in more ways than just putting pictures of it on the walls. When we oversaw the team’s practice a day before their game against Tromso, we came across a group of gentlemen well into their 70s and 80s just enjoying their coffee and watching over the new generation.
“Those guys are the cup winners from ‘75. They come for coffee and a chat every day, 11 AM sharp,” Heldal says. That is one of the many examples that show you Bodo/Glimt is a tightly knit community, the city and the club living in perfect harmony.
We stepped on the gas
What truly changed Bodo/Glimt’s fortunes were the years around the COVID pandemic. In 2018, in the first year under head coach Kjetil Knutsen, they nearly got relegated to the second division. Instead of sacking the coach and trying to change course quickly, the club stuck with Knutsen, offering him a contract extension. In return, the coach not only guided them to safety, but has taken them to four titles in the last five years.
“When COVID hit, everyone pumped the brakes. And we stepped on the gas,” says Frode Thomassen, Bodo/Glimt’s CEO, in a roundtable discussion Flashscore was a part of.
"We didn’t fire a single person; we told everyone to keep working. We flew the team to Spain, where they practised for almost two months; the whole club lived there together in Marbella. When they came back and the league restarted, we won 81 points out of the possible 90 and shattered all the records,” he says.
“That gave us the confidence that this approach can work long term.”
Like all of the people at the club, the CEO remains a humble man. When he first assumed his position, he had to ask the board if he should order 80 or 100 kits for the club shop just to save some money. “And we sold almost nothing, we didn’t have any money,” he recalls.
“I hope we are an inspiration for other clubs that success in football isn’t just about money, like many people think. Because here, we started with no money, but we’ve had a group of people who want to work hard and elevate the club,” Thomassen says.
Since the sudden rise in 2020, the triumphs domestically and internationally, like reaching the semi-final of the Europa League last season, have changed everything. Glimt can sell out Aspmyra Stadium, their humble home of 8,000 seats, multiple times over.
That is one of the reasons why they are building a new modern stadium that will host over 10,000 people. The club puts emphasis on sustainability and stability on and off the pitch, and mentions they will finance the new ground independently without hindering the sporting project.
“We desperately need a new one, we’re running out of space,” Heldal says as he walks us through the current stadium. “The room for press conferences used to be a bowling alley just a few years ago. The offices for our academy and women’s teams' coaches were a driving school just two weeks ago.”
The one thing that breaks the peace
We spent the morning of the game on a boat (electric, of course) that took us to the fjords. We observed the serenity of the stunning, undisturbed nature surrounding the city from all sides and enjoyed precious moments of peace.
But as the afternoon arrives, the peaceful town of Bodo comes alive. The closer to the kick-off you are, the more people in the city you see in yellow and black shirts, kits and even hand-knit sweaters with Bodo/Glimt insignia. The sounds of gentle winds from the shoreline are overpowered by chants of the ultras.
“I don’t know where these people are hiding all week,” our host from Visit Bodo says jokingly. The locals like their peace, but when the matchday comes, everybody opens up their emotions (and their beer tabs) and for those few hours, nothing else other but cheering for Bodo/Glimt exists.
At 7 pm, almost a fifth of the town packs the Aspmyra Stadium where Bodo/Glimt battle rivals Tromso. It is a derby between the only two clubs from Northern Norway in the top division, though the clubs aren’t as close geographically as in derbies we’re used to elsewhere. Tromso had to fly to Bodo - it was either that, or a nine-hour drive.
Despite the electrifying atmosphere, Bodo/Glimt can’t quite best their rivals and leave with a 1-1 draw. Still, that point takes them top of the league ahead of Viking and prepares them for the challenge they will face in the Champions League qualifiers against Sturm Graz.
Performance over goals
But even if the club would love to qualify for that competition and win another league title, they don’t really have a list of goals they need to achieve.
“If you set goals and then you don’t reach them, it can be scary. If you want to be first but instead end up second or third, should you change your ways?” Thomassen says. “We work with performance and ambition instead. If you go to the players and ask them about the next result, they don’t say ‘We want to win', instead they say ‘We want to achieve a good performance.”
It’s a small, simple change, but it says everything about the culture of the club. Thomassen sums it up well: “The way the players and coaches work, and the way the whole club works, from the fanshop all the way to the top offices, is the same: How can you do things better tomorrow than you did today?”
In the context of top European football, everything about Bodo/Glimt is unique. The culture, the approach, even the setting of the club above the Arctic Circle. Somehow, the tightly knit group of people here found a way to make it all work.
Whether they make the Champions League or not this season, Bodo/Glimt will surely continue to be a team worth following.
Read more from our trip to Bodo:
Jens Petter Hauge on Bodo/Glimt bringing the city together and success in Europe
Bodo/Glimt's Director of Football on unique culture and working like an F1 team
'We don’t care about results' - Bodo/Glimt’s Hakon Evjen on the club’s rapid rise