Market Data 
Far removed from the soccer metropolises, Bodø/Glimt, a Norwegian team from inside the Arctic Circle, is writing a romantic tale in Europe this season.
The club is gearing up to face Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League semifinals and will have no fear. Bodø/Glimt has not traditionally been a force but has enjoyed statement wins against names such as Roma, Lazio, Porto, and Celtic, establishing itself as a disruptor on the continent in recent years.
Indeed, Spurs, 16th in the Premier League and enduring a frustrating domestic campaign, faces a unique challenge to reach the final and potentially save its season. Climate dictates that Bodø/Glimt plays its home matches on artificial turf, and the squad likes to move the ball around swiftly. There are few stars. Instead, a ferocious collective work ethic helps explain its success, the quarterfinals being an example.
“In the first match against Lazio, you could see some of the players running around 14.8 kilometers—that’s higher than most players in the Premier League,” says André Walsøe, a Bodø/Glimt supporter living in Spain, who has already drawn out a trip to Bilbao, where the last team standing will lift the trophy. “They’re extremely fit, always giving everything they’ve got.”
Looking to defend the league title in Norway, Bodø/Glimt’s staff and athletes benefit from working inside a bubble. Bodø is around a 16-hour drive from the capital, Oslo, and much further away from competitors outside the Scandinavian country. Frequently playing in the cold, they are robust practitioners and a unit used to battling together.
“They had a golden generation coming through—Patrick Berg, Frederik Bjørkan, Jens Petter Hauge—and all of them are now back at the club. Håkon Evjen, too, was part of that group,” Walsøe adds. Alongside these locally sourced talents, forward Kasper Høgh (from Denmark) is joint-top scorer in the Europa League with seven goals.
Those coming from beyond Scandinavia have similarly made an impression. Victor Boniface, who has rattled in the goals since joining Bundesliga high-flyer Bayer Leverkusen, grew his profile in Bodø. Meanwhile, players have operated under stable management; Kjetil Knutsen has coached the Arctic adventurers for seven seasons.
In decent nick financially, Bodø/Glimt is gaining more dollars with each step forward in the Europa League. And while not comparable to well-backed riders in grander divisions, it’s also aiming to fund and get a neat new stadium, reportedly called the Arctic Arena, off the ground.
Enjoying The Uphill Climb
It’s not all been sunny, however. The previous decade saw the club nearly bankrupt, relying on donations to stay afloat. Only now has Bodø/Glimt cemented itself as the leading light in Norway, winning four of the last six Eliteserien titles. It’s already suffered three relegations this century, and nobody knows how the squad will fare on unchartered territory.
Yet, if the pre-semifinal buildup is anything to go by, Tottenham won’t look down on its yellow-clad opposition. Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou said, “You (in the media) would love us to say that Bodø is a small club, but they’re here on merit. I don’t underestimate anyone. And they’ve earned the right to be here.”
In any case, Bødo/Glimt will be fine assuming the role of plucky underdog. Given the economic disparities and scope for the stronger clubs to get stronger, the fact a different proposition—one without such a global brand—can stand tall is impressive. It has a different type of charm: supporters sometimes carry huge yellow toothbrushes after the crowd didn’t have anything better to generate some noise during a game in the 1970s.
“Our team will never become as big as Manchester United or PSG, or something like that—which is more like the McDonalds of soccer, Walsøe concludes. “We are more like an Eric Cantona, or Leicester City (English league victor in 2015), a cult hero of soccer right now.”
If the Nordic side goes all the way, surely eclipsing Norwegian heavyweight Rosenborg’s achievement of reaching the Champions League quarterfinals in 1997, the difference-makers will become heroes, period. That’s both in Bødo—a municipality with a population less than many stadiums—and overseas.
