In the small Norwegian town of Bodø, located just inside the Arctic circle, the days can be short and the winters bitterly cold. It’s hardly the type of place you’d expect to find an elite soccer team, especially when shovels are sometimes needed to clear fresh layers of snowfall from the local pitches. A certain kind of fortitude and tenacity is needed to withstand the howling winds and freezing temperatures which batter the town for many months of the year, but Bodø/Glimt is no ordinary team and its proud army of supporters is no ordinary fanbase. Having just won a fourth Norwegian league title in five years, Bodø/Glimt is these days used to rubbing shoulders with Europe’s soccer elite. The club is currently 10th in the Europa League table, looking to cement a top-eight spot and a place in the knockout rounds against French side Nice on Thursday. Should Bodø/Glimt progress in Europe’s second-tier competition, then its home games inside the Arctic Circle will continue to pose a unique and unforgiving challenge for visiting teams. “For us, we train in it a lot, so we’re kind of used to it compared to maybe those who come from warmer places in January,” midfielder Håkon Evjen told CNN Sport ahead of the game against Nice. “(Teams) come to, like, -10 degrees (Celsius, 14 degrees Farenheit) and hard grass and everything and it’s a different experience for them than it is for us. I think that also makes us tougher when it comes to games and what kind of weather there is. We’re used to having to adapt to everything in a different way, but that’s how it is up here.” An aerial view of the Aspmyra Stadion in Bodø, Norway. Kent Even Grundstad Evjen, currently in his second stint at the club, is a key figure in Bodø/Glimt’s possession-based style of the Beautiful Game. Among his individual highlights this season was a wonderful, edge-of-the-area strike into the top corner to equalize against Manchester United at Old Trafford in November. Even more remarkable than that goal was the fact that Bodø/Glimt was cheered on by more than 6,500 fans at the game, around 12% of Bodø’s 55,000 inhabitants. If ever there was a sign of how one town had become so devoted to its soccer club, then this was it. “We have so much support and the entire town is now almost a football town,” said Evjen. “It’s beautiful to see how football can change the city and how people look at it. To play here now, it’s so much bigger than how it was a few years ago.” Evjen scores against Manchester United in the Europa League. Martin Rickett/PA Bodø/Glimt – “glimt” means “flash” and the team accordingly plays in all yellow – used to bounce between the top four divisions of Norwegian football. Success is only a recent phenomenon in the club’s 108-year history. Under manager Kjetil Knutsen, the team has reaped the rewards of disciplined training sessions, a new, high-pressing style of play, and a clever recruitment strategy, blossoming into Norway’s most decorated side across the past five years. When Bodø/Glimt won its first-ever league title in 2020, it did so in historic fashion, finishing a huge 19 points ahead of runner-up Molde FK and ending the campaign with a record-breaking 103 goals across 30 matches. “It is a team, a coaching staff and a club that has changed really a lot for the better,” said Evjen, who played in the Netherlands and Denmark in between his two stints with Bodø/Glimt. “It’s really more professional and more committed to trying to be the best team in Norway.” Coach Kjetil Knutsen issues instructions during a Conference League playoff match against Ajax last season. Maurice Van Steen/ANP/AFP/Getty Images In this season’s Europa League, the club has already defeated Porto, Braga, Beşiktaş and Maccabi Tel Aviv, as well as drawing with Union Saint-Gilloise and pushing United close. Beyond the game against Nice and the remainder of the Europa League campaign, Bodø/Glimt’s next goal is to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in its history. “Before we went to Europe, you think, okay, the step is so much bigger, everything is so much better,” said Evjen. “And then you play there yourself and you feel like you can actually compete against a lot of the good teams and better teams that you think you will never be close to. “I think that is also the best and most fun thing that we came to realize – that if we play at our best, we can challenge a lot of different teams.” But while Bodø/Glimt chases these lofty goals, it is, like every Norwegian team, curiously out of step with the rest of the European game. The country’s cold, dark winters – Bodø has around 50 minutes of sunlight during its shortest days – mean that domestic competitions usually take place across the summer between March and November. Playing in Europe essentially extends Bodø/Glimt’s calendar, creating a longer season for the players, coaching staff and fans, who are accustomed to braving the elements at the 8,720-seat Aspmyra Stadion. “I do feel bad for all of the fans that have to come and watch us in -10, (who are) sitting down and cannot move during the game,” said Evjen. But resilience is part of Bodo’s DNA, and its people are prepared to go extraordinary lengths when it comes to a game of soccer. Or as Evjen explains: “If you were committed enough, you could do anything as long as you have a shovel with you.”
Source: edition.cnn.com