Bodo/Glimt make history with Norwegian Eliteserien title win

Promoted in 2017, almost relegated in 2018, champions in 2020. Norway may have had its very own Leicester City miracle.

Bodo/Glimt have won the Norwegian title for the first time in their 104-year history

- but how have they become the first Arctic team to manage it?

With fans who bring large yellow toothbrushes to games and a squad built on a much smaller budget than many of their rivals, their success has created headlines all around the world.

Sunday's 2-1 win over Stromsgodset took them 18 points clear at the top with five games to go in a season which is likely to smash several Eliteserien records.

They have spent seven of the past 15 seasons in the second tier. But while their success has been compared to Leicester's Premier League title win in 2015-16, Glimt (which translates as flash, Bodo is the town's name) have taken two seasons to achieve it.

They narrowly stayed up by three points two years ago before finishing second last year and going one better this time round, eclipsing their only other successes of winning the Norwegian Cup in 1975 and 1993.

The turning point in their history was the appointment of Bjorn Mannsverk, a former fighter pilot who served in Afghanistan, as mental coach in 2017.

He was not a football fan and said he would only take the job if he was "not the club's agent".

"I would not tell the players they should be more happy or that they should work harder," he told the New York Times.

Several of the squad say they would not be where they are now without him - including two of their key players.

Captain Ulrik Saltnes used to suffer stomach problems and considered retiring, while vice-captain Patrick Berg was ready to leave the club that his grandfather, father and two uncles played for.

Saltnes - who described their style of play as "kamikaze" - says "I don't think it would be possible to play like that without Bjorn and the mental work we do".

They did not just win the league, they absolutely walked it under head coach Kjetil Knutsen, who had never managed in the top flight until he took over at Glimt in 2018 following their promotion. He has said the fact that his family live in Bergen, two flights away, helps him concentrate on the club.

"I am touched," Knutsen told Eurosport after they clinched the title. "This is a fantastic group of players, a fantastic team and a fantastic club."

After winning their initial 10 games, Glimt have only lost twice all season - 3-2 against AC Milan at the San Siro in a Europa League qualifier and 4-2 at deposed champions Molde four games ago. On top of that:

• Glimt are on course for a whole host of records - most points, most goals and most wins in a season and the biggest winning margin.
• They need three more points to reach Molde's 2014 total of 71 and have already matched their record of 22 wins that season. They are only four goals short of Rosenborg's record total of 87 in 1997.
• The biggest title winning margin is 15 points - by Rosenborg in 1995. Glimt are now 18 points clear of Molde.
• They have hit six or more goals in a game six times this season, and beat Aalesund 7-0 before the international break.
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  Spare a thought for their long suffering fans. Only 200 supporters were allowed into games at the start of the season, which rose to 600 fans last month.

  Last season, by contrast, they were averaging around 3,000 at the Aspmyra Stadion, many of whom wave giant novelty toothbrushes at games.

  Away games involve a lot of travelling for Glimt. The closest Eliteserien team to them geographically are Rosenborg, based a nine-and-a-half-hour drive to the south in Trondheim.

  Bodo's position in northern Norway - just inside the Arctic circle in Nordland county, in a town that draws tourists looking to see the Northern Lights - is hugely important to them.

• Several of their squad are from the region the club represent. It is a region which has had to work hard for recognition too. Until 1971, teams from the north of Norway were not allowed in the top flight, because the authorities did not think they would be competitive enough.

  "They thought we were primitives up here," sporting director Orjan Berg - Patrick's uncle and a former player for the club - told the National.

  "We were direct, we spoke our minds, but we were not primitive. They used to advertise flats for rent in Oslo but say 'no people from the north of Norway' on them.

  "We were bullied. They thought that we were only farmers, fishermen and some still think that we are."

• Yet Bodo/Glimt may have northern Norway company next season. Tromso - their 'neighbours' - are on the brink of promotion back to the top flight.

  And if you thought Bodo is isolated, Tromso is another 330 miles - or an eight-hour drive - to the north.