We have never seen anything like it in Norwegian football. The same goes from a European perspective over the last 25 years. If we want an adventure that can compete with Bodø/Glimt’s journey to the semi -finals in recent times, we need to go to a team that fled from war. The heroes of Ukraine Dnipro from Ukraine no longer exist. In 2015, they reached the European League’s final while fled from Russian invasion in the east. They played their matches in Kyiv, 400 kilometers away from their hometown, and yet they knocked out teams like Ajax, Club Brugge and Naples. When the owner went to Switzerland a few years later, Dnipro moved down twice and went bankrupt. The club was closed in 2019. Now they are remembered for one of the tournament’s biggest accomplishments. But not even Dnipro cannot compare with Glimt. Seven candidates are seen at the teams that have reached the semi -finals of Europe’s second largest tournament this millennium, no one has had a more difficult starting point. Here are the largest candidates: Dnipro 2014-15 (Ukraine) Basel 2012-13 (Switzerland) Fulham 2009-10 (England) Rangers 2007-08 (Scotland) Steaua București 2005-06 (Romania) Az Alkmaar 2004-05 (Netherlands) Alavés) The season, they were in 66th place on the ranking of teams in Europe, based on results in UEFA’s tournaments over the last five years. Norway as a country was down in 14th place. SURPRISE: Ulrik Saltnes celebrates the opening target in the quarterfinals against Lazio. Photo: Lise Åserud / news Glimt plays in front of 8,200 spectators, the lowest capacity among all teams. Let’s compare the teams on the list with Glimt. Dnipro (Ukraine)-2014-15 invasion of Russia gave Dnipro a huge mental challenge. Against all odds, they built a rock solid collective that lost the final to Sevilla. But: Dnipro had a different story and size than Glimt. JUBEL: Tip Nikola Kalinić scored in the final against Seville. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / NTB They were among the Soviet Union’s best team in the 1980s, and no national barriers broke by reaching so far: Six years earlier, the two Ukrainian teams Dinamo Kyiv and Jakhtar Donetsk met in the semi-finals, before Jjakhtar won the title. Norway has been doing little since the 1990s, both at the club and national team level. Glimt is the first Norwegian team to reach the semi -final in a European tournament. In fact, no Scandinavian teams have ended up among the top four in the Europa League (or when its predecessor, the UEFA Cup) since Danish Brøndby in 1991. Basel (Switzerland)-2012-13 with a young Mohamed Salah in attack, the Swiss came to the semi-finals, where they lost to Chelsea. Rarely do layers come from the alpine land so far. Known faces: Mohamed Salah scored when Basel knocked out Tottenham in the quarterfinals. It was also in the semi -finals against Chelsea, which bought the Egyptian one year later. Photo: Walter Bieri / AP / NTB Men: The best teams in Switzerland still have a different structure than Glimt. As the country’s second most successful club, Basel plays in front of 38,500 spectators, and in 2012-13 they had national team players from the Ivory Coast and Egypt. The year before, Basel reached the playoffs in the Champions League. They were at a different level. Fulham (England)-2009-10 made from West London went on an adventure with Norwegian heroes. During Norwegian friend Roy Hodgson, they knocked out Juventus and Hamburg, before losing the final after extra rounds to Atlético Madrid. Brede Hangeland ruined the Armed Forces, while Erik Nevland and Bjørn Helge Riise played smaller roles. F, Brede Hangeland led Fulham to the final. Here against Rome in the group play. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP / NTB But again: Fulham was far greater than Glimt. And although from the center layer of the Premier League rarely reaches that far, Middlesbrough had shown that it was possible four years before. As an English elite team, the economy was far stronger. The analysis company Twenty First Group has calculated that Glimt has an economic strength the size of a large team at level three in England. Rangers (Scotland)-2007-08 Scots lost the final against Russian Zenit Saint Petersburg. Also in 2022 they reached the final, where they went on penalties against Frankfurt. But compared to Glimt Rangers end up in the same category as Fulham. They are one of Scotland’s two largest teams, based in Glasgow and a stadium – Ibrox – which holds more than 50,000 spectators, ie just about the entire Bodø population. It will be something else to get from a city north of the Arctic Circle. Steaua București (Romania)-2005-06 The only team ranked lower than Glimt before the tournament. Prior to 2005–06, Steaua was number 112 among the teams at UEFA. Still, they reached the semi -finals, where they lost 3-4 overall against Middlesbrough. Intense duel: Nicolae Dicvert (right) fights for the ball against Middlesbrough. Photo: Bogdan Cristel / Reuters / NTB But: We must include the historical context. Steaua was not from a small town in the north. The capital team is Romania’s most successful club, and won the series winner cup-ie the old Champions League-in 1986. They reached a new final in 1989. In the 90s, Steaua played regularly in the Champions League. The fact that a Romanian team should reach far in 2006 was surprising, but not groundbreaking. Glimpses have never come this far. AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)-2004-05 This team has more in common with Glimt. Alkmaar is a city northwest of the Netherlands with a little more than twice as many inhabitants as Bodø, and AZ struggled for a long time at the bottom of the top division. Suddenly they sent home shakhtar and villarreal, before Sporting knocked them out in a smooth semi -final. But: The scale is still larger. Dutch football is stronger than the Norwegian, and 20 years ago the economic gap between the European leagues was far less. That teams from smaller leagues should come this far will be more difficult every year. Alavés (Spain)-2000-01 Alavés had moved up to La Liga just three years earlier. With Dan Eggen in the Armed Forces, they beat Rosenborg (4–2), Inter (5–3) and Kaiserslautern (9–2), before losing the final (4-5) against Liverpool after drama in overtime. Alavés played in front of 10,000 spectators, just a little more than Glimt. Heroes: Alavés celebrates the victory in the semi -finals against German Kaiserslautern. Photo: Michael Dalder / Reuters / NTB Men: After all, they were from Spain, where success in such tournaments is normal. As made from the Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz, this was never a provincial small putt either. Mental barriers It is this context that makes international media written so much about Glimt in recent days. All teams on this list are from countries with a larger football history than Norway, with a larger national culture to win things. No one has been as isolated as a glimpse. No one has come from such a small place. No one has had any less resources, or played in front of fewer fans. And few have broken through several mental barriers. Glimt has had to prove that a Norwegian team can get so far in such a big tournament in 2025, both for the rest of the country and itself. On Thursday at 9pm, Glimt plays away against Tottenham in the first of two semi -finals in the Europa League. The match can be followed here and heard directly on news Sport on radio. Published 01.05.2025, at. 12.57
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