Meet Bodo/Glimt: The Arctic minnows who became the top force in Norway, embarrassed Jose Mourinho and could teach Man Utd a thing or two

In their full debut campaign in continental competition back in the 2021-22 season, they reached the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League, walloping Jose Mourinho’s Roma 6-1 in the group stage and destroying Celtic 5-1 on aggregate in the knockout stage, before they were eventually knocked out by Roma in an ill-tempered tie. They also reached the group stages of the Europa League two seasons ago, facing Arsenal, and the knockout rounds of the Conference League last term.

This season in the Europa League, they have already beaten Porto and Braga and go into Thursday’s game at Old Trafford above United in the standings. The match is set to be the biggest occasion in the club’s history and an emotional one too, as many of the staff and fans also support United. But the Red Devils should be taking an even keener interest in their opponents, as they could learn a lot from them.

"More than other clubs, we talk about values and working hard on our culture," CEO Frode Thomassen tells GOAL. "Most of all, it's a core group of people that have been together now for many years and have the same kind of ambition, the same kind of thinking, the hunger to achieve more. Bodo could inspire a lot of smaller clubs.

"In 2017, we had a budget of €4.2million (£3.5m/$4.5m), the third-lowest in the Norwegian league. We don't have a rich uncle or investors, we have built the sporting project over time."

Thomassen became Bodo’s CEO in 2017 when they had just been promoted to the top-flight and when their average attendance was between 2,000 and 3,000. Now, more than 7,000 people watch each home game, accounting for 15 percent of the town’s population (around 53,000 people). Football is the unifying force for a region that was not just cut off from the rest of the country, but often looked down upon by the south.

Thomassen explains that when his father moved to Oslo, no one wanted to rent a room to someone from the north. "Bodo/Glimt has made people feel more proud of where we come from and our identity," he says. "So many people love football here. When people travel from the south up here for business, they want to talk about Bodo."

Around half of Bodo’s players hail from the north of Norway, giving the team a real sense of togetherness and identity. But the club has also turned into an attractive destination for players from across Scandinavia, despite the harsh weather and being isolated from everywhere else.

"People would look at Bodo on a map and see we were north of the Arctic Circle, so it’s not like people were rushing here before," admits Thomassen. "But we have done so well during the last four or five years so the opportunity to be a part of a team playing in Europe makes you also more attractive to the bigger clubs in Europe. So it’s not a problem for us anymore. I think most of the players in Scandinavia would like to play for us."

There is one drawback of playing in Europe, though. The Norwegian season runs from March to November, so when the players and staff should be enjoying their time off, they are instead preparing for the biggest games of their lives. The expanded Europa League means that Bodo will be playing games until the end of January, two months after their domestic season has ended. If they reach the play-offs or last 16, they will get almost no break at all.

"That's a big discussion in Norway, something we actually feel heavily as a club," says sporting director Havard Sakariassen. "This is the fifth year in a row we're in Europe. We will play not just up until Christmas but also in Europe after Christmas, so there is no break for us, that's a bit crazy. Running the club the way we have been for the last six years, the fatigue is massive, not just for the players but also for the staff."

Adopting a schedule in keeping with the rest of the continent would help Bodo, but is unworkable for the other teams in Norway, particularly those in the lower leagues, due to the harsh winter weather. "Maybe it's impossible to do it. But for Bodo/Glimt and the teams competing in Europe it would be a great thing if we could turn it around. The load is massive and over the years it's quite... It's great fun, we're privileged, but it would be nice to have some breaks some time."

A key element of Bodo’s success has been the attacking style of play they adopted in their second season back in the top-flight. Thomassen explains how the change in style came about: "We drew 14 games the previous season. We weren’t an attacking team, we were focusing on defence and just counter-attacking. But I think the coaches did a really fantastic job from 2018 to 2019. We got more possession oriented, dominating the game. It was a big change in playing style and in 2019 we finished second and then the journey started. I think that the change between 2018 and 2019 was really important."

Bodo won their first-ever league title in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. "When other clubs or businesses were putting on the brakes, we put on the gas," Thomassen adds, beaming with pride. "We were training under strict controls as we had to, but then we travelled to Spain, worked very hard in that period, and then the league started up that year we won games 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0. We beat every record in Norway. How we attacked the pandemic and how we worked during that period was a part of the success story we are building now. We challenge things, we think differently, we attack things. We do not copy other clubs."

Captain Ulrik Saltnes says the team took to the attacking style fairly quickly, but have had to keep evolving it. "We've been improving and adapting it all the way, and especially the teams in Norway have become very good at adapting to our play so we have to evolve all the time," he explains.

"It almost seems like our play works better in Europe where opponents don't know us as well. In Norway, every team was tired of being beaten by us so they now play a tactic that suits them against us. It didn't take long to develop initially, but it has, and is, taking a lot of energy to keep adapting and keep being on top."

Saltnes is one of those players from the north of Norway, and although he admits that many games have to be postponed due to heavy snowfall and says the lack of daylight is "the biggest disadvantage", he insists that living in the area is "a lot more pleasant than you'd think".

He has spent his whole career with Bodo and is one of many constant figures, along with Thomassen, Sakariassen, coach Kjetil Knutsen and assistant Aasmund Bjorkan - the former head coach - who have helped the club maintain stability.

Another key factor in Bodo's success has been to focus on performance, and not results. Sakariassen explains: "We have only one focus and it's the product. We don't have any goals in the club. We don't say ‘Our aim for the season is to become number one or two or that we're going to win 80 percent of our home games’. We threw that in the bin six years ago, and we started to focus on trying to get better every day, doing the smart things every day, and just work hard and only have one focus: to make the product better.

"What we are trying to create is a strong culture in our team. I think it's probably easier to do with Scandinavian players because so many things are so similar, like understanding that it's a football team and we work hard for each other. For us, it's important that when we scout players, we scout their football abilities, but also [look at] the human being because we are trying to set down a group of players that will put the team before themselves."

Another influential figure at the club is mental coach Bjorn Mannsverk, a former jet fighter pilot. Thomassen explains: "When you are a fighter pilot, you have been on missions where you have to perform and you have to trust your colleagues. So he started working with some of the players on an individual level, because some of them had a kind of fear when it came to match day. He had a very positive effect on them and more and more players wanted to work with him."

Bodo are now a reference point in Norwegian football and a success story in European football. It is hard for Sakariassen, who first played for the club in 2005, to get his head around.

"The interest around the club and the club itself compared to when I was playing it's insanely different. When I travel around Europe or other places it's actually weird for me coming from Bodo, knowing the history, that we are a small club, that everyone knows us," he admits. "It's a great thing but also, yeah, that's not the history of Bodo. It's amazing for us and also to see the impact that the club has in Bodo, in the north of Norway but also in Norway. It's really extraordinary for me as a Bodo/Glimt boy."

And there is nothing more extraordinary than playing Manchester United. The English club’s popularity in Norway surged in the 1990s when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Henning Berg and Ronny Johnsen helped propel the Red Devils to multiple Premier League titles, as well as the Champions League in 1999. At one stage, United's Norwegian Supporters Club had more members than the country's biggest political party. Sakariassen is one of those many United fans.

"Personally, the 1990s were the defining years of my life because I was between 15 and 22. Manchester was the coolest place on earth for me because of music and the football team," he says. "If you ask the 20-year-old Havard about going to Old Trafford with Bodo/Glimt, it would be unreal. We have been around the block for some years now, but still to go to Old Trafford is special."