Bodo/Glimt

Founding years

While other towns in Nordland county like Narvik, Mo i Rana and Mosjøen had started their football clubs earlier, the larger town of Bodø was without a major football club until the latter part of 1916. The new club was founded as Fotballklubben Glimt. One of the founders was Erling Tjærandsen, who also became the club's first president and later an honorary club member. Tjærandsen was also a known footballer and skier. Glimt's first match was against Bodø High School, because Glimt was the only football club in town.

In 1919, Glimt won their first title: County Champions of Nordland. In the 1920s, Glimt suffered from bad morale and poor finances. At one point, there were talks about merging Glimt into the Ski Club B. and O.I, but following discussions, the intentions were not carried through. The club received an infusion of new encouragement through visiting footballing stars and coaches from southern Norway, such as Jørgen Juve in 1929.

Name change and Cup entry

The club changed its name in 1948, due to an older club from Trøndelag having the same name, and has since gone by the name Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt. The slash was originally a hyphen, but was gradually changed in the 1980s to avoid confusion as hyphens were often used to separate teams on betting coupons and in result tables in newspapers.

Teams from Northern Norway were not allowed to compete in the Norwegian Football Cup until 1963. In their first appearance in the Norwegian Football Cup in 1963, Bodø/Glimt managed to reach the fourth round after a home win over Nordil, and two away wins. They first won against Nidelv IL and then against Rosenborg BK. In the fourth round, Glimt had to play another away game, this time against Frigg FK. Frigg won 2–0 and Glimt was out of the Cup.

Road to the Top Division

It was not until 1972 that northern teams had the right to gain promotion to the Norwegian top division. Bodø/Glimt is one of three teams from Northern Norway that have played in the Norwegian top division, the others being Tromsø IL and FK Mjølner.

From 1973, Norway had three second divisions: two divisions for southern teams and one for northern teams. Bodø/Glimt took three years to gain promotion, due to the promotion rules. The first-place holders in the two southern divisions gained instant promotion, but the first-place holder in the northern second division had to compete in play-off matches against the two second-place holders from the south. In 1975 Bodø/Glimt became the first club from Northern-Norway to win the Norwegian Football Cup, but did not gain promotion due to the special play-off rules for North-Norwegian clubs.

In the 1974 and 1975 seasons, Bodø/Glimt won their division, but still lost in the play-offs.

In 1976, Bodø/Glimt managed won the playoffs with a 4–0 win over Odd and a 1–1 draw against Lyn, making Glimt the second North-Norwegian team to gain promotion to the top division, after FK Mjølner's promotion in 1971. Not until the late 1970s did the Norwegian Football Association change the promotion rules; the play-off matches for Northern clubs were abolished.

Top-Division debut and 1980s decline

After their top-division debut in 1977 — finishing second place in the league and the cup, both against Lillestrøm — Bodø/Glimt played four seasons at the top level before relegation in 1980, finishing last at 12th place.

Bodø/Glimt experienced a downfall in the 1980s, being relegated to the 2. divisjon and the 3. divisjon. Bodø/Glimt were promoted to the 1. divisjon in 1991 with coach Jan Muri, and were promoted to the top division the year after with Trond Sollied as coach. The club also won the Norwegian Cup the same year.

Rollercoaster years

Since reentering the top division Bodø/Glimt have had a rather checkered performance-chart. A good league performance one season has usually been followed with near relegation the next. This was illustrated with the 1993 and 1994 seasons when Glimt won the cup and became league runners-up, in 1994 only a better goal-difference allowed Bodø/Glimt to stay in the top division.

Another example of the rollercoaster ride of Bodø/Glimt league performance is the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In 2003 season the club finished runner-up behind league valedictorians Rosenborg. The team also lost the 2003 Norwegian Cup final to Rosenborg. In the 2004 season Glimt finished third last and had to play a two-game qualification match against Kongsvinger to avoid relegation. Glimt lost the first game 0–1 in Kongsvinger, but soundly defeated Kongsvinger in Bodø by the score of 4–0, winning 4–1 on aggregate.

After the club's comeback in 1993, Glimt played continuously in the Norwegian top division for 12 seasons, for a total of 16 top division seasons. In the 2005 season however, Bodø/Glimt was relegated.

Financial troubles and promotion battles

The club experienced financial issues forcing the team to sell their top scorer Håvard Sakariassen and captain Cato Andrè Hansen in the middle of the season. This was done to stabilize their financial situation, after the Norwegian Football Association threatened to withdraw their playing license for the next season, which would have resulted in forced relegation to the second division.