Bodo/Glimt, the club banning talk about winning, is winning a lot

BODO – There are no tributes to the conquering heroes at Bodo airport, no banners proclaiming their success hang in the streets outside. But visitors venturing this far north should not undermine Bodo/Glimt’s achievements and the impact on their hometown.

The football team from the Norwegian Arctic fishing port have beaten giants Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City already in the Champions League this season.

On March 11, they clinched a 3-0 last-16, first-leg win over Sporting Lisbon at their 8,200-capacity stadium more than 3,200km north of the Portuguese capital.

The victory is more than another lucrative chapter in Bodo’s David-against-Goliath tale. It is a transformation underpinned by a fighter pilot turned mental-health coach who says that winning is not the point.

It goes back to 2019 when the club decided they needed a shift in culture, according to sporting director Orjan Berg, 57, whose son, Patrick, is one of Bodo’s stars. Key was the appointment of mental coach Bjorn Mannsverk, who adapted lessons from his time in Norway’s air force to the club’s team psychology. 

Under Mannsverk’s direction, the emphasis was put on team performance and not results – so much so that even references to “winning” were banned. In came yoga, mindfulness and breathing techniques.

Berg joked that the club, their players and staff have all been “brainwashed”.

“Until then we were a decent club – we were talking about winning and the will to win,” he said in Bodo last week. The shift to focus on harmony and overall well-being “turned the world upside down”.

Football history has other examples of less storied clubs progressing to this stage in the Champions League.

In 2025, French team Lille made it, as did RB Leipzig the year before. Both are much bigger than Bodo, though, and with the success comes a disproportionate boost to the club’s finances.

The Champions League run has been worth some €40 million (S$58.93 million) to the club from UEFA, with sponsorship fees on top. That money is helping pay for a new 10,000-capacity stadium with under-pitch heating. To put it into perspective, though, Bodo would need to earn five times that just to afford Norway and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, based on Transfermarkt’s latest valuation.  

But the money generated is benefiting the whole town, especially hotels, pubs and taxis. The free advertising generated for Bodo is “priceless”, said Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, the town’s mayor.

“It’s a story that shows everything is possible,” he said. “That’s why it’s inspiring for everybody.”

The club’s Champions League success so far is quite a turnaround from some 15 years ago, when the municipality had to bail the club out. But then Bodo have a history of achieving against the odds. 

Back in the 1960s, teams in northern Norway were regarded as too rudimentary and not good enough to compete with those in the south. They were not allowed to participate in the Cup until 1963, while it was not until 1972 that they were permitted to play in the national league.

Bodo did not win their first Norwegian league title until 2020.

That kind of underdog status runs in the team’s blood. In the club’s early days, travelling supporters had little but beer money and a toothbrush, so the latter became a fan symbol.

True to the philosophy of focusing on performance and not results, Berg is looking forward with ease. There is the second leg on March 17 that will take place in a stadium in Lisbon that could fit virtually all of Bodo’s 53,000 inhabitants. 

Asked if he thinks they can keep playing good football – remember they do not discuss winning and losing – Berg confessed to having “a good feeling”.

“But then I always have a good feeling,” he said. BLOOMBERG