An hour of sunlight a day, plastic pitches and a fighter pilot: Bodø/Glimt can deliver a Champions League fairy tale | OneFootball

Amidst the glittering array of footballing royalty gracing the Champions League's last 16 this week – Real Madrid, Liverpool, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City – one name stands out for its sheer unlikeliness: Bodø/Glimt.

Hailing from a modest fishing town of just 55,000 residents in northern Norway, this unassuming club defies expectations, proving they belong among Europe's elite. Not only are they competing, but they are also triumphing, boasting a remarkable four-win streak that has propelled them into the knockout stage of Europe's top club competition.

Their scalps include a stunning 3-1 home victory over Manchester City, a 2-1 away win against Atletico Madrid, followed by crucial home and away successes against last season's runner-up, Inter Milan, during the Norwegian league's off-season. Their improbable journey continues on Wednesday, as they prepare to face Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the last 16.

Here's what to know about the tiny club delivering the feelgood story of this or any Champions League campaign:

Bodø is located above the Arctic Circle, more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the Norwegian capital, Oslo. Nestled along the western coastline off the Norwegian Sea, it is farther north than soccer’s top club competition has ever previously been.

The town — which has its own airport — has less than an hour of sunlight during its shortest days, meaning players take supplements to combat a lack of sun.

It can be bitterly cold and windy in the long winters but the locals are through the latest one. The forecast temperature for kickoff against Sporting is 3 Celsius (37 Fahrenheit).

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(Getty Images)

Away from soccer, Bodø gained some repute in 2024 when it was named the European Capital of Culture.

A plastic pitch

Bodø/Glimt’s Aspmyra stadium has a capacity of around 8,000 spectators, hardly built for hosting big matches in Europe's top club competition.

A new stadium — the 10,000-seat Arctic Arena — is being built on the edge of town but isn't much bigger.

Adding to the quirky feel of the Aspmyra is the fact it has an artificial field, which is criticized by some in soccer for the way the ball rolls and bounces in comparison to grass.

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Bodo/Glimt play on an artificial pitch at their modest Aspmyra Stadium (Stian Lysberg Solum/PA) (PA Archive)

UEFA allows approved artificial pitches to be used up to and including the semifinals of its competitions.

The fighter pilot bringing belated success to Bodø/Glimt

Founded in 1916, Bodø/Glimt had to wait more than a century before being crowned Norwegian champion for the first time — and the change in fortune had much to do with hiring a former fighter pilot.

The team had just been relegated to Norway's second tier — underling its status as an “elevator club,” as it’s called in Norway, for going back and forth between the top two divisions — when Bjørn Mannsverk was asked in early 2017 to join the backroom staff as a mental coach.

Mannsverk had developed techniques for his squadron before bombing missions in Libya and he brought a philosophy and culture at Bodø/Glimt that made players talk openly about their feelings, change their attitudes and routines about things like preparation and nutrition, and remove the stigma around mental training.

The players and coach Kjetil Knutsen fully bought into Mannsverk's ways — like, for example, having a rotating cast of captains to share leadership duties and gathering in a circle after conceding a goal to discuss what happened and maintain solidarity — and it has helped the team grow.

Bodø/Glimt won its first Norwegian league title in 2020 and captured three of the next five, finishing runner-up last year. The team's success transferred to continental competition as it reached the Europa League semifinals last season — losing to Tottenham over two legs — and then qualified for the Champions League for the first time.

Bodø/Glimt isn't funded by a Middle Eastern sheikh or American private investment so its inexpensively assembled squad is filled with largely unheralded players from Norway and Denmark.

In Norway's most recent squad selection, there were only two Bodø/Glimt players called up.

Its star striker is Kasper Høgh, a 25-year-old Dane who has never played for his country. Its other leading attacker is Jens Petter Hauge, who returned to Bodø/Glimt in 2024 — four years after leaving for AC Milan but failing to establish himself.

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Manchester City’s players refund fans who travelled to Bodo/Glimt for Champions League defeat (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB via AP) (AP)

Under Knutsen, who joined in 2018 and has masterminded the team's rise, Bodø/Glimt isn't just a plucky underdog that sits back and defends. It is a free-flowing, high-intensity, attacking team which, for example, outplayed Man City when Pep Guardiola's team visited Aspmyra stadium.

In 2017, Bodø/Glimt had around 40 employees and a 4.2 million-euro ($5 million) budget.

Last year, the club's revenue was 80 million euros ($93 million), boosted by making more than 26 million euros ($30 million) in the Europa League and then earnings from the Champions League. Compare that to Real Madrid, whose 2025 revenue was more than 1 billion euros, according to Deloitte.

It is budgeting for 50 million euros ($58 million) in 2026, though that figure will increase the deeper the team gets in the Champions League.