Left behind

 

As many long time readers may know, I have adopted Rosenborg BK as one of "my" teams. My grandmother's family came from Trondheim, Norway, where Rosenborg calls home, and especially after visiting Trondheim myself, it was easy to have an affinity from that town. Grandma wasn't a sports fan, but if you knew her, you would probably want to root for Rosenborg too.

It helps that Rosenborg have historically been the best team in the Norwegian pyramid. They have won the Eliteserien 26 times, played over 150 matches in the UEFA Champions League (including getting past the Group Stage a couple of times) and featured Steffen Iverson, Nicklas Bendtner, John Carew and Morten Gamst Pederson. 

Up until about the Pandemic, Rosenborg was level with their number one rival, Molde. Molde looked like they were going to pull ahead of Rosenborg, but they failed to capitalize on a couple of good seasons, primarily because they lost their internationally regarded manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on two different occasions.

Meanwhile, the rest of Norwegian football was catching up. Their country coefficient has now improved to the point that Norway is granted two teams in the Champions League qualification. Not only that, but both teams that qualified for Champions League qualification, indeed qualified for the group stage. The real surprise, though, is that neither team came from the central Norwegian coast.

Bodo/Glimt is from the Arctic Circle, and Viking is based in Oslo, and they are currently a part of the expanded Champions League format. Last year, Bodo were the darlings, knocking out Inter Milan in the knock out stage, and putting a scare into Portugal's Sporting. 

This year, Bodo and Viking are in the top two positions again. Tromso, another Arctic Circle team is in third. Two spots to play in Europe's top competition, and there is again no chance for the top team, historically, from Europe, and or their top rival from the last decade and beyond, to capitalize on Norwegian soccer's resurgence.

Rosenborg is back up to 5th this season, and has a line on a potential spot in the Europa Conference league, assuming that Bodo or Viking win the Norwegian Cup, but it feels like Norway has turned into Germany, Spain, or one of the other big European soccer nations with one, maybe a couple of teams with a stranglehold on the domestic competition. 

Something to watch for is what this means for player movement in the next few years. Not only is Norway stronger on the club level, but Norway also made a run at the World Cup. Bodo is already home to several national team players, and could be enticing for other players interested in remaining internationally relevant, but wanting to come home. 

This is the strongest Norway has been on the football pitch, in terms of club strength and player development. For the longest time, it seemed like Norway made a leap domestically, it would be led by Rosenborg and Molde. Instead, they are watching as the center of of Norwegian football moves to Oslo and the far north.