Established 19.9.1916. Norwegian cup winner in 1975 and 1993. Runner up in 1977, 1996 and 2003. Runner up in the Norwegian Premier League in 1977, 1993 and 2003.
HISTORY
While neighbouring towns like Narvik and Mo i Rana had started their football clubs earlier, Bodø's was started relatively late in 1916. The Bodø club was founded as Footballclub Glimt (Glimt meaning flash in English). One of the founders was Erling Tjærandsen, who also became the club's first club president, and later a club member of honours. (Tjærandsen was also known as a footballer and skier.) Glimt's first match was against Bodø Highschool (due to the fact that Glimt was the only football club in town).
In 1919 Glimt won their first title: County Champions of Nordland. But the charming novelty soon wore off. In the '20s, Glimt suffered from bad morale and poor finances. At one point, there were talks about merging Glimt into the skiclub B.&O.I., but nothing came of the discussions. The club spirit received an infusion of new spirit through visiting football stars and coaches from southern Norway such as Jørgen Juve in 1929. In the '30s Glimt also began indoor training to reduce the impact of Bodø's harsh Arctic winters.
This new approach in the late '20s and early '30s yielded positive results, and Glimt have since been a top club in Northern Norway(wining 9 North-Norwegian championsships) and in Norway overall since the '70s.
Teams from Northern Norway were not allowed compete in the Norwegian cup-competition until 1963. In their first cup play in 1963, Bodø/Glimt got to the 4th round after a home win 7-1 over Nordil, then had two away wins over Nidelv (from Trondheim) and Rosenborg. In the fourth round, Glimt had to play another away game, this time against Frigg from Oslo. Frigg won 2-0, so Glimt was out of the Cup. But Bodø/Glimt had proven that teams from Northern Norway could play at the same level as the southern teams.
It was not until 1972 that northern teams had the right to gain promotion to the Norwegian top division. This was due to the old belief that the teams from Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark could not compete at the same level as the southern teams. Bodø/Glimt is one of three teams from the northern parts of Norway that have played in the Norwegian top division (Tippeligaen), the others being Tromsø I.L. and F.K. Mjølner (from the town of Narvik).
From 1973 Norway had three second divisions: two divisions for the southern teams and one for the northern teams. Bodø/Glimt took three years to gain promotion, due to the rather odd 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. The league-system made a lot of bitterness in the north. This bitterness worsened in 1975 when Bodø/Glimt , as the first club form Northern-Norway, won the cup, but did not gain promotion due to the special play-off rules for the North-Norwegian clubs.
In the 1974 and 1975 season, Bodø/Glimt won their division (they had played a few draws but no losses), but still lost in the play-offs.
In 1976, Bodø/Glimt managed at last to beat the league-system with a 4-0 win over Odd Grenland and a 1-1 draw against Lyn, making Glimt the first North-Norwegian team to gain promotion to the top division. Not until the late 1970's the Norwegian Football Association changed the promotion rules, the play-off matches for Northern clubs where dropped. From then on there was no difference where a club had its home-ground.
After a glorious top-division debut in 1977 — second place in the league and the cup, both against Lillestrøm S.K. — Bodø/Glimt played four seasons at the top level before relegation in 1980, finishing last at 12th place.
The '80s were the darkest hours in the club history, with Bodø/Glimt playing in the 1st division and the regional 2nd division. But the tide turned in 1991. With coach Jan Muri in charge, Glimt was promoted to 1st division. The following season they hired Trond Sollied as coach, and the team won the 1st division in the 1992 season. At last, in 1993, Bodø/Glimt was back in the top-division, and as in the debut season of 1977 they took second place in the league. This time they also managed to win the cup final (a 2-0 win over Strømsgodset I.F.). The Cup-Championship was the crowning of three remarkable seasons, going from 2nd division to 2nd place in the top-division in only three years — an achievement rarely seen in the Norwegian league system.
Since the reentering in the top-division Bodø/Glimt have had a rather strange performance-chart. A good legue performance one season have usually been followed with nearly relagation the next season is illustrated with the 1993 and 1994 seasons when Glimt won the cup and became league runners-up, in 1994 a better goal-difference managed Bodø/Glimt to stay in the top division.
Another example of the rollercoaster ride of Bodø/Glimt league performance is the 2003 and 2004 sesons. In 2003 season the club finished runner up behind the leagues valedictorian Rosenborg B.K.. The team also lost the 2003 cup final to Rosenborg B.K.. In the 2004 season Glimt finished third last and had to play a two-game qualification match against Kongsvinger I.L. to avoid relegation. Glimt lost the first game 0-1 in Kongsvinger, but soundly defeated Kongsvinger in Bodø by the score of 4-0. Therefore, winning 4-1 on aggregate.
Since the club's comeback in 1993, Glimt have 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.
Source : Wikipeda
2006 Season
Bodø/Glimt's road to the cup final in 1993..The 1993 cup final. Bodø/Glimt Strømsgodset 2-0..The legendary cheesy cup final video :)..NY MUSIKKVIDEO : Terje BERG - "SKREVET I STJERNAN"
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