Viking FK

Viking was founded in Stavanger in 1899 and played mainly local games in the early years. From the 1930s, the club established itself at the national level, playing in the 1933 cup final, which it lost to Mjøndalen. During the 1930s the club produced several of its best known players, most prominently Reidar Kvammen, who played in Norway's bronze medal winning 1936 olympic team. His brother Arthur Kvammen was also capped for Norway, while Bernhard Lund later went on to write the club anthem.

After the Second World War, Viking became a dominant side in the 1950s, beating Lillestrøm in the 1953 cup final and Sandefjord in the 1959 final, as well as winning the league title in 1957–58. Long-serving goalkeeper Sverre Andersen was the most prominent player in this generation, while Edgar Falch also earned several caps for Norway. Rolf and Kåre Bjørnsen, Asbjørn Skjærpe and Leif Nicolaysen were other prominent players, while a young Olav Nilsen began his remarkable Viking career in 1959. The club attendance record also stems from the semifinal of the 1959 cup, when 18,892 spectators saw Viking beat Odd 4–0.

While the 1960s was a somewhat quieter decade for Viking, the club returned to dominate Norwegian football in the 1970s. Viking won four straight league titles from 1972 to 1975, as well as the double in 1979. Innovative 1972 manager Kjell Schou-Andreassen has been credited for laying the foundation for the success, with his ideas on cooperative behaviour and his revolutionary use of pacey, attacking full backs Sigbjørn Slinning and Anbjørn Ekeland. However, the team had a new manager every year, with Sverre Andersen, Stuart Williams and Olav Nilsen leading them to the title in the subsequent years, and Tony Knapp managing the 1979 team. Midfielder Olav Nilsen was also a crucial player on the pitch in the first half of the decade, earning the nickname "Olav Viking", while fellow midfielder Svein Kvia was awarded the Norwegian Player of the Year title on several occasions. Arvid Knutsen, Reidar Goa, Hans Edgar Paulsen, Erik Johannessen, Inge Valen, Johannes Vold, Svein Hammerø, Gunnar Berland and Trygve Johannessen were other key players.

The 1980s started well for the club. Kjell Schou Andreassen returned to guide the club to the league title in 1982. They also finished runners-up in the league in 1981 and 1984, and in the cup in 1984, producing players such as Bjarne Berntsen, Per Henriksen, Erik Thorstvedt, Svein Fjælberg, Nils Ove Hellvik, Tonning Hammer, Isak Arne Refvik, Torbjørn Svendsen, Trygve Johannessen and Gary Goodchild. However, the mid-80s saw the club relegated to the Second Division, and 1987 was the club's worst season in recent memory as the club fell to 8th position in the Second Division, while local rivals Bryne won the cup and neighbouring minnows Vidar almost won promotion to the Tippeligaen.

Swedish manager Benny Lennartsson and players Kjell Jonevret and Per Holmberg arrived on large salaries to save the club. The gamble paid off when charismatic striker Alf Kåre Tveit secured a controversial penalty in the 95th minute against Vard in the final league game of the 1988 season. Arild Ravndal converted the spot kick to give Viking the victory and secure promotion, dubbed "the miracle in Haugesund". This signalled the start of a new era, and the club won the cup in 1989 and the league in 1991. Lars Gaute Bø, Roger Nilsen, Kent Christiansen, Egil Fjetland, Jan Fjetland, Trond Egil Soltvedt, Mike McCabe and Børre Meinseth were other key players in a young Viking team.

However, many of the young players from the 1991 league winning squad did not manage to live up to their expectations, and the club was almost relegated under new manager Arne Larsen Økland in 1992. Bjarne Berntsen took over as manager in mid-season and secured renewed Tippeligaen status. Viking FK almost knocked the world famous side FC Barcelona, the second sports team with 100 million Facebook followers,[3][4] out of the European Cup. While the club spent most of the 1990s challenging for Premier League medals, it did however never manage to challenge Rosenborg for the league championships. The 1990s was also the era of player exports in Norwegian football, and Viking made substantial earnings from the sales of striker Egil Østenstad to Southampton for £900,000 in 1996 and goalkeeper Thomas Myhre to Everton for £800,000 in 1997, among others. Gunnar Aase, Lars Gaute Bø, Magnus Svensson, Bjarte Aarsheim, Kenneth Storvik, Roger Nilsen and Ingve Bøe were other key players in this generation.

Benny Lennartson returned in 2000 to take over from Dane Poul Erik Andreasen, and this resulted in two bronze medals, a cup title and a memorable European Cup victory over Chelsea. In 2003, Kjell Inge Olsen took over as manager, and the club finished fifth in the league.

At the beginning of the 2004 season, the club moved to its new stadium in Jåttåvågen, named Viking Stadion. At the same time, Englishman Roy Hodgson took over as manager. The club finished ninth in its first season in the new stadium and fifth in the 2005 campaign. Brede Hangeland, Egil Østenstad, Peter Kopteff and Frode Hansen were notable players in this period. At the end of the 2005 season, Roy Hodgson quit his job as Viking coach to take over as Finland manager, and he was replaced by Tom Prahl.

The 2006 season started poorly for Prahl's team and poor soon turned to terrible. With seven matches to go, the once so feared team were situated at the bottom of the table. Former Start coach Tom Nordlie was brought in on a three-month contract to replace Tom Prahl and save Viking from relegation. Under new leadership, Viking won three of the first four games, jumping to tenth place in the standings, but were then defeated twice in a row to once again fall into the relegation zone. Now lying second from the bottom, it looked like the best the club could hope for was making the play-off spot. The season finale proved to be extraordinary, however, as Viking crushed league runners-up Brann 5–0 [5] at home to pass both HamKam and Odd Grenland in the standings and ultimately retain their spot in the Tippeligaen. Tom Nordlie was considered the favorite for the manager role after the season, but he chose a move to Lillestrøm instead. On 22 November 2006, Viking appointed Uwe Rösler (who was replaced by Tom Nordlie in Lillestrøm just one week earlier) as their new manager.

Under Rösler, Viking returned as a top team, and claimed the 3rd spot on the table in 2007. However, the following seasons were less successful, with Viking ending on 6th place in 2008 and 10th in 2009. They were also surprisingly knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Finnish team FC Honka in 2008, and suffered an embarrassing loss against local rivals Bryne in the domestic cup in 2009. After not living up to the expectations two seasons in a row, Rösler resigned from his position as manager on 18 November 2009.

In early December 2009, after a period of massive speculation in local newspapers, Viking appointed Åge Hareide, former manager of the Norway national football team, as their new manager.[6] Failing to bring any titles to Stavanger, Hareide was sacked by the club on 9 June 2012.[7]

Kjell Jonevret signed as the club's new manager on 19 June 2012. Jonevret had previously had a spell at Viking during his playing career, from 1988 to 1990.[8] Jonevret spent over four years in charge of a team suffering from the club's increasing financial difficulties, achieving acceptable results despite the difficult financial premises. In August 2015, he renewed his contract until the end of the 2018 season.[9] However, after the 2016 season the club reached a mutual agreement with Jonevret to terminate his contract.[10]

On 24 November 2016, Englishman Ian Burchnall was announced as the club's new manager.[11] Despite Viking signing an inexperienced manager and having financial trouble, Norwegian media predicted Viking to finish mid-table ahead of the 2017 season.[12] However, it proved to be a difficult season for Burchnall, as the team struggled throughout the year, being in the relegation zone from start to finish. Two matches before the end of the 2017 season, Burchnall was fired from the job following the club's relegation to the 1. divisjon.[13] Assistant manager Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim took charge as head coach for the last two matches, achieving a win in Viking's last match in the league.[14]

On 19 December 2017, Bjarne Berntsen left his role as vice president of the Norwegian FA to take over the manager position at Viking. Berntsen has previously served as player, manager and director at the club.[15]

During the months of December 2017 and January 2018, Viking's financial difficulties reached a level where there was a real possibility that the club could go bankrupt. A statement from the club revealed that it would not be able to pay players and staff in February unless a solution was found. The financial situation was eventually resolved in a deal with Stavanger-based bank SR-Bank which allowed the club to refinance its debts. The bank also purchased parts of the stadium and the stadium naming rights.

On 11 November 2018 Viking secured promotion to Eliteserien by placing 1st in 1. divisjon, in a tight ending of the season where two points were the difference between 1st and 3rd place. Viking defeated Kongsvinger 3–1 in front of a packed Viking Stadion on the last day of the season to secure the 1. divisjon title and put the club back in the Eliteserien after just one season on the second tier of Norwegian football. The victory sparked a pitch invasion by the Viking fans. Pitch invasions are extremely uncommon in Norwegian football.

On 8 December 2019 Viking won the Norwegian Cup after a 1–0 victory over FK Haugesund. Goalscorer was Zlatko Tripić on a penalty kick.

On 26 November 2020, the club surprisingly decided to terminate Bjarne Berntsen's contract, even though he had taken the club from the second tier to Eliteserien on first attempt and achieved top half finishes in the following two seasons. Berntsen expressed great disappointment over the decision.[16] The club moved to a dual head coach model, with Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim jointly in charge of the team. Despite a lot of initial public scepticism about this decision, the duo coached the club to third position in the 2021 Eliteserien, qualifying for the 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League.

The original kit colours in 1899 were all white.[21] This turned out to be problematic at that time. To avoid colour bleeding from the red and yellow club badge when cleaning the white shirts, the badge had to be removed from each shirt prior to washing and then re-attached afterwards. The club therefore changed to dark blue, and is now nicknamed after the dark blue colour of their shirts.

The club badge is shaped like a flag, and remained relatively unchanged from the club's formation in 1899 until 2020. In January 2020, the club introduced a redesigned badge. The flag shape remained, but the font was changed. The oak tree stump graphics were also changed, the year of foundation (1899) was moved and the name of the home city (Stavanger) was made slightly smaller. The traditional red background of the badge was also replaced with a dark blue background matching the colour of the shirts. Two years later, the 2022 edition of the kit reintroduced the red badge background.

From 2011, Diadora is the technical sponsor. The Norwegian power company Lyse has been the club's main shirt sponsor since 1999.[19][18]

Since the 2004 season, Viking Stadion has been Viking's home stadium. Previously, the club played at Stavanger Stadion, which had a capacity of 17,555. Stavanger Stadion had been the club's stadium since the club was founded in 1899.[22]

Viking's biggest rivals both locally and historically are Brann, Bryne, Haugesund, Sandnes Ulf, Start and Rosenborg BK. The rivalries with Brann and Haugesund are often referred to as Vestlandsderbyet (the Western Norway derby). The rivalry with Start is commonly known as Sørvestlandsderbyet (the Southwestern Norway derby). Bryne, Haugesund and Sandnes Ulf are all located in Rogaland, the same county as Viking. Bryne and Sandnes Ulf are geographically the two closest rivals. Bryne is often considered Viking's biggest rival.[26] The 2003 season was the last season Bryne and Viking played against each other in the league, even though the clubs have met in the cup since then.[27]

• Eliteserien[2]

Winners (8): 1957–58, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1991

Runners-up (2): 1981, 1984

Third place (9): 1968, 1971, 1978, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2021

• 1. divisjon

Winners (3): 1967, 1988, 2018

Runners-up (1): 1966

• Norwegian Cup[2]

Winners (6): 1953, 1959, 1979, 1989, 2001, 2019

Runners-up (5): 1933, 1947, 1974, 1984, 2000

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Viking FK.

• Official website