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The 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League is currently in the Round of 16 phase and 1 team is continuing to defy all expectations by not only making it to this stage in the competition but also doing so by defeating some of the top clubs in Europe with Champions League pedigree. The Norwegian side FK Bodø/Glimt has been a team that has gotten all the attention in the Champions League this season as not many would have thought they would reach this stage, let alone play as well as they are. In the first leg of the Round of 16 phase Bodø/Glimt were set to face Sporting CP, a Champions League regular that finished the league phase of the competition in 7th place. The match was between a top team that gained automatic qualification to thtis stage and another team that had to go through 2 separate Playoff phases to get to this position. Once again to the surprise of many, FK Bodø/Glimt came out the better team by defeating Sporting CP 3-0 and giving themselves a huge advantage going into the 2nd leg fixture. This underdog story has been the norm of the Norwegian side since the start of this campaign.

Qualification Playoffs and Poor Start

FK Bodø/Glimt play in the top tier of Norwegian football called the Eliteserien and how their league works is that the Champions of their league as well as the team that finishes the league in 2nd place gain qualification to the Playoff Qualification rounds of the UEFA Champions League competition. Bodø/Glimt finished their previous league campaign in 2nd place so they gained qualification to the Playoff rounds where they faced Austrian side SK Sturm Graz in a 2-leg fixture where the winner would gain official entry to the UEFA Champions League. The Norwegian team completely dominated the first leg by winning 5-0 and managed to hold off Sturm Graz in the 2nd leg in a 2-1 defeat leaving the aggregate score at 6-2 to Bodø/Glimt which meant official qualification to the Champions League this season.

FK Bodø/Glimt did not receive a warm welcome to the UEFA Champions League with the League phase draw revealing their 8 League Phase games would be against 7 of some of Europe’s top clubs. Bodø/Glimt were set to face SK Slavia Praha in their first match and then were set to face Tottenham Hotspur, Galatasaray A.Ş., AS Monaco, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and finally Atlético de Madrid. The Norwegian team was not given an easy road as it showed with the Norwegian club drawing their first game against Slavia Praha in 2-2 stalemate and then went on to impressively secure another 2-2 draw against Tottenham however after that game came a string of defeats. What followed was a 3-1 defeat to Galatasaray, a 1-0 defeat to AS Monaco and a 3-2 defeat to Juventus. This left Bodø/Glimt with 2 points from their opening 5 league phase games which made many assume the Norwegian side were going to be nowhere near the Knockout Playoff Phase positions, especially with their final 3 league phase games being against Dortmund, Man City and Atlético Madrid.

The Comeback Arc

Nobody gave FK Bodø/Glimt a chance going into these last 3 games and everyone assumed that they would be easy points for Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Atlético Madrid however the Superlaget (Super Team) had other ideas. In their away fixture against Dortmund, the Germain giants were in a back and forth contest with Bodø/Glimt as every time Dortmund scored the Norwegian side would later reply with an equaliser. The Norwegian club left Germany with a single point in yet another 2-2 draw and then returned home for their next fixture where they hosted former champions Manchester City. Bodø/Glimt shocked the world by dominating the game in a 3-0 showing before City got 1 goal back only to later see their talisman midfielder, Rodri, picked up back-to-back yellows cards which resulted in the Cityzens seeing out a 3-1 defeat with 10 men. Bodø/Glimt’s first 3 points of the competition this season as well as they had 1 game left to try and secure enough points to qualify to Knockout Playoff Phase. The Superlaget went away to Madrid where they found themselves already behind in the opening 15 minutes of the game courtesy of Alexander Sørloth however that did not keep Bodø/Glimt down as the Norwegian team came back with 2 goals of their own and once again shocked everyone with another victory against all odds.

With that win, FK Bodø/Glimt were able to secure enough points as well as maintain a solid goal difference to finish the league phase of the competition in 23rd place which is just within the places for the Knockout Playoff Phase.

  • Games – 8
  • Wins – 2
  • Draws – 3
  • Defeats – 3
  • Points – 9
  • Goals Scored – 14
  • Goals Conceded – 15
  • Goal Difference – (-1)

The next difficult task would be the Norwegian side facing last season’s Champions League finalists, Inter Milan, in a 2-leg Knockout Playoff phase. Once again Bodø/Glimt were in a mood to surpass everyone expectations as they went on to secure back-to-back wins against the Italian side with a 3-1 victory in the first leg and a 2-1 victory in the second leg. Amazingly and confidently sending themselves to through to the Round of 16 stage.

The Story Continues in the Round of 16

As already mentioned previously, FK Bodø/Glimt already played the first leg of their Round of 16 tie against Portuguese side Sporting CP and they dominated the game with a 3-0 victory giving them a comfortable advantage going into the 2nd leg. The Dark Horses of the UEFA Champions League this season are still going very strong and 2 of their players have been standouts in the competition so far this season in their winger Jens Petter Hauge and their striker Kasper Waarts Høgh. Both Hauge and Høgh have been directly involved in 8 goals each for Bodø/Glimt this Champions League campaign which equates to 16 goal contributions between the 2 of them which also means they have been directly involved in approximately 72.7% of Bodø/Glimt’s goals this season as the club is currently on 22 goals scored for the campaign. They have instrumental this season and might be names to lookout for in the transfer window this summer should Bodø/Glimt continue their storybook push in the Champions League his campaign.