Vålerenga Fotball

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Vålerenga

Full name	Vålerenga Fotball
Nickname(s)	Enga Bohemene (The Bohemians) De kongeblå (The Royal Blues) St. Hallvards menn (St. Hallvard’s Men)
Short name	VIF
Founded	29 July 1913; 110 years ago (1913-07-29)
Ground	Intility Arena Valle Hovin, Oslo
Capacity	16,555[1]
Chairman	Thor Gjermund Eriksen
Head coach	Geir Bakke
League	Norwegian First Division
2023	Eliteserien, 14th of 16 (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Active departments of Vålerengens Idrettsforening
Football (Men's) Football Reserves (Men's) Vålerenga Bredde Football (Women's) Ice hockey American football eSports Chess

Vålerenga Fotball (Norwegian pronunciation:

. Vålerenga is generally considered to be the largest football club in Oslo. It is especially known for its supporters, which are among the best and most loyal in Norwegian football.

History

Early days (1913–45)

The history of Vålerenga Fotball goes back to Fotballpartiet Spark, which was founded in 1898 by pastor

Vålerengens Idrettsforening had mixed success in its first years, but fortunes improved as the 1920s came around and the club secured promotion to the Oslo Championships in 1921. Vålerengen won the Oslo Championships four times before a national league (Norgesserien) was established in 1937. In the 1948–49 season, Vålerengen finished second.

After this period, Vålerengen entered a period of instability, being relegated from the top division two times in the 1950s.

The Bohemians (1946–68)

The charismatic Helmuth Steffens became a central figure in building up the culture in the club after the war. At the beginning of the 1960s, a new generation of local players broke into Vålerengen's first squad. Players like Einar Bruno Larsen, Terje Hellerud and Leif Eriksen became core personalities of a group of players which eventually became known as Bohemene (The Bohemians). The club would become known for its brilliant style of football as the number of people in the audience increased. The players became popular for their charismatic, witty comments and light hearted humour. Vålerengen secured a third place in 1961.

In 1965, Vålerengen won the

giving Vålerengen a fight for the title until the final matches of the season.

The Bohemian era came to an end when the club was relegated from the First Division in 1968 and then again to the Third Division in 1970. Vålerengen did not achieve promotion to the top league again until 1974. In 1976, Vålerenga signed Odd Iversen, who at the time had 112 First Division goals to his name. Iversen would help the club reestablish itself in the First Division.

The glory years (1977–86)

The 80s saw the emergence of a new generation. With the help of players like Tom Jacobsen and Vidar Davidsen, Vålerengen would win its first cup title in 1980.

Led by head coach Leif Eriksen, the team won the First Division title for the second time in 1981 with a style of play characterized by intensity and discipline. The club was unable to reclaim the league title in 1982, but won it again in 1983 and 1984. During the decade, Vålerengen would also become twice runners-up in the cup and also achieve a third place in the league in 1985. Vålerengen had become a stable top team for the first and, to date, only time.

1985 also saw the signing of striker Jørn Andersen, who would go on to score 23 goals in 22 matches in his sole season for Vålerengen. However, as the club had miscalculated the home crowd average, the club entered severe financial difficulties. Vålerenga was saved from bankruptcy in 1987.

Ups and downs (1987–2003)

In 1990, now known as Vålerenga, the club was relegated after 14 seasons in the top division. Vålerenga was close to further relegation in the 1992 season, but managed to remain in the

. As earlier in the 1990s, the stay in the top division lasted only a few years.

In the

in 2002.

The 2003 season was poor for Vålerenga and they wound up third last in the league sending them into play-offs against Sandefjord to avoid relegation. The result was a 0–0 draw in Sandefjord and a 5–3 victory in Oslo and so Vålerenga retained the position in the top league and avoided relegation.

Success, disappointments and troubles (2004–12)

Vålerenga rebounded nicely in the

, Vålerenga's city rivals 4–1. Vålerenga won the silver medal, finishing 2nd to Rosenborg equal on points and goal difference, but Vålerenga had scored fewer goals than Rosenborg during the season, leaving Rosenborg as league champions.

At the start of the

away. Eventually Fredrikstad, who faced relegation if they lost, beat Start 3–1 while at the same time Vålerenga managed a 2–2 draw against Odd Grenland. Vålerenga stepped one up from the previous year, and won the title with a one-point margin. The title was Vålerenga's first league title in 21 years, ending Rosenborg's 13-year reign as league champions.

The follow-up

after finishing among the top four teams in Norway. In October 2006, Petter Myhre was hired on a permanent basis, but he would resign in July 2007, following a string of bad results.

In November 2007,

. Vålerenga finished second in the league.

However, Vålerenga could not repeat the success in 2011 and 2012. In October 2012, Andresen and Vålerenga agreed to part ways.

A new era (2013–present)

Kjetil Rekdal returned to the club as head coach in January 2013. Facing economic difficulties from previous seasons and being without a shirt sponsorship deal, Vålerenga spent much of the 2014 season dealing with a severe risk of bankruptcy, finally signing a new shirt sponsorship deal with DnB on 29 July.^[3] The signing of striker Vidar Örn Kjartansson in front of 2014 season proved to be a huge success, with the Icelandic player scoring 25 goals in 29 games, helping the Oslo club secure a sixth place in the league after a drop in form in the latter half of the season.

On 13 July 2016, Ronny Deila was appointed as the new head coach. Deila was originally planned to take over in January 2017, but was involved in the coaching team for the final games of the 2016 season.^[4] Kjetil Rekdal was to become director of sports, but left the club in early 2017. In December 2019, Ronny Deila left to become the coach of New York City Football Club. In January 2020, Dag-Eilev Fagermo became the new head coach.

Vålerenga moved into their newly built stadium, Intility Arena, in September 2017. This was a historic move for the club, after spending 104 years without owning a home stadium.^[5] The new stadium is also close to Vålerenga neighborhood of Oslo.

Colours

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Up to 1913, Vålerenga's kit was moss green. In 1914, the

had a set of blue and red kits left over, which Vålerenga bought cheaply, so their official colours became blue and red. The 2006 season away kit was white with a touch of moss green.

Stadium

In 2017, Vålerenga opened their own home ground at

The construction of the new arena

Following a press statement made on 15 May 2008, Vålerenga announced that they would be moving home to Valle Hovin after purchasing the area of the proposed stadium for the symbolic sum of 1 Norwegian Krone. In late 2014, the plans were accepted by the city council of Oslo.[7] On 10 June 2014, the European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority accepted the plans for the stadium.^[8]

The foundation stone of the new stadium was laid on 29 July 2015, the club's 102nd anniversary.^[9] Construction was begun in the summer of 2015 and is planned to be completed in 2017.^[8]

Stadium history

Before moving into

.

From the 1960s till the 1980s and a short period in the end of the 1990s

FK Lyn

.

After Vålerenga moved from

's deletion of the club's debt in 2003, the talks of building a ground for Vålerenga resurfaced.

Supporters

Vålerenga has traditionally drawn support from the area around Vålerenga, Oslo and various other places on the east end of Oslo, although today these lines are largely blurred and the club has supporters all over Oslo and the surrounding areas. Up until the early 90s, Vålerenga's supporters were loosely organised. The supporters were sometimes referred to as Apeberget, but this is actually a misnomer from a journalist.^[10] An independent supporter club called Klanen ("The Clan") was founded in 1991. It has around 10,000 members today. The senior team of Vålerenga has reserved shirt number 12 for their supporters. Vålerenga's supporters, and specifically Klanen, are widely considered to be the best football supporters in Norway.

Rivalries

Vålerenga's main rivals include

In the

Honours

• Eliteserien:^[14]
  • Winners (5):
    1984, 2005
  • Runners-up (3): 1948–49, 2004, 2010
• Norwegian Cup:^[15]
  • Winners (4): 1980, 1997, 2002, 2008
  • Runners-up (2): 1983, 1985
• Norwegian First Division/Landsdelsserien:
  • Winners (6): 1953–54, 1958–59, 1976, 1993, 1997, 2001
• Superfinalen
  :
  • Runners-up (1): 2009^[16]

Recent seasons

Season	League											Cup	Other competitions			Top goalscorer		Ref(s)
	Division	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos	Att[17]		CL	EL	ECL	Name	Goals
1999	Tippeligaen	26	8	4	14	40	53	−13	28	11th	6,626	4R	—	—	—	Pascal Simpson	8
2000	Tippeligaen	26	5	9	12	32	44	−12	24	↓ 12th	7,630	QF	—	—	—	Kjetil Rekdal	6
2001	1. divisjon	30	19	8	3	71	29	+42	62	↑ 1st	—	QF	—	—	—	Kjetil Rekdal	11
2002	Tippeligaen	26	7	12	7	38	31	+7	33	8th	8,782	W	—	—	—	David Hanssen	7
2003	Tippeligaen	26	6	10	10	30	33	−3	28	12th	9,336	QF	—	3R	—	Freddy dos Santos	10
2004	Tippeligaen	26	13	9	4	40	22	+18	48	2nd	14,392	3R	—	—	—	Freddy dos Santos	8
2005	Tippeligaen	26	13	7	6	40	27	+13	46	1st	15,658	SF	3QR	1R	—	Morten Berre	9
2006	Tippeligaen	26	13	5	8	43	28	+15	44	3rd	13,873	QF	2QR	—	—	Jan-Derek Sørensen	9
2007	Tippeligaen	26	10	6	10	34	34	0	36	7th	13,837	4R	—	1R	—	Morten Berre	9
2008	Tippeligaen	26	8	6	12	31	37	−6	30	10th	12,700	W	—	—	—	Mohammed Abdellaoue	9
2009	Tippeligaen	30	12	4	14	47	50	−3	40	7th	10,788	SF	—	3QR	—	Bengt Sæternes	11
2010	Tippeligaen	30	19	4	7	69	36	+33	61	2nd	13,646	2R	—	—	—	Mohammed Abdellaoue	15
2011	Tippeligaen	30	14	5	11	42	33	+9	47	7th	13,331	2R	—	3QR	—	Bojan Zajić	8
2012	Tippeligaen	30	12	5	13	42	44	−2	41	8th	10,768	3R	—	—	—	Marcus Pedersen	8
2013	Tippeligaen	30	10	6	14	41	50	−9	36	11th	9,900	QF	—	—	—	Morten Berre	10
2014	Tippeligaen	30	11	9	10	59	53	+6	42	6th	9,751	4R	—	—	—	Viðar Örn Kjartansson	25
2015	Tippeligaen	30	14	7	9	49	41	+8	49	7th	10,099	2R	—	—	—	Daniel Fredheim Holm Deshorn Brown Ghayas Zahid	7
2016	Tippeligaen	30	10	8	12	41	39	+2	38	10th	9,074	QF	—	—	—	Ghayas Zahid	8
2017	Eliteserien	30	11	6	13	48	46	+2	39	8th	9,703	SF	—	—	—	Herman Stengel	6
2018	Eliteserien	30	11	9	10	39	44	−5	42	6th	9,180	QF	—	—	—	Sam Johnson	11
2019	Eliteserien	30	8	10	12	39	44	−5	34	10th	7,834	3R	—	—	—	Bård Finne	8
2020	Eliteserien	30	15	10	5	51	33	+18	55	3rd	200	Cancelled	—	—	—	Viðar Örn Kjartansson	9
2021	Eliteserien	30	11	12	7	46	37	+9	45	7th	4,318	3R	—	—	2QR	Aron Dønnum Henrik Udahl	6
2022	Eliteserien	30	13	5	12	52	49	+3	44	6th	8,670	3R	—	—	—	Amor Layouni	8
2023	Eliteserien	30	7	8	15	39	50	-11	29	↓ 14th	10,542	SF	—	—	—	Andrej Ilić	9

Source:^[18]

European record

Summary

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Last season played
European Cup UEFA Champions League	14	4	3	7	17	25	2006–07
UEFA Cup UEFA Europa League	24	6	9	9	21	28	2011–12
UEFA Europa Conference League	2	1	0	1	2	4	2021–22
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	8	1	4	3	11	17	1998–99
UEFA Intertoto Cup	2	1	0	1	1	2	1999
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	4	0	0	4	5	13	1965–66
Total	54	13	16	25	57	89

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 29 July 2021
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.
Notes: This summary includes matches played in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was not endorsed by UEFA and is not counted in UEFA's official European statistics.

List of matches

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
1964–65	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	R1	Everton	2–5	2–4	4–9
1965–66	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	R2	Hearts	1–3	0–1	1–4
1966–67	European Cup	R1	17 Nëntori	N/A	N/A	w/o
		R2	Linfield	1–4	1–1	2–5
1975–76	UEFA Cup	R1	Athlone Town	1–1	1–3	2–4
1981–82	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Legia Warszawa	2–2	1–4	3–6
1982–83	European Cup	PR	Dinamo București	2–1	1–3	3–4
1984–85	European Cup	R1	Sparta Prague	3–3	0–2	3–5
1985–86	European Cup	R1	Zenit Leningrad	0–2	0–2	0–4
1986–87	UEFA Cup	R1	Beveren	0–0	0–1	0–1
1998–99	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Rapid București	0–0	2–2	2–2 (a)
		R2	Beşiktaş	1–0	3–3	4–3
		QF	Chelsea	2–3	0–3	2–6
1999–00	Intertoto Cup	R1	Ventspils	1–0	0–2	1–2
2003–04	UEFA Cup	R1	Grazer AK	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		R2	Wisła Kraków	0–0	0–0	0–0 (4–3 p )
		R3	Newcastle United	1–1	1–3	2–4
2005–06	Champions League	QR2	Haka	1–0	4–1	5–1
		QR3	Club Brugge	1–0	0–1	1–1 (3–4 p )
	UEFA Cup	R1	Steaua București	0–3	1–3	1–6
2006–07	Champions League	QR2	Mladá Boleslav	2–2	1–3	3–5
2007–08	UEFA Cup	QR1	Flora Tallinn	1–0	1–0	2–0
		QR2	Ekranas	6–0	1–1	7–1
		R1	Austria Wien	2–2	0–2	2–4
2009–10	Europa League	QR3	PAOK	1–2	1–0	2–2 (a)
2011–12	Europa League	QR2	Mika	1–0	1–0	2–0
		QR3	PAOK	0–2	0–3	0–5
2021–22	Europa Conference League	QR2	Gent	2–0	0–4	2−4

Records

• Largest victory in the top division: 8–0 vs. Lisleby, 1951
• Longest consecutive seasons in the top division: 17 seasons (2002–2023)
• Most top division matches since 1963: Morten Berre, 281 matches (2003–14)
• Most goals in mandatory matches: Einar Bruno Larsen, 99 goals (1957–68)
• Most goals in a single season: Viðar Örn Kjartansson, 25 goals in 29 matches (2014)
• Record attendance: Ullevaal Stadion, 23 October 2005. The 2005 season's last home game, against Rosenborg, 24894 spectators
• Biggest win in a European cup match: 6–0 vs. Ekranas, 30 August 2007 (7–1 overall)

(numbers as of 3 September 2007)

Players and staff

First-team squad

As of 8 March 2024^[19]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NOR Jacob Storevik 2 DF  NOR Christian Borchgrevink (captain) 3 MF  NOR Aleksander Hammer Kjelsen 4 DF  NOR Aaron Kiil Olsen 5 DF  COD Nathan Fasika 6 DF  NOR Vegar Eggen Hedenstad 7 MF  NOR Magnus Bech Riisnæs 8 MF  NOR Henrik Bjørdal 9 FW  NED Mees Rijks 11 MF  FIN Daniel Håkans 13 GK  NOR Magnus Stær-Jensen 14 FW  NGA Obasi Onyebuchi 15 MF  NOR Elias Hagen 17 FW  NOR Jacob Dicko Eng

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  NOR Simen Juklerød 19 FW  NOR Ola Kamara 21 GK  NOR Magnus Smelhus Sjøeng 22 MF  NOR Stian Sjøvold Thorstensen 23 DF  AUT Martin Kreuzriegler 24 MF  NOR Petter Strand 25 FW  NOR Jones El-Abdellaoui 26 FW  NOR Filip Thorvaldsen 27 FW  NOR Adrian Kurd Rønning 29 MF  CMR Brice Ambina 30 GK  NOR Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen 31 FW  NOR Omar Bully Drammeh 32 DF  NOR Max Bjurstrøm

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 10 FW  NOR Mohamed Ofkir (at Manisa F.K. until end of 2024) 33 DF  ALB Eneo Bitri (at MKS Cracovia until end of 2024)

Notable past players and staff

Retired and reserved numbers

• Number 12 is reserved for the fans (often referred to as the 12th man)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Director of football	Joacim Jonsson
Head coach	Geir Bakke
Assistant coach	Petter Myhre
Assistant coach	Jan Frode Nornes
Assistant coach	David Ribeiro
Individual players coach	Trond Fredriksen
Goalkeeper coach	Gjermund Østby
Fitness coach	Aaron Horne
Head of analysis	Lars-Erik Samuelsen
Head of academy	Thomas Hafstad
Reserve team coach	Øystein Sanden
Physio	Carl Fredrik Birkemo
Physio	Martin Flesland
Equipment manager	Egil Larsen
Club doctor	Erik Rosenlund

Managers

See also

• Vålerenga Ishockey
• Vålerenga Trolls

References

• ISBN 82-02-17623-9
  .

External links

• Official website (in Norwegian)
• Vålerenga Fotball På Nett (in Norwegian)
• Klanen, official Vålerenga supporters club (in Norwegian)