Uefa Champions League: little Bodo Glimt take next step on giant-killing journey

There are no tributes to the conquering heroes at Bodo airport, no banners proclaiming their success hang in the streets outside. But visitors venturing this far north should not let Scandinavian understatement detract from Bodo Glimt’s achievements and the impact on their hometown.

The football team from the Norwegian Arctic fishing port have beaten giants Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City already in the Champions League this season. On Wednesday evening, they will host Sporting Lisbon, the club that produced global star Cristiano Ronaldo, at their 8,200-capacity stadium more than 3,200km (2,000 miles) north of the Portuguese capital.

The match in the last 16 of Europe’s elite competition is more than another lucrative chapter in Bodo’s David-against-Goliath tale. It is a chance to showcase a transformation underpinned by a fighter pilot turned mental-health coach who says that winning is not the point.

It goes back to 2019, when the club decided they needed a shift in culture, according to Orjan Berg, 57, a former Glimt and Norwegian national team player whose son, Patrick, is one of Bodo’s current stars. Key was the appointment of Bjorn Mannsverk, who adapted lessons from his time in Norway’s air force to the club’s team psychology.

Under Mannsverk’s direction, the emphasis was put on team performance and not results – so much so that even references to “winning” were banned and rigorously policed. In came yoga, mindfulness and breathing techniques.

Berg joked that the club, their players and staff have all been “brainwashed”.