Bodö/Glimt is in the semifinals of the Conference League. © ANSA / ETTORE FERRARI

Jubilation at the Arctic Circle: Norway's football fairytale

Shortly before midnight, there was no stopping Rome's Stadio Olimpico. When a certain Nikita Haikin, in goal for the huge underdog FK Bodö/Glimt, saved Lazio's second penalty, the Norwegian football miracle was complete.

18 April 2025

From: dpa/dl

The small club, located north of the Arctic Circle, was the first football team from the winter sports nation to reach a European semi-final.

In their bright yellow jerseys, the players jumped exuberantly around the pitch after the 3-2 victory in the penalty shootout was finalized. Afterwards, souvenir photos were taken in front of the small crowd of fans for eternity. "A great piece of Norwegian football history. The European teams are falling like flies, and now only the imagination sets the limits," wrote the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

Home games on artificial turf

Bodø, a town of only 50.000 inhabitants north of the Arctic Circle, has now made it onto the European football map. In the Europa League semifinals, they will face Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, who eliminated Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday. And the English team will have to dress warmly. The game will be played on artificial turf due to the cold.

Before the first leg against Lazio, the snow had to be cleared. © ANSA / Lise Aserud

Before the first leg against Lazio, so much snow had fallen that it took a lot of help to clear the pitch. Accordingly, the 8.270-seat Aspmyra Stadium offers a huge advantage. Thirty of the last 30 European Cup matches have been won there. Before Lazio, previous European Cup winners such as FC Porto, Red Star Belgrade, and AS Roma also felt this.

The special goalkeeper story

In Rome, however, sheer willpower was required. At one point, with the score at 0-3, elimination in extra time seemed already sealed, but Andreas Helmersen saved the team in a penalty shootout. There, Haikin became a hero. The 29-year-old was born in Israel, moved to Russia at a young age, and then lived in England as a teenager. He already holds three different passports and could soon become a Norwegian citizen. He is in a relationship with a Norwegian Love Island contestant.

Nikita Haikin became a hero. © APA/afp / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE

"This team is built from players who weren't that good until a certain point, and then we became an incredibly good team," said coach Kjetil Knutsen, who has been in charge at Bodø since 2018 and led the club to its first four league titles in the past five years. "It's so damn great for Glimt and Norwegian football. If we can do it, others can do it too."