Vålerenga Fotball

Vålerenga Fotball

Full name	Vålerenga Fotball
Nickname(s)	Enga, Vål'enga, the Bohemians, the Pride of Oslo, St. Hallvard's men
Founded	29 July 1913 (1913-07-29)
Ground	Ullevaal Stadion Oslo
Ground Capacity	25,572
Chairman	Odd Skarheim
Manager	Kjetil Rekdal
League	Tippeligaen
2013	Tippeligaen, 11th
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Vålerenga Fotball is a Norwegian association football club from Oslo and a part of the multi-sport club Vålerengens IF. Founded in 1913, the club is named after the neighbourhood of Vålerenga. Vålerenga's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion, the stadium for the Norway national football team. Vålerenga are five time Tippeligaen champions and four times Norwegian Football Cup champions, having last won the league in 2005, and the cup in 2008.

History

Early days

The history of Vålerenga goes back to Fotballpartiet Spark which was founded in 1898, which became Idrettslaget Spring on 29 July 1913. Later the club changed its name to Vaalerengens Idrættsforening.

Vålerengen won the Oslo Championships four times before a national league (Norgesserien) was established in 1937. In the 1948/49 season Vålerengen finished second.

1960s–1980s

In 1965 Vålerengen won the 1st division (now Tippeligaen) for the first time, and in the 80s they won 3 league championships and 1 cup championship. During that decade they also were twice cup runners-up and placed 3rd in the league in 1985.

However, the team was relegated to the 3rd division in 1970, and were not back in the top league again until 1974.

1990s

In 1990 Vålerenga were relegated after 14 seasons in the top division. Vålerenga was close to further relegation in the 1992 season, but managed to remain in the second highest division thanks to a last round 3–0 win against Eik-Tønsberg IF. In 1994, Vålerenga returned to the top division, but were relegated again in 1996. In 1997 Vålerenga won the cup and the First Division and were again promoted to Tippeligaen. As earlier in the 90s, the stay in the top division lasted only a few years.

2000–2004

In the 2000 season Vålerenga lost the play-off matches against Sogndal and was relegated to the 1st division. Vålerenga returned to Tippeligaen and won the cup in 2002.

The 2003 season was poor for Vålerenga and they wound up third last in the league sending them into playoffs 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.

Vålerenga rebounded nicely in the 2004 season and proved a serious challenge to the dominant Rosenborg team in the bid for the league's gold medal. After a frantic final round where Vålerenga beat Stabæk 3–0, they missed out on the league title since Rosenborg beat FK Lyn, 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.

Champions 2005

At the start of the 2005 season it was apparent that Rosenborg was in bad shape and it seemed like Vålerenga's season to go all the way. After a strong season opening, the club sensation IK Start – newly promoted to the Premier League – looked to give Vålerenga a fight to the finish, and the two clubs basically alternated on leading the series to the very last round. On 29 October it looked to be a thrilling last round reminiscent of the previous year, as both Start and Vålerenga had exactly the same amount of points, but Start with a slightly better goal difference. Start met Fredrikstad FK at home, while Vålerenga met Odd Grenland away. As the opening whistle blew the scene was set for some nail-biting football minutes around Norway. 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. History was made on several levels that night as it marked the first time in 21 years that Vålerenga won the league, and most notably it put an end to the 13-year-long reign of Rosenborg.

2006 onwards

The follow-up season of 2006 did not start out as well for the reigning champions, and a poor start left them at the bottom of the table after seven rounds, having gained only 5 points. A steady rise in form though still brought the team to 6th place by the time the season was half-through. Late July brought a string of bad results, including embarrassing losses to main rival FK Lyn, and the exit from the UEFA Champions League, after losing 5–3 on aggregate to Czech club FK Mladá Boleslav in the 2nd qualifying round. Vålerenga had aimed to qualify for the tournament after missing out the previous year by being defeated by Belgian side Club Brugge K.V. on a penalty shoot-out. After losing five out of seven games between 22 July and 19 August head-coach Kjetil Rekdal decided enough was enough, and announced his resignation. Assistant coach Petter Myhre took over, and as a result the club regained their form and scored 25 out of the last 30 possible points, bringing the club to yet another medal in the league, the third consecutive, as well as a qualification spot for the 2007–2008 Europa League. Vålerenga also qualified for play in the 2006–2007 Scandinavian Royal League after finishing among the top four teams in Norway. In 2008, Vålerenga again won the Norwegian Football Cup. The following year, the team made the semi-finals of the Cup. On 1 August 2011, Vålerenga played Liverpool FC in a friendly which they drew 3–3.^[1]

Colours

Up to 1913, Vålerenga's kit was moss green ("VIFs Drakter"). In 1914, the Norwegian State Railways 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

Ullevaal Stadion is the current home ground, but it is owned jointly by the Football Association of Norway and Vital Eiendom.

From the 60s till the 80s and a short period in the end of the 90s Bislett Stadion was Vålerenga's home ground. Bislet Stadion also hosted speed skating and track and field events in addition to football, and hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics. Poor conditions and maintenance of Bislett forced Vålerenga to move to Ullevaal and a groundshare with FK Lyn.

After Vålerenga moved from Bislett Stadion plans for building their own ground were conceived, but poor results on the field combined with financial problems kept those plans at bay for a few years. After the second place in 2004 and the league title in 2005 as well as business man John Fredriksen's deletion of the club's debt in 2003, the talks of building a ground for Vålerenga have resurfaced. The original plans were to build a ground in Bjørvika, right next to the future opera house in the centre of Oslo. Vålerenga has won little political support in Oslo city council for this proposal. There have been several proposals for other sites where a ground can be built, but there are two sites that recur as the most likely: Ensjø east in Oslo close to Vålerenga's training facilities at Valle Hovin and to build the ground over the railway tracks at Oslo Central Station.

Following an announcement made on 15 May 2008, it appears that Vålerenga will be moving "home" to Valle Hovin as they purchased the area of the proposed stadium for the sum of 1 Norwegian Krone. The development mainly includes a 22,000 seater stadium.

Supporters

Vålerenga supporters in the stand nicknamed "The West Bank"

Vålerenga's main supporter club Klanen (the Clan) was founded on 5 May 1991 and is with its about 10,000 members the biggest supporter club in Norway. Klanen is considered to be among the best supporters in Norway and is by some called "the best mixed choir in Norway" because of their joy of singing and cooperation. The kit number 12 is reserved Klanen.

Vålerenga usually gather a crowd more than seven times more than the other teams in Oslo. In the 2006 season Vålerenga gathered an average attendance of 13,871 at their home matches, ranking them fourth in Norway with regard to attendance. In the last years Vålerenga has usually ended up at 4th place on the average attendance list in tippeligaen, beaten by Rosenborg, Brann and Viking.

Klanen celebrating the bronze medal after the final game of the 2006 season

Honours

• Norwegian Premier League:
  • Winners (5): 1965, 1981, 1983, 1984, 2005
  • Runners-up (3): 1948–49, 2004, 2010
• Norwegian Football Cup:
  • Winners (4): 1980, 1997, 2002, 2008
  • Runners-up (2): 1983, 1985
• Superfinalen:
  • Runners-up (1): 2009
• La Manga Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2007

Recent history

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Notes
1997	1. Divisjon	1	26	19	3	4	70	21	60	Winners
1998	Tippeligaen	7	26	10	3	13	44	48	33	Third round
1999	Tippeligaen	11	26	8	4	14	40	53	28	Fourth round	CWC	Quarterfinal
2000	Tippeligaen	12	26	5	9	12	32	44	24	Quarterfinal			relegated to 1. Divisjon after play-off
2001	1. Divisjon	1	30	19	8	3	71	29	62	Quarterfinal			promoted to Tippeligaen
2002	Tippeligaen	8	26	7	12	7	38	31	33	Winners
2003	Tippeligaen	12	26	6	10	10	30	33	28	Quarterfinal	UC	Third round	avoided relegation through play-offs
2004	Tippeligaen	2	26	13	9	4	40	22	48	Third round
2005	Tippeligaen	1	26	13	7	6	40	27	46	Semifinal
2006	Tippeligaen	3	26	13	5	8	43	28	44	Quarterfinal	UC	First round	elim. Third round UCL
2007	Tippeligaen	7	26	10	6	10	34	34	36	Fourth round	UC	First round
2008	Tippeligaen	10	26	8	6	12	31	37	30	Winners
2009	Tippeligaen	7	30	12	4	14	47	50	40	Semifinal
2010	Tippeligaen	2	30	19	4	7	69	36	61	Second round
2011	Tippeligaen	7	30	14	5	11	42	33	47	Second round
2012	Tippeligaen	8	30	12	5	13	42	44	41	Third round
2013	Tippeligaen	11	30	10	6	14	41	50	36	Quarterfinal

European record

Summary

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 4 August 2011
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 Tirana	N/A	N/A	Bye
		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 Bucureşti	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 Bucureşti	0–0	2–2	2–2 (a)
		R2	Beşiktaş	1–0	3–3	4–3
		QF	Chelsea	2–3	0–3	2–6
1999–2000	Intertoto Cup	R1	FK 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 Bucureşti	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

Records

• Largest victory in the premier league: 8–0 against Lisleby FK 1951
• Longest consecutive seasons in premier league: 14 seasons (1977–1990)
• Most premier league matches since 1963: Freddy dos Santos, 246 matches (2001–2011)
• Most goals in mandatory matches: Einar Bruno Larsen, 99 goals (1957–1968)
• Most goals in a single season: Jørn Andersen 23 goals in 22 matches (1985)
• 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 the end of the 2013 season

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Lars Hirschfeld 2 DF Niklas Gunnarsson 4 DF André Muri 5 DF Rasmus Lindkvist 6 DF Simon Larsen 7 MF Daniel Fredheim Holm 8 MF Sivert Heltne Nilsen 10 FW Vidar Örn Kjartansson 11 FW Morten Berre 14 MF Herman Stengel 15 DF Joachim Thomassen 17 MF Ghayas Zahid 18 DF Giancarlo González

No. Position Player 19 MF Christian Grindheim (Captain) 21 FW Alexander Mathisen 22 FW Diego Calvo 23 MF Kristofer Hæstad 24 DF Nicolai Høgh 34 GK Gudmund Taksdal Kongshavn 35 DF Kamran Ali Iqbal 36 MF Mathias Blårud 37 DF Ivan Näsberg 38 MF Fitim Kastrati 39 MF Moussa Nije 40 GK Marcus Engebretsen

For season transfers, see transfers summer 2013 and transfers winter 2013–14.

Coaching staff

Managers since 1990

• Olle Nordin (Jan 1, 1990–Dec 31, 1992)
• Vidar Davidsen (Jan 1, 1993–Dec 31, 1997)
• Lars Tjærnås (Jan 1, 1998–Aug 6, 1998)
• Egil Olsen (Aug 9, 1998–June 16, 1999)
• Knut Arild Løberg (June 17, 1999–Dec 31, 1999)
• Tom Nordlie (Jan 1, 2000–Dec 31, 2000)
• Kjetil Rekdal (Jan 1, 2001–Aug 20, 2006)
• Petter Myhre (Aug 21, 2006–July 27, 2007)
• Harald Aabrekk (July 28, 2007–Dec 31, 2007)
• Martin Andresen (2008–Dec 31, 2012)
• Kjetil Rekdal (Jan 8, 2013–)

See also

• Vålerenga Ishockey
• Vålerenga Trolls

References

• Nome, Petter. Vi er Vål'enga. Oslo: Cappelen, 1997. ISBN 82-02-17623-9.

External links

• Official pages
• Vålerenga Fotball På Nett – the biggest site for unofficial news and views
• Klanen, official Vålerenga supporters club
• Jarles VIF Stats