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	28,972
Chairman	Thomas Baardseng
Manager	Kjetil Rekdal
League	Tippeligaen
2015	Tippeligaen, 7th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

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

Vålerenga Fotball (Norwegian pronunciation: [ʋoːləˈrəŋɑ]) 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 started out in 1898. A successor to this football club, Idrettslaget Spring, was founded on 29 July 1913. A year later, the club changed its name to Vaalerengens Idrættsforening. Rooted in the neighborhood of Vålerenga on the east end of Oslo, the club would recruit players and supporters from the many workers in the area, in a society then characterized for its low mobility between social strata. Within its first seasons, Vålerengen would compete with the major clubs in Oslo at that time; Lyn, Mercantile and Frigg.

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 50s.

The Bohemians

At the beginning of the 60s, 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 The Bohemians. The club would become known for its brilliant style of football as the number of people in the audience increased. Vålerengen secured a third place in 1961.

In 1965, Vålerengen won the First Division (now Tippeligaen) for the first time. By the help of manager Helmuth Steffens and head coach Anton Ploderer, the club had managed to win the title with a team of local players. The league was won in dramatic fashion, with arch-rivals Lyn giving Vålerengen a fight for the title until the very last matches of the season.

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

The 80s saw the emergence of a new generation. With the help of players like Tom Jacobsen and Vidar Davisen, 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

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 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.

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 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 with Rekdal

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.

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 surprise of the season 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. 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 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 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 on a penalty shoot-out. After losing five out of seven games between 22 July and 19 August head-coach Kjetil Rekdal announced his resignation. Assistant coach Petter Myhre took over as interim manager, and as a result the club regained their form and scored 25 out of the last 30 possible points, bringing the club to a third place in the league, as well as a qualification spot for the 2007–08 Europa League. Vålerenga also qualified for play in the 2006–07 Scandinavian Royal League 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.

The Martin Andresen years

In November 2007, Martin Andresen signed a three-year contract to become the next manager of Vålerenga. Heavy investment from owners and investors saw the signing of several high profile players, most notably Lars Iver Strand and Kristoffer Hæstad. However, despite winning the Norwegian Football Cup, the following season was a disappointment, with Vålerenga finishing 10th in the league. In the 2009 season, Vålerenga finished 7th, reaching the semifinal in the cup.

2010 saw a revitalized Vålerenga, led by a trio of effective forwards, Mohammed Abdellaoue, Bengt Sæternes and Luton Shelton. 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.

Recent seasons

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 an new shirt sponsorship deal with DnB on 29 July.^[1] 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.

Colours

Up to 1913, Vålerenga's kit was moss green. 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 1960s till the 1980s and a short period in the end of the 1990s Bislett Stadium was Vålerenga's home ground. Bislett Stadium 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 Stadium 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.

New stadium at Valle Hovin

Following a press statement made on 15 May 2008, Vålerenga announced that they will 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.^[2] On the 10th of June 2014, the European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority accepted the plans for the stadium.^[3]

The foundation stone of the new stadium was laid on July 29, 2015, the club's 102th anniversary.^[4] Construction is planned to start in summer of 2015.^[3]

Supporters

Vålerenga supporters in the stand nicknamed "The West Bank"

Vålerenga mainly draws support from the area around Vålerenga, Oslo and various other places on the east end of Oslo. 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.^[5] 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.

Rivalries

Vålerenga's main rivals include Lillestrøm, Ham Kam, Kongsvinger, Brann and Lyn. Since the 90s, the main supporter club has actively worked hard for social issues and against hooliganism.^[6]

In the 2014 season, Vålerenga gathered an average attendance of 9,756 at their home matches, ranking them fourth in Norway with regard to attendance.^[7]

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	Quarter-final
2000	Tippeligaen	12	26	5	9	12	32	44	24	Quarter-final			relegated to 1. Divisjon after play-off
2001	1. Divisjon	1	30	19	8	3	71	29	62	Quarter-final			promoted to Tippeligaen
2002	Tippeligaen	8	26	7	12	7	38	31	33	Winners
2003	Tippeligaen	12	26	6	10	10	30	33	28	Quarter-final	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	Semi-final
2006	Tippeligaen	3	26	13	5	8	43	28	44	Quarter-final	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	Semi-final
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	Quarter-final
2014	Tippeligaen	6	30	11	9	10	59	53	42	Fourth round
2015	Tippeligaen	7	30	14	7	9	49	41	49	Second round

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
1999–00	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 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 vs. Lisleby, 1951
• Longest consecutive seasons in premier league: 14 seasons (1977–90)
• Most premier league 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 the 18th of January, 2016

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Marcus Sandberg 3 DF Enar Jääger 4 DF Jonatan Tollås 5 DF Robert Lundström 6 DF Simon Larsen 7 FW Daniel Fredheim Holm 8 DF Jesper Arvidsson 9 MF Rasmus Lindkvist 10 MF Ghayas Zahid 14 MF Herman Stengel 15 DF Markus Nakkim 17 MF Niklas Castro

No. Position Player 18 MF Rino Falk Larsen 19 MF Christian Grindheim (Captain) 20 MF Mathias Totland 22 FW Elías Már Ómarsson 23 MF Sander Berge 24 DF Kjetil Wæhler 25 FW Mohammed Abdellaoue 26 FW Deshorn Brown 30 GK Aslak Falch 33 DF Anders Nedrebø 34 GK Adrian Møller 37 DF Ivan Näsberg

For season transfers, see transfers summer 2014 and transfers winter 2014–15.

Players out on loan

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

No. Position Player 2 DF Niklas Gunnarsson (at Hibernian)[8]

Reserve squad

As of 6 April 2015^[9]

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

No. Position Player 34 GK Adrian Møller 40 MF Mortadha Jassim Alkanany 41 MF Rino Falk Larsen 42 MF Mats Lien Vågan 43 MF Niklas Castro

Retired and reserved numbers

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

Coaching staff

Managers

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