QuoteIt was a glorious kit, in the greatest footballing era in my lifeOriginally Posted by pineapple stu
I have a Norwegian pal from the area, who is obviously having a lovely time, he puts a lot of it down to the astro pitch and such a northern location giving them a huge home advantage. They've built such great momentum and managed to sustain it for a long time now thou, so whoever is running the show has done incredibly. I first noticed B/G during Covid lockdowns when they narrowly went out to Milan, might have been the year or two before they hammered Roma!
It was a glorious kit, in the greatest footballing era in my life
Bits i've read mention pitch and geography, but what appeals most is how they have progressed without a massibe financial injection and a small population base.
Asked for some more info, greetings from Norway
Back in the 90s, early 00s Bodø/Glimt was kinda Rosenborg's farmer team. Two teams that played the same attacking style of football (4-3-3) , but with Rosenborg's success it was easy for them to raid B/G for their best players and just fit it into their squad with little to no change to how they play. This made B/G bounce up and down on the table every season. They finished 2nd one year, and then almost got relegated the year after, finished 3rd after that for Rosenborg to raid them again and then they struggled again next season. It was a roller coaster for sure.
B/Gs success lately comes from a lot of hard work and a manager that has brought the teams to new heights, they still play the same 4-3-3 football they have always played. He brought them up from the second tier and with smart player recruiting they started taking over the 1st tier too. A lot of players have used B/G as a stepping stone to higher leagues, like Victor Boniface which is now linked with AC Milan if I'm not mistaken. Prolific goalscorer from Nigeria, that stopped by the artic circle on the way to greatness.
Now of course with their success in Europe they are probably the richest team in Norway, which means they don't need to be a farmer club anymore and they don't need to sell to keep everything going around. Recruitment is still good and they'll let their players go for the right amount of money, so for players it could be a way to showcase their talent for the bigger stages! It's a rag to riches story that is all based on their philosophy and hard work
Santa Clara vs Rovers is a really interesting tie.
Obviously playing in a much stronger league in Portugal, Santa Clara will be favoured, but in Rovers they're dealing with a much more experienced team when it comes to European football.
The make up of Santa Clara's team is unusual too in that it's mostly Brazilians. While most players are looking to progress to as high a level as they can, you would expect that their turnover of player is higher than the norm and most of these guys are looking to get moves to stronger clubs asap.
I'm reading into things here, but it makes me think they could be fragile if things don't start to go their way early.
Rovers would probably be delighted with a draw out there to set them up for a great chance of going through at home, although no question this is going to be really tough.
Not actually that unusual for a club like Santa Clara to have a lot of Brazilian players as the lesser funded sides in Portugal often turn to the likes of the second division in Brazil in the hope of unearthing young talent they can then sell on.
There is a huge gap between the top 4 in Portugal and the rest, but playing against such sides regularly can only be a good thing for Santa Clara.
Looking at their wage budget, it's bigger than Rovers but not massively. If Rovers keep it to a 1 goal defeat tonight I reckon they can give it a right rattle in Tallaght.
From what I understand though, Santa Clara are very well organised, as you'd have to be playing clubs like Sporting, Benfica, Porto and Braga regularly so they may not be easy to break down if they do sit in.
The owner of the club is Brazilian.
This tie kind of reminds me of Dundalk vs Vitesse Arnhem. Team from one of the top leagues but not one of the top teams, playing against a side with lots of European experience. That ended up being a very tight tie in the end and I think this could be similar. If Rovers can go to Molde and Vienna and get results, they’ll be thinking similar here.
I think it will be a tough ask for SR. A team 4th or 5th in the Portugese league in their pre-season came to Iceland for a qualifier a few years ago and were many levels above the local team. I'd have more optimism for Shels, though their only real dud game was against Linfield in the first leg, but that's what you get in Europe at times when you are pitted against teams from below your station.
Last edited by geysir; 21/08/2025 at 5:26 PM.
The San Marino side Virtus take the lead in Iceland!
Long way to go, but a great start 12 minutes in!
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