Bodø/Glimt, the team from the town of Bodø north of the polar circle, counting around 45,000 inhabitants, made it to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League this season. After beating Atletico Madrid, Manchester City and Inter Milan, they got eliminated by Sporting, from Lisbon two weeks ago. All that comes on the heels of some previous runs in the Conference and Europa League. What’s even more remarkable however: this isn’t the Cindarella story with a rich sugardaddy in the background. It’s a longer story that speaks to regional tensions in modern Norway, a close knit community, and some very hard and deliberate work. It really is that.

Freddy Toresen is with us again. He is the journalist covering Bodo Glimt up close and locally, with a level of access to the club that’s hard to imagine for journalists who cover teams in bigger leagues - and he has a long history following the club as well.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Freddy Toresen on Instagram and Facebook

City of Bodø on Wikipedia

Bodø/Glimt in the New York Times last month

Club website

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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/