Viking FK

Also written as Viking.

The club

Viking Fotballklubb were founded on 10 August 1899 in Stavanger, on the south-western coast of Norway, under the name Idraetsklubben Viking. They play in dark blue at home and white away, and are known as De Moerkeblaa, the Dark Blues. The club's anthem was written by Bernhard Lund in the 1930s. The sharpest local rivalry is with Bryne, and matches against Brann and Haugesund are known as the Vestlandsderbyet, the Western Norway derby. Rosenborg, Start and Sandnes Ulf are also listed among the club's rivals.

The ground is at Jaattaavaagen in Stavanger and holds 15,900. It was inaugurated on 1 May 2004 at a cost of 160 million Norwegian kroner, about 20 million euros, and opened as the Viking Stadion. It carried the name SR-Bank Arena from April 2018 and was renamed the Lyse Arena in January 2025 under a five-year deal with Lyse AS, although English-language previews of the club's 2026 European matches were still using the SR-Bank name. Before 2004 Viking played at the Stavanger Stadion, where the record crowd of 18,892 saw them beat Odd 4-0 in a Norwegian Cup semi-final in 1959.

The club has been run since 2021 under a joint head coach model, with Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim and Morten Jensen sharing the job. They followed Bjarne Berntsen, who was in charge from 2018 to 2020 and who expressed great disappointment over the decision to end his time at the club, and before him Ian Burchnall, who had the job in 2017. Erik Nevland, who scored twice against Chelsea for the club in 2002, is now the sporting director, and Eirik Bjoernoe is chief executive.

Players from the club's history include Reidar Kvammen, Arthur Kvammen, Sverre Andersen, Edgar Falch, Olav Nilsen, Egil Oestenstad, Thomas Myhre, Brede Hangeland and Erik Thorstvedt.

Recent seasons

Viking finished third in the 2021 Eliteserien with 57 points from 30 matches, 17 wins, 6 draws and 7 defeats, 60 goals scored and 47 conceded. It was the club's first top-three finish since 2007, and Veton Berisha scored 22 league goals. The following year was much worse: eleventh in 2022 on 35 points, 9 wins, 8 draws and 13 defeats, 48 scored and 54 conceded, with Berisha leaving for Hammarby in the summer.

They recovered to fourth in 2023 with 58 points, 18 wins, 4 draws and 8 defeats, 61 scored and 48 conceded, Zlatko Tripic top-scoring with 13 in the league. In 2024 they were third on 57 points, 16 wins, 9 draws and 5 defeats, 61 scored and 39 conceded, with Lars-Joergen Salvesen scoring 12 league goals and Tripic 10, and an average home crowd of 12,364.

2025 was the title. Viking took 71 points from 30 matches, 22 wins, 5 draws and 3 defeats, 77 goals scored and 36 conceded, and clinched the championship on 30 November 2025 with a 5-1 win over Vaalerenga. Peter Christiansen scored 14 in the league and 18 in all competitions.

Honours and landmarks

Viking have won the Norwegian top division nine times: 1957-58, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1991 and 2025. The run of four in a row from 1972 to 1975 remains the club's dominant period. The 2025 title was their first since 1991, a gap of thirty-four years.

They have won the Norwegian Cup six times, in 1953, 1959, 1979, 1989, 2001 and 2019. 1979 was a double.

In Europe the landmark results are the eliminations of Sporting CP in the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup and of Chelsea in 2002-03, and qualification for the UEFA Cup group stage in 2005-06.

Notable scorelines

The club's record European result is an 18-0 aggregate win over Principat of Andorra in the first qualifying round of the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup, 7-0 at home and 11-0 away. The largest recent win is 12-3 on aggregate over Koper of Slovenia in the second qualifying round of the 2025-26 Conference League, 7-0 at home and 5-3 in Slovenia.

The heaviest defeat is 9-1 away to 1. FC Koeln in the second round of the 1972-73 European Cup, which made the tie 9-2 on aggregate after Viking had won the home leg 1-0. Red Star Belgrade beat them 3-0 in Belgrade in the 1980-81 first round for a 4-1 aggregate.

The best-known single result is the 4-2 win over Chelsea at the Stavanger Stadion on 3 October 2002 in the first round of the UEFA Cup, in front of 5,500. Morten Berre scored on 9 minutes and Peter Kopteff on 34; Frank Lampard replied on 45 and John Terry on 62, either side of an Erik Nevland goal on 60; and Nevland scored again on 87 to put Viking through 5-4 on aggregate after a 2-1 defeat in London. The club's all-time domestic record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.

European record

As of August 2026 Viking had played 78 matches in Europe, winning 26, drawing 17 and losing 35, scoring 106 goals and conceding 113. Their best return by competition is in the Conference League, at a 50 per cent win rate.

The early campaigns were short. The 1972-73 European Cup ended in the second round with the 9-1 in Cologne, and the 1980-81 first round with the defeat in Belgrade.

1999-2000 was the first real run: Principat swept aside 18-0 in the qualifying round, then Sporting CP beaten 3-1 on aggregate in the first round, 3-0 at home and 0-1 in Lisbon. In 2002-03 Viking put out Chelsea 5-4 on aggregate in the first round before losing 4-1 on aggregate to Celta Vigo in the second, 1-1 at home and 3-0 in Spain. In 2005-06 they reached the UEFA Cup group stage, where they beat Monaco 1-0 and finished fourth in the group; the other group results were not established from the sources read here.

In 2025-26 Viking entered the Conference League at the second qualifying round, beat Koper 12-3 on aggregate, and went out in the third qualifying round to Istanbul Basaksehir, 3-1 at home and 1-1 away for a 4-2 aggregate.

Quotes

Erik Nevland, the sporting director, on the club standing two legs from the Champions League league phase: "Hvis du hadde sagt det for to-tre aar siden ville ingen trodd paa deg" - if you had said this two or three years ago nobody would have believed you.

Eirik Bjoernoe, the chief executive, on the money at stake: "Hvis vi begynner aa tenke paa alle de eksterne faktorene... tror jeg vi mister oss selv" - if we start thinking about all the external factors, I think we lose ourselves.

Kjetil Knutsen, the Bodoe/Glimt manager, before the tie: "Saann som jeg kjenner Viking-laget, er det en klubb som kan slaa Dinamo Zagreb" - the way I know the Viking side, this is a club that can beat Dinamo Zagreb.

Zlatko Tripic, the captain, called the second leg "den viktigste kampen jeg har spilt i karrieren", the most important match he has played in his career. The remainder of that interview is behind the Aftenbladet paywall and was not read here.

Right now (2026/27)

Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim and Morten Jensen are in their sixth season as joint head coaches. Viking are the defending Norwegian champions and, as of 16 August 2026, second in the Eliteserien with 40 points from 17 matches, 13 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats, 40 goals scored and 17 conceded, one point behind Bodoe/Glimt on 41.

The club entered the 2026-27 Champions League in the play-off round of the Champions Path, carrying a UEFA club coefficient of 8.247. It is their first Champions League campaign since 1992 and they have never reached the group or league phase. The first leg in Zagreb on 18 August 2026 finished 2-2 in front of 17,342 after Dinamo had gone two up inside the opening ten minutes through Dion Drena Beljo and Lisica; Peter Christiansen pulled one back on 26 minutes and Tripic, who was born in Croatia, equalised on 39. A late Mislav Orsic volley hit the post and the goalkeeper without going in. The second leg is at home in Stavanger on 26 August 2026 at 19:00 UTC.

NRK put the money at a minimum of 200 million Norwegian kroner for reaching the league phase, against about 95 million kroner guaranteed by the Europa League league phase place that awaits the loser of this tie. Bodoe/Glimt earned more than 500 million kroner from the competition the previous year.

Viking were beaten 2-1 at home by Aalesund in the quarter-final of the 2025-26 Norwegian Cup on 18 March 2026 in front of 7,120. Their 2026-27 Norwegian Cup first round tie is against Brodd on 2 September 2026. Anders Baertelsen was out with a foot injury before the second leg, along with Martin Ove Roeseth and Veton Berisha. Christiansen is the leading scorer with 9 in the league and 10 in all competitions.

Summer and winter business in 2026 brought in the Slovak goalkeeper Lubomir Belko in February, the Norwegian goalkeeper Erlend Jacobsen in May, and the forwards Romano Postema and Amin Cosic in July. Kristoffer Klaesson left for Aalesund and Hilmir Rafn Mikaelsson for Sigma Olomouc.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.