Football Season Guide

It seems top flight relegation in 2017 was very much worth it for Viking, who have come back with an absolute bang since. Their first year back as an Eliteserien club was a roaring success, with a fifth place finish and a Norwegian Cup final win. Bjarne Berntsen has been given a lot of credit for the team's sudden upturn and quite rightly so. The Stavanger side were such a shambles on and off the pitch two years' ago it hardly seemed credible that the same side were beating Haugesund 1-0 in the cup final last December, qualifying for the Europa League in the process. A lot of their success rests on commitment to youth and development, as the club is still recovering from a precarious financial predicament. That means players like Kristian Thorstvedt have been sold but Berntsen seems confident enough that he can find other diamonds in the rough that can keep Viking going in the top half of the table. Viking appear a very tight knit group and, with the same mentality as last year, they will be tough to come up against more often than not again this season. They play with enthusiasm other clubs can't match on their day, and if they stick together they could very well end up cementing themselves in the top five again. But expectation levels shouldn't be sky high. Viking's doldrum years are still a raw wound, and they club will be very realistic in their ambitions for the coming season and years ahead.