Football Season Guide

Viking delivered a historic season last year in which they competed the behemoth Bodø/Glimt throughput and held their own to collect their first league title since 1992. It was an achievement that will be talked about for quite a long while as Viking were never truly considered a title contender in the early weeks of the season but managed to keep their mentality straight amidst suffocating pressure and lasted the distance with such a strong opponent like Bodø. Having celebrated long and hard during the winter break, now the entire squad and Bjarte Aarstheim will be aiming to give it their best shot at defending the title and once again making the heavyweights in the division struggle massive against them. Last season, their nuclear potency in attack was what really made them win so many games and it will be once again their main weapon. Veton Berisha is expected to be much more of a contributor in attack after his return mid-season last year while the ageless Zlatko Tripic is unlikely to slow down any time soon after another double-digit season in both goals and assists at 33 years old last year. The midfield did a lot of heavy lifting last season with the likes of Kristoffer Askisilden and Jakob Segdal Hansen providing a solid base for the attackers and they will aim to maintain that level of performances in the coming months too. At the back, having a fit and ready Gianni Stensness is a major plus compared to last season, where he was out with a knee injury until September, as he is the team's best defender. As a whole, the only difference in the starting 11 compared to last year will be on goal as Lubomir Belko was signed from Zilina in Slovakia to replace the unconvincing Kristoffer Klaesson and otherwise the squad is pretty much the same, with a few backup players let go. The big ask for Aarstheim will be to make his players just as hungry and determined to give the extra 5% here and there to win the tight matches and if they manage to do so, they do have the chance to last the distance with Bodø at the top end of the standings again.