Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup titles and have played more UEFA matches than any other Norwegian team. RBK play their home games at the all-seater Lerkendal Stadion which has a capacity of 21,421.
The club was founded as Odd in 1917 but were not allowed to play amateur league matches until 1928, when they took the present name. They reached the League of Norway in 1937–38, but were relegated to lower divisions during the 1940s. The club moved to Lerkendal in 1957 and their first title was the 1960 Cup, resulting in their first participation in a UEFA tournament. It was not until the 1960s that RBK was established as Trondheim's leading football team. In 1967 RBK was promoted to the top league where they, except for the 1978 season, have remained ever since. They won three league titles between 1967 and 1971. The club's golden era started with the 1985 league title. From 1991 through 2004 the team won 13 consecutive titles, 10 under manager Nils Arne Eggen. During this period, they also participated in the group stage of Champions League 11 times, reaching the quarter-finals in 1996–97.
Rosenborg are nicknamed Troillongan ("The Troll Children") and have played in white shirts and black shorts for most of their history. Their longest-standing and fiercest rivalry is with Molde.
History
Early years (1917–1959)
On 19 May 1917, 12 young men from Rosenborg in Trondheim founded Sportsklubben Odd. The name Odd was a tribute to Odd of Skien, the most successful team in Norway at the time. Odd spent their first few years playing against other local teams before attempting to join the regional series in 1920. As with most of the "buddy" clubs formed at the time, they were repeatedly denied access. Since many of these players also played for the bigger teams, the authorities feared a possible shortage of players if too many small clubs were let in. As the years went by, disillusioned players began leaving the club, and in 1923 the first team played only a single match.
By 1926, management of the club had passed on to a new generation of members, and it was through their efforts that Odd were finally admitted into the regional series in 1927, ten years after the club was founded. A year later they were set for entry into the Football Association of Norway, but their entry was blocked as the association refused to have two member clubs with the same name. The club therefore took on its current name, Rosenborg Ballklub, on 26 October 1928. Rosenborg is a mainly residential area in Trondheim.
Rosenborg enjoyed little success at first, moving constantly between the lower divisions of the regional series. Yet their performance was improving and in 1931 the team qualified for the highest level, and one year later they played in the Norwegian Cup for the first time. It was also at this time that Rosenborg started planning for a new home ground at Lerkendal, although this project was not completed until after World War II.
The breakthrough (1960–1968)
Rosenborg's youth team has been one of the best in the country ever since the club was founded and an especially talented generation of youth players during the 1950s would grow up to form the basis for the first team's success in the 1960s and onwards. In 1960 Rosenborg progressed all the way to the cup final where they faced Odd, the team from which they had adopted their original name and colours from in 1917. It took a rematch to decide the winner, but Rosenborg were able to claim their first trophy. Rosenborg won the cup again in 1964.
Rosenborg was promoted from the regional league to group A of the main Norwegian league in 1960. The following season the two groups of the top flight were combined into a single league of 16 teams with the teams finishing in the bottom half being relegated to the 2nd division. Rosenborg finished as number 9 out of the 16 teams and was relegated to the new 2nd division where they played from 1963 until they won promotion by winning group B in 1966.
In 1967 Rosenborg was promoted to the highest level in Norwegian football, the Main League (later the 1st Division) for the first time. This would prove to be a highly successful year for the club. Led on by such players as Harald Sunde, Nils Arne Eggen, and the talented young forward Odd Iversen, Rosenborg won their first league title. Iversen scored 17 goals in 18 matches that year, and would go on to score a massive 30 goals in the following season, although he alone could not prevent Rosenborg from being beaten to the title by Lyn. By the end of the 1960s it was clear that Rosenborg had emerged as one of Norway's leading football clubs.
The 1960s saw Rosenborg venture onto the European stage for the first time. As winners of the cup in 1964, the club debuted in the Cup Winners' Cup the following year. Three years later, Rosenborg entered the European Cup as winners of the league.
Ups and downs (1969–1987)
Rosenborg hired Englishman George Curtis as coach ahead of the 1969 season. Curtis introduced the new 4–4–2 formation and shifted focus towards tactics and organization rather than all-out attacking football. This move worked well to begin with, as Rosenborg were crowned league winners for the third time. However, when both Odd Iversen and Harald Sunde left the club, Rosenborg virtually stopped scoring goals and failed to win again in 1970. Curtis was criticized for being too defensively minded and was replaced by recently retired player Nils Arne Eggen, who reverted to a more crowd-pleasing style of play. Eggen's first of five tenures as coach was a resounding success; Rosenborg won The Double.
The 1971 Double marked the end of the club's first golden age. Rosenborg lost the cup final two consecutive seasons and began to struggle in the league. A flurry of coaches (including Eggen) came and went without making an impact and in 1977 the team won only one match the entire season, finishing dead last.
Nils Arne Eggen was then called in for his third tenure, from 1978 to 1982, and with the return of the now 35-year-old Odd Iversen, Rosenborg climbed back into the 1st Division the following year. In 1979, Iversen became top goalscorer for the fourth time in his career, but by the time he had retired in 1982, the club had still not regained its former glory. That would finally happen in 1985 when, after 14 trophyless years, Rosenborg defeated Lillestrøm in the final match of the season to win the league by a single point.
Domination, The Nils Arne Eggen Era (1988–2002)
The year 1985 may have been a turning point in Rosenborg's fortunes, but it was in 1988 that things really started to happen. The club received fresh capital from its new main sponsor and was fully professionalized. Nils Arne Eggen returned to Trondheim to once again become head coach, this after leading Moss to the league title in 1987. In the waning years of the 1980s, the club secured Doubles twice (1988 and 1990).
Rosenborg went on to dominate Norwegian club football throughout the 1990s. In strong contrast to the Norwegian national team's defensive and often criticized (yet highly effective) style of play at the time, Rosenborg achieved success through strict adherence to crowd-pleasing, attacking football. The Norwegian Premier League, established in 1991, was won 13 consecutive seasons from 1992. The Norwegian Cup was won five times.
In 1995, Rosenborg qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time, strengthening the club's financial position. Revenue from subsequent European campaigns made Rosenborg Norway's wealthiest club. The club's ability to offer higher salaries and European competition helped attract top players, contributing to continued domestic success. During this period, few clubs sustained competitive challenges for extended periods.
European adventures
Rosenborg participated in the group phase of the Champions League 11 times in the 13 years between 1995 and 2007. Eight of them were consecutive (from 1995 to 2002), which was a record until 2004, when Manchester United qualified for the group phase for a ninth successive year.
Rosenborg have on two occasions managed to progress beyond the first group stage of the Champions League. In the 1996–97 season, they were heading for an early exit, but with Milan squandering valuable points, the stage was set for a deciding match at San Siro. Rosenborg defeated Milan 2–1, ousting the Italians and putting themselves in the quarter-finals, where they lost 3–1 on aggregate against Juventus. In the 1999–2000 season, Rosenborg won their group to secure a place in the second group stage. The most memorable game was away against Borussia Dortmund, who were defeated 3–0.
Other highlights include the 2–0 win against Real Madrid and a 5–1 victory over Olympiacos, both in the 1997–98 season. There have also been some dismal performances, particularly against French teams. Rosenborg lost 0–5 to Lyon in 2002 and were crushed 2–7 by Paris Saint-Germain in 2000.
The Norwegians failed to qualify in 2003, losing out to Deportivo La Coruña, but managed to qualify again in 2004 after beating Maccabi Haifa, and in 2005 – despite the disappointing season – they qualified for the tenth time after winning 4–3 against Steaua București.
Rosenborg managed to qualify for the 11th time in 2007. The club impressed with a 1–1 draw away against Chelsea and beating Valencia 2–0 both home and away.
In July 2009, Rosenborg was eliminated from the UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round against Qarabag of Azerbaijan. A year later, in August 2010, Rosenborg were eliminated in the UEFA Champions League in the play-off round, after a 2–2 draw against Danish side Copenhagen, with Copenhagen qualifying due to the away goals rule.
Consolidation (2003)
At the end of 2002, Rosenborg saw the retirement of Nils Arne Eggen after many successful years, during which he was only relieved once, in the 1998 season, by his assistant, Trond Sollied. Eggen was replaced by Åge Hareide, who had previously led both Helsingborg and Brøndby to championships in their respective leagues.
Hareide asserted that in order to not only stay ahead at the domestic level, but also perform better at the European level, Rosenborg would have to become more cynical and focus more on defensive skill, while still maintaining the offensive play that had made the team so strong in the first place. The new manager also highlighted the need to renew the aging squad, whose continuity had been another key to the club's success; many of the players had been in the club since the start of the 1990s. In a controversial move, Hareide began this process by releasing the popular Bent Skammelsrud, who subsequently retired.
Under new leadership, Rosenborg laid waste to the league, losing only three games and winning 14 points ahead of runners-up Bodø/Glimt. The club claimed its seventh successive Double, again defeating Bodø/Glimt in the cup final. Despite failing to qualify for the Champions League, Rosenborg had enjoyed another great season and it looked like Hareide's beginning reforms were paying off; but, 2003 turned out to be his one and only season at the club, as he accepted an offer to lead the Norwegian national team in December of that year. He was replaced by his assistant Ola By Rise, a notable former goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach at the club.
Troubled times (2004–2005)