The Secret Behind Bodø/Glimt? A Former Fighter Jet Pilot: How Bjorn Mannsverk Lit The Fuse

Norway’s fairytale keeps getting louder.

Bodø/Glimt stunned Europe again on Tuesday night, beating Inter Milan at San Siro to seal a sensational UEFA Champions League last-16 berth. Manchester City or Sporting now await.

All this from a team that looked finished just weeks ago.

Heading into their final three league-phase games, Glimt were on the brink of disaster. Then came a draw in Dortmund, followed by statement wins over Manchester City and Atlético Madrid. The play-offs beckoned. Inter were next. A famous Arctic victory at home was followed by an even more remarkable night in Milan.

So how did this tiny club from above the Arctic Circle flip the script?

Data, Development, and Different Thinking

Glimt leave nothing to chance. Their academy pipeline is thriving. Recruitment is data-driven, powered by their own AI platform, “fokus," designed to find players suited to their relentless, high-intensity system.

Manager Kjetil Knutsen has mastered the art of setting up underdogs to punch above their weight in Europe.

But the real edge might be mental.

The Fighter Pilot Who Rewired the Club

Enter Bjørn Mannsverk, a former Royal Norwegian Air Force squadron leader turned mental coach.

When Mannsverk joined in 2017 after the club’s relegation, he found a squad drained of confidence and prone to “collective mental breakdowns."

His mission wasn’t tactics. It was transformation.

His first order of business? Make players talk, literally.

“At first, there was total silence in team meetings," he revealed in an interview with The Tribuna.

Dialogue replaced monologue. Feedback became normal. Emotional openness replaced bottled-up frustration.

Then, he introduced collective meditation before every training session, sometimes in full kit, drawing from his days as a fighter pilot.

The goal? Lower stress, sharpen clarity and build shared calm.

Next, he reinvented team huddles. He encouraged interaction on the pitch and removed stigma around mental training.

And most radically, he stripped away obsession with results.

Mannsverl’s core idea was simple: Winning or losing was no longer the focus. The process was. Trust the process. (not in the way a particular basketball team does so in Philly, I’d say)

Before the 2019 season, Glimt eliminated results as the primary target. The emphasis shifted to preparation, performance, and psychological balance. Victories, they believed, would follow.

They did.

So before anyone writes them off, remember one thing: Bodø/Glimt’s rise is no accident. It’s years of patience, planning and execution — all followed to the tee.