Rosenborg Ballklub (RBK) is a Norwegian football club from the city of
Trondheim. It was founded in 1917 (originally named Odd, changed to
Rosenborg Ballklub in 1927) and has impressively won the Norwegian League
the last 13 seasons (1992 - 2004). This is second all-time in Europe to
Skonto Riga of Latvia, which is currently on a 14-year streak of domestic
titles.
Rosenborg saw the retirement of their extremely successful and popular
manager, Nils Arne Eggen, after the 2002 season. He had been their manager
since 1988, only to be relieved by Trond Sollied in the 1998 season.
Åge Hareide, former manager of the top Swedish and Danish teams Helsingborg
and Brøndby and the Norwegian premier division club Molde F.K., replaced
Eggen for the 2003 season. He in turn accepted an offer to lead the
Norwegian national team, and was replaced by Rosenborg's assistant manager,
Ola By Rise, in December 2003.
In spite of winning the league for 2004, and qualifying for Champions League,
Ola By Rise's contract was terminated in October 2004. For a long time there
was a lot of different rumours going around on who was to take over after
him, but in November it was clear that Nils Arne Eggen once again would come
back, this time as some sort of assistant for former assistant manager, Per
Joar Hansen, who was promoted to manager. Bjørn Hansen and Rune Skarsfjord
will also act as assistant managers.
European Champions League
Rosenborg B.K. has participated in the group phase of the European Champions
League nine times in the last ten years. 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 failed
to qualify in 2003, with a loss against Deportivo de La Coruña, but managed
to qualify again in 2004 after beating Maccabi Haifa.
Famous players
Some of the most famous Rosenborg players are Nils Arne Eggen and Odd
Iversen in the 1960s, Gøran Sørloth, Ola By Rise and Karl Petter Løken in
the 1980s, Jahn Ivar "Mini" Jakobsen, Bent Skammelsrud, Erik Hoftun, Harald
Martin Brattbakk and Roar Strand in the 1990s, and Jan Gunnar Solli, Frode
Johnsen, Ørjan Berg, Vidar Riseth and Espen Johnsen in the 2000s.
Home ground
Rosenborg plays their home games at Lerkendal stadium. Lerkendal was
originally built in 1947, and saw major upgrades in 1996, and from December
2000 to October 2002, when it was made into an all-seater, modern stadium.
The current capacity is 21,166. Record attendance through all times is
28,569 against Lillestrøm in 1985.
Field measurements are 105 × 68 meters.
Honours
Norwegian League Champions: 1967, 1969, 1971, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993,
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Norwegian Cup Champions: 1960, 1964, 1971, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999 and
2003. |
