| Clubname | Odd |
|---|---|
| Upright | 1.05 |
| Current | 2024 Odds BK season |
| Fullname | Odds Ballklubb |
| Founded | 31 March 1894 |
| Ground | Skagerak Arena Skien |
| Capacity | 12 000 |
| Chairman | Bernt Ove Søvik |
| Manager | Per Frandsen |
| League | 1. divisjon |
| Season | 2026 |
| Position | 1. Divisjon, 9th of 16 |
| Website | www.odd.no |
| Pattern la 1 | _odd22h |
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| Pattern so 1 | _alaves1617a |
| Leftarm 1 | FFFFFF |
| Body 1 | FFFFFF |
| Rightarm 1 | FFFFFF |
| Shorts 1 | 000000 |
| Socks 1 | FFFFFF |
| Pattern la 2 | _odd22a |
| Pattern b 2 | _odd22a |
| Pattern ra 2 | _odd22a |
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Odds Ballklubb, commonly known as Odd, is a Norwegian professional football club from Skien. Originally the football section of a multi-sports club, it was founded in 1894, nine years after the club's founding. Most sports other than football and gymnastics were discontinued, and the club became dedicated primarily to football. Odd plays in the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system, and holds the record of winning the Norwegian Football Cup the most times with twelve wins, the last coming in 2000. The club was known as Odd Grenland between 1994 and 2012. Founded in 1894, Odd is the oldest football club in Norway.[1] As of 13 May 2017 the club was granted a membership in Club of Pioneers. It then became the first Nordic football club to be granted this membership.
History
IF Odd was founded in 1885,[2] and is thus one of the older sports clubs in Norway still in existence. The name derives from Viktor Rydberg's novel Seierssverdet, where one of the main characters was a Norwegian athlete called Orvar Odd.[citation needed]
In the beginning, IF Odd was mainly focused on gymnastics and also had a department for Nordic skiing and track and field.[2] A department for football, named Odds BK, was founded on 31 March 1894.[3] This initiative was the club's second effort to do so, some time after English workers at nearby Skotfoss brought the game of football to Skien, and the city[dubious – discuss] decided to buy a football. Odd is counted as Norway's oldest football team still in existence.
Odd started a cooperation with the local club Pors in 1994 and changed their names to Odd Grenland and Pors Grenland in an effort to represent the district of Grenland. In conjunction with the name change, a public limited company named Grenland Fotball was founded.[3] Pors Grenland withdrew from the cooperation in December 2009,[4] and in January 2013 Odd Grenland decided to change its name back to Odds BK because they wanted to be a club for the entire county of Telemark.[5]
Odd won the Norwegian Football Cup in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1913, 1915, 1919, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1931, and 2000,[3] more than any other team in Norway. In the late 20th century, the men's team struggled in the lower divisions for many years but made it back to the Tippeligaen in 1999 and stayed there until they were relegated in 2007. The team had survived relegation twice; first in 2005 after a dreadful start to the campaign, then in 2006 when the team only survived relegation by beating Bryne in the relegation play-offs. In 2007 the team was relegated to the 1. divisjon after being beaten by Bodø/Glimt in the relegation play-offs. In 2008, with three games still to play, Odd secured the promotion back to the Tippeligaen after winning 4–0 at home against Hødd.
On 25 September 2011, Odd player Jone Samuelsen scored what is claimed to be the longest headed goal ever scored in a match, in a match against Tromsø, when he headed the ball from within his own half of the pitch into Tromsø's open goal, the goalkeeper having come forward for a late corner in the match. Norwegian police were invited to measure the distance and calculated the length to be 58.13 metres.[6]
Home ground
The club's home ground is Skagerak Arena (capacity 12,000), has seen the largest crowd (approx. 12,500 people) at the 1984 Cup semi-final against Viking, though the official number is 8854. Officially, the highest attendance is 12.436, achieved in the 2015 Europa League play-off against Borussia Dortmund. The stadium was rebuilt to hold a capacity of between 13,000 and 14,000, and was finished in 2008. It is named Skagerak Arena after local sponsor Skagerak Energi.
Players and staff
First-team squad
For season transfers, see transfers winter 2024–25 and transfers summer 2025.
Coaching staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Per Frandsen |
| Assistant coach | Casper Aamodt |
| Assitant coauch and player developer | Flamur Kastrati |
| Goalkeeper coach | Mats Mørch |
| Sport director | Morten Rønningen |
| Physical and mental coach | Mikkel Fillingsnes Marker |
| Physical therapist | Jonathan Brun Bar-Yaacov |
| Player logistic | Sebastian Nilsen |
| Equipment manager | Nils Thomas Strømdal |
| Team coordinator | Tore Andersen |
| Doctor | Ola Stamnes |
Honours
Recent history
- {|class="wikitable"
! Season ! ! Pos. ! Pl. ! W ! D ! L ! GS ! GA ! P !Cup !Notes |- |2000 |Tippeligaen |align=right |8 |align=right|26||align=right|11||align=right|5||align=right|10 |align=right|40||align=right|31||align=right|38 |bgcolor=gold|Winner | |- |2001 |Tippeligaen |align=right |6 |align=right|26||align=right|12||align=right|6||align=right|8 |align=right|50||align=right|40||align=right|42 |Semi-final | |- |2002 |Tippeligaen |align=right |6 |align=right|26||align=right|12||align=right|5||align=right|9 |align=right|36||align=right|30||align=right|41 |bgcolor=silver|Final | |- |2003 |Tippeligaen |align=right |4 |align=right|26||align=right|11||align=right|5||align=right|10 |align=right|46||align=right|43||align=right|38 ||Third round | |- |2004 |Tippeligaen |align=right |8 |align=right|26||align=right|9||align=right|8||align=right|9 |align=right|47||align=right|44||align=right|35 ||Third round | |- |2005 |Tippeligaen |align=right |9 |align=right|26||align=right|9||align=right|6||align=right|11 |align=right|28||align=right|51||align=right|33 ||Quarter-final | |- |2006 |Tippeligaen |align=right |12 |align=right|26||align=right|7||align=right|8||align=right|11 |align=right|30||align=right|38||align=right|29 ||Third round | |- |2007 |Tippeligaen |align=right bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 12 |align=right|26||align=right|8||align=right|3||align=right|15 |align=right|33||align=right|43||align=right|27 |Semi-final |Relegated to the 1. divisjon |- |2008 |1. divisjon |align=right bgcolor=#DDFFDD| 1 |align=right|30||align=right|20||align=right|5||align=right|5 |align=right|76||align=right|44||align=right|65 |Semi-final |Promoted to the Tippeligaen |- |2009 |Tippeligaen |align=right |4 |align=right|30||align=right|12||align=right|10||align=right|8 |align=right|53||align=right|44||align=right|46 |Semi-final | |- |2010 |Tippeligaen |align=right |5 |align=right|30||align=right|12||align=right|10||align=right|8 |align=right|48||align=right|41||align=right|46 |Semi-final | |- |2011 |Tippeligaen |align=right |5 |align=right|30||align=right|14||align=right|6||align=right|10 |align=right|44||align=right|44||align=right|48 ||Fourth round | |- |2012 |Tippeligaen |align=right |10 |align=right|30||align=right|11||align=right|7||align=right|12 |align=right|40||align=right|43||align=right|39 ||Fourth round | |- |2013 |Tippeligaen |align=right |7 |align=right|30||align=right|11||align=right|7||align=right|12 |align=right|43||align=right|39||align=right|40 ||Fourth round | |- |2014 |Tippeligaen |bgcolor=#c96 align=right|3 |align=right|30||align=right|17||align=right|7||align=right|6 |align=right|52||align=right|32||align=right|58 |bgcolor=silver|Final | |- |2015 |Tippeligaen |align=right |4 |align=right|30||align=right|15||align=right|10||align=right|5 |align=right|61||align=right|41||align=right|55 ||Quarter-final | |- |2016 |Tippeligaen |bgcolor=#c96 align=right|3 |align=right|30||align=right|15||align=right|6||align=right|9 |align=right|44||align=right|35||align=right|51 ||Fourth round | |- |2017 |Eliteserien |align=right|6 |align=right|30||align=right|12||align=right|6||align=right|12 |align=right|27||align=right|39||align=right|42 ||Fourth round | |- |2018 |Eliteserien |align=right|9 |align=right|30||align=right|11||align=right|7||align=right|12 |align=right|39||align=right|38||align=right|40 ||Fourth round | |- |2019 |Eliteserien |align=right|4 |align=right|30||align=right|15||align=right|7||align=right|8 |align=right|45||align=right|40||align=right|52 ||Semi-final | |- |2020 |Eliteserien |align=right|7 |align=right|30||align=right|13||align=right|4||align=right|13 |align=right|52||align=right|51||align=right|43 ||Cancelled | |- |2021 |Eliteserien |align=right|13 |align=right|30||align=right|8||align=right|9||align=right|13 |align=right|44||align=right|58||align=right|33 ||Fourth round | |- |2022 |Eliteserien |align=right|5 |align=right|30||align=right|13||align=right|6||align=right|11 |align=right|43||align=right|45||align=right|45 ||Fourth round | |- |2023 |Eliteserien |align=right|10 |align=right|30||align=right|10||align=right|8||align=right|12 |align=right|42||align=right|44||align=right|38 ||Third round | |- |2024 |Eliteserien |align=right bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 16 |align=right|30||align=right|5||align=right|8||align=right|17 |align=right|26||align=right|54||align=right|23 ||Third round |Relegated to the 1. divisjon |- |2025 |1. divisjon |align=right|9 |align=right|30||align=right|8||align=right|9||align=right|13 |align=right|37||align=right|50||align=right|33 ||First round | |- |2026 |1. divisjon |align=right|– |align=right|–||align=right|–||align=right|–||align=right|– |align=right|–||align=right|–||align=right|– ||First round | |}
European record
Overview
| Competition | S | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup | 5 | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 37 | 32 | +5 |
| Total | 5 | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 37 | 32 | +5 |
Matches
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | UEFA Cup | 1R | Helsingborgs IF | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 (a) | |
| 2004–05 | UEFA Cup | 2Q | FK Ekranas | 3–1 | 1–2 | 4–3 | |
| 1R | Feyenoord | 0–1 | 1–4 | 1–5 | |||
| 2015–16 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | FC Sheriff Tiraspol | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2Q | Shamrock Rovers | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | |||
| 3Q | Elfsborg | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–2 | |||
| PO | Borussia Dortmund | 3–4 | 2–7 | 5–11 | |||
| 2016–17 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | IFK Mariehamn | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2Q | PAS Giannina | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–4 | |||
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | Ballymena United | 3–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | |
| 2Q | Vaduz | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | |||
| 3Q | Dinamo Zagreb | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
- Notes
- 1Q: First qualifying round
- 2Q: Second qualifying round
- 1R: First round
- PO. Play-off round
Managers
- Lennart Söderberg (1983–84)
- Tore Andersen (1990)
- Paul Wilson (1991–93)
- Lars Borgar Waage (1994–97)
- Tom Nordlie (1998–99)
- Arne Sandstø (1 January 1999– 28 September 2007)
- Gaute Larsen (2005–07)
- Ove Flindt-Bjerg (28 September 2007 – 17 December 2007)
- Dag-Eilev Fagermo (17 December 2007 – 31 January 2020)
- Jan Frode Nornes (11 March 2020 – 8 January 2022)
- Pål Arne Johansen (24 January 2022 – 31 December 2023)
- Kenneth Dokken (16 January 2024 – 13 November 2024)
- Knut Rønningene (interim) (13 November 2024 – 10 December 2024)
- Knut Rønningene (10 December 2024 – 15 September 2025)
- Per Frandsen (17 September 2025 –)
References
- ^ dubious, dubious (7 May 2017). "Club of Pioneers" (in Norwegian). Odds Ballklubb. Archived 13 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
- ^ Henriksen, Petter (ed.) (2007). "Odd Grenland" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ Tollefsen, Morten (28 March 2007). "Litt om ODDS BALLKLUBB" (in Norwegian). Odd Grenland. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ Saga, Else Jorunn (2 December 2009). "Pors ut av Grenland fotball" (in Norwegian). NRK. Archived 3 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
- ^ "Odd stryker Grenland fra klubbnavnet" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Norwegian News Agency. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
- ^ "Halfway-line Norwegian header set for record books". BBC Sport. 2 October 2011. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ "A-laget" [First team squad] (in Norwegian). Odds BK. Archived 2023-05-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-06-12.