How a fighter pilot's mental techniques helped tiny Bodø/Glimt reach the Europa League semifinals

How did an unheralded Norwegian team from a tiny town north of the Arctic Circle become one of the fairy-tale stories of European soccer?

For Bodø/Glimt, the transformation has been underpinned by a fighter pilot who developed mental techniques for his squadron before bombing missions in Libya.

Bjørn Mannsverk discovered a group of players exuding negative energy and prone to “a collective mental breakdown” when he was asked in early 2017 to join the backroom staff of a team that had just been relegated to Norway’s second tier.

His task as “mental coach” at Bodø/Glimt? To make players talk openly about their feelings, lower stress levels, change their attitudes and routines about things like preparation and nutrition, and remove the stigma around mental training.

Winning or losing no longer mattered. It was all about following a philosophy and culture established by Mannsverk, a former Royal Norwegian air force squadron leader whose military duties took him to Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and to Libya for a NATO-led intervention in 2011.

The results have been extraordinary.

After securing an immediate return to Norway’s top division, the team — based more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Oslo in a fishing town, Bodø, with a population of around 55,000 — has captured four of the country's last five league titles. It started in 2020 with a first in the history of a club founded in 1916.

Bodø/Glimt has also had some big results in Europe in recent seasons — a 6-1 thrashing of Jose Mourinho’s Roma in the Conference League 2021 stands out — and this year it has become the first Norwegian club to reach the semifinals of a major European competition.

The first leg against Tottenham in the Europa League takes place in London on Thursday. It’s Bodø/Glimt’s biggest ever match.

“It is a fairy tale, almost a miracle,” Mannsverk told The Associated Press in a video interview. “How can you actually come from (Norway's) second division in 2017 to playing a Champions League playoff and teams like Arsenal five years later?

“But I think it’s possible ... if you have the right mentality and you work hard over time.”

An active air force pilot for more than 20 years, Mannsverk and others in his squadron were the subjects of a mental training project in 2010 where the focus was on meditation and “every day repeating boring stuff, but with 100% attention.”

It meant that when he was in Libya the following year, he had the mental capacity to handle the dangerous missions he was asked to perform. His squadron’s mantra — “train as you intend to fight” — worked.

“Even though I got strong feelings when my first bombs hit the target and it was in infernal flames and fragments and everything," he said, "it was like, ’My training said that it’s OK, this is happening, recognize that, but know I have to return and do my job.'”

With Bodø until recently having a NATO air base, it was simply a happy coincidence that Bodø/Glimt’s leadership came across members of the squadron at the same time as it was seeking a “silver bullet” — as Mannsverk put it — to improve the team’s mental conditioning.

A project was born and fully embraced by manager Kjetil Knutsen following his appointment in 2018.

Bodø/Glimt has never looked back.

Mannsverk’s fingerprints are all over the team’s behavior, though he acknowledges there has been such a buy-in by the players that they now take decisions by themselves.

Like having a rotating cast of eight captains to share leadership duties. Like when the players gather into a circle — Mannsverk calls it the “Bodø/Glimt Ring” — after conceding a goal to discuss what happened and maintain solidarity. Like the players having no specific targets, apart from being the best version of themselves.

Inge Henning Andersen, Bodø/Glimt’s chairman, told the AP that midfielder Ulrik Saltnes considered retiring because he used to suffer from stress-related stomach issues that flared up around matches. Saltnes opened up about his problems to Mannsverk and “finally found a way out of it,” Andersen said.

The team plays at an intensity that far exceeds its rivals, which players attribute to Mannsverk.

“I don’t think it would be possible to play like that without Bjørn and the mental work we do,” Saltnes once told the BBC.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has come up against Bodø/Glimt twice before, losing on both occasions when in charge of Celtic in the Conference League in 2022, and he gave a nod to his opponent’s mental fortitude when asked about its strengths.

“They have a real clear identity in the way they play,” the Australian coach said Wednesday. “I think they’ve created a real resilience in the group, a mental resilience that irrespective of who they play, whether that’s in the Norwegian league or the Champions League qualifiers or the Europa or Conference League, they treat every opponent the same.”

This season’s Europa League campaign is giving Bodø/Glimt widespread attention, notably for its location.

The team’s Aspmyra stadium — with a capacity of less than 9,000 — is one of the most northernly in world soccer at 67 degrees latitude. Tourists have long come to the town on the tip of Norway’s west coast because it is a good spot to see the northern lights.

Bodø, named the European Capital of Culture in 2024, has less than an hour of sunlight during its shortest days, meaning players take supplements to combat a lack of sunlight. It can be bitterly cold and windy in the long winters, making for tough trips for opponents from other countries.

On paper, Tottenham, one of the world’s richest clubs, starts as a huge favorite against Bodø/Glimt. The likely crowd of nearly 63,000 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Thursday's match will be bigger than Bodø's population.

“You’d love us to think that — that you’re a small club and we don’t rate (you),” a smiling Postecoglou replied to a leading question from a Norwegian reporter at the pre-match news conference.

The English club is having one of its worst seasons in a generation and currently lies 16th in the 20-team Premier League. It gives Bodø/Glimt a realistic shot at an upset, like it produced when getting past Italian team Lazio in the quarterfinals.

It's another chance, then, for the club to write another amazing chapter in its remarkable journey.

“We like to tell our story,” Mannsverk said. “The philosophy is a good thing. We know it’s difficult in football, where there’s so much money involved, to give a coach or a team the time. And it takes time to change and drill in the mentality.

“This was not done overnight ... but I’m totally convinced that it will work more or less all over.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Players warm up before the first leg quarter-final soccer match of the UEFA Europa League between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB Scanpix via AP)

FILE - Glimt's Jens Petter Hauge, front, Olympiacos' Costinha, rear right, and Olympiacos' Gelson Martins, left, vie for the ball during the Europa League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Olympiacos FC and FK Bodo/Glimt at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium at Athens' port of Piraeus, Greece, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

FILE - Glimt's head coach Kjetil Knutsen follows an Europa League soccer match between Nice and Glimt at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, southern France, Thursday, January. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

FILE - Twente's Naci Unuvar tackles Glimt's Isak Dybvik Maatta during the Europa League play-off match between Twente and Bodo Glimt in Enschede, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - Glimt fans cheer before the Europe League quarter final second leg match between Lazio and Bodo Glimt in Rome, Italy, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - Glimt's Andreas Helmersen celebrates after scoring during the Europe League quarter final second leg match between Lazio and Bodo Glimt in Rome, Italy, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - Glimt's goalkeeper Nikita Haikin punches the ball during the Europe League quarter final second leg match between Lazio and Bodo Glimt in Rome, Italy, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - Bodø/Glimt's Ulrik Saltnes, center, celebrates with teammates Jens Petter Hauge, left, and Patrick Berg after scoring his second goal of the game during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP, File)

FILE - Bodo/Glimt players celebrate their qualification to the next phase after the end of the Europa League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Olympiacos FC and FK Bodo/Glimt at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium at Athens' port of Piraeus, Greece, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)