Viking’s two head coaches on Champions League adventure: ‘For us, it’s the best team in the world’
Viking Stavanger have risen from the Norwegian league’s middle ranks to become champions under joint head coaches Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim and Morten Jensen. Their first home Champions League match, against Bayern Munich, marks a major moment in a partnership built on shared ambition and a belief that players can develop at the club.
The pair took charge in November 2020 after presenting Viking with a detailed 120-page plan for how the team should play. Aarsheim, a former Viking captain, is described as calm and analytical, while Jensen is known for thinking big and stating those ambitions openly. They first discussed coaching a team together around 2012 or 2013, when both worked part-time in football alongside other jobs.
- Viking host Bayern Munich in their first home Champions League match.
- Joint coaches Aarsheim and Jensen took charge in 2020.
- Their partnership grew from a shared ambition discussed years earlier.
New here? Start with this
Viking Stavanger is a Norwegian football club that has risen from the middle of its domestic league to become national champions. The club now competes in the Champions League, the highest level of European club football. This represents a significant achievement for a relatively modest-sized club from western Norway.
The club's recent success has been led by two coaches working jointly: Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim, a former Viking captain known for his calm and analytical approach, and Morten Jensen, recognised for his ambitious goals and outspoken vision. Both took charge of the club in November 2020 after presenting a detailed 120-page plan for how the team should play. The pair had first discussed coaching together around 2012 or 2013, when both worked in football part-time whilst doing other work.
The coaches believe their players can develop and succeed at Viking rather than needing to move to bigger clubs elsewhere. Their partnership is founded on shared ambition and the conviction that the team can compete at the highest European level. Having won the Norwegian championship, the club now competes against Europe's strongest teams to test whether their approach works at this elite level.