by Football’s ability to invent jokes is legion, but the one about the YMCA club in Norway’s Eliteserien is nonetheless ridiculous. But that is exactly where KFUM-Kameratene Oslo finds itself: on Tuesday, they make their first flight with a home game against HamKam.
Although KFUM remains a local community club – there are only 3,000 of them on the ground and it is accessed via a zebra crossing – their rise has been carefully planned. “We have learned year after year,” says Tor-Erik Stenberg, the general manager. “Small changes to be bigger and more professional.” So they started by giving the players amateur contracts, then they moved training from the evening to the day, then they focused on better marketing, and so on; this season, boosted by the funds to improve more than one aspect, they have added game analysts, expanded their medical department, and taken the team abroad for warm-weather training.
Wise, patient growth may be unusual in football, but Stenberg attributes KFUM’s success not to its processes but to its culture. “We’re a YMCA club,” he says. “We have a Christian foundation with Christian values: forgiveness, love, care. That doesn’t mean we don’t fight because on the field, football is football. It doesn’t mean we don’t get angry, but it’s about how we behave before and after.”
This philosophy is embodied by Johs Moesgaard, the KFUM manager who was cleverly brought in as an assistant when the club realized that Jørgen Isnes, his predecessor, was doing so well that he would soon be poached by a richer rival. “We’re looking for people who understand people first, who understand that how you treat people leads to results,” says Stenberg. “Johs understands how to mix a group, develop the people within the group – that’s his main skill. And if you can build a group with a common understanding of how to play, how to behave – that group will die for each other and you’ll get better results.”
Therefore, potential signatories know for sure that if they join KFUM, they will have a good time making good friends. “But you’re never going to be rich,” Stenberg says, “so it attracts people who enjoy those things. And also of course, we’ve developed a lot of players now so young players like to come to us and enjoy it.”
Moesgaard agrees that his main responsibility is to create the right environment for his players, noting that the Christian values that KFUM stands for are also universal – there are not many Christians in his squad, but there are Muslims and atheists. “Everyone is important and everyone has equal opportunities,” he explains. “It’s a ‘club for life’ as the slogan says. It’s a place where you’ll feel respected, you’ll feel trusted, you’ll feel like you mean something.”
But treating people with kindness does not mean lowering standards. “In Norway we use a lot of excuses: ‘I don’t have money, I don’t have this, I don’t have that,'” says Moesgaard. “We are a small club, with few resources, but everything is possible. Stop singing, go to work and everything can be done.”
Trying to get the most out of things is very important when looking for potential acquisitions, who have to be the right type of person as well as the right type of player for a short-term, non-negotiable style 3 -4-3 the club. “I emphasized getting players into X Factor,” says Moesgaard. “I love players who have that extra edge in their game. We get players from lower divisions – players who sit on the bench at other clubs or are told ‘you don’t make it here’ – but we see the extra. And we think that I can pass on their skills through my leadership, and I’m included, I’m not that hard. I keep in close contact with my players because I believe that the interaction between us makes them more comfortable, safer – they are brave enough to make mistakes in the game.”
For example, Moesgaard refers to 21-year-old Obilor Okeke, a soldier with questionable decision-making but rich potential, which no previous manager has been able to tap. However, Moesgaard was convinced that he could achieve it and, excited by his ability to dribble at great speed, he retired from Fredrikstad’s reserves and then organized the team to reinforce his strengths. Likewise, Mo Lion Njie as a centre-back is very good on the ball but lacked a bit defensively. “So,” says Moesgaard, “we worked on that weakness, we put runners around him to protect him, and he controls the game.”
Despite their new status, KFUM will stick to their method as, unusually for a team built on a limited budget, they believe their advantage over their opponents is a technical advantage. “We’re very good at moving the ball around, passing – we have short distances between our players so we can regain possession when we lose the ball,” says Moesgaard. “But when the other team has more physicality, that’s when the challenge starts for us – handling what happens in the boxes and around the set plays as well. That’s where I’m most curious about where we are.”
Whatever happens from here though, where they are means KFUM has already won, their story enshrined in the annals of the game forever. “The world of football is quite cynical,” says Moesgaard. “So I am thinking a lot about my father, who is looking after me, who has been ill for some time with cancer, and my daughter. All those things go through your head – something that made those closest to you proud.”
