Viking FK's latest must-win game at Fredrikstad seemed to turn on a coin toss, with chances coming thick and fast and both goalkeepers forced into acrobatic saves. The odds finally went in their favour in the 71st minute, as Zlatko Tripic arced an inch-perfect cross to the back post, where Henrik Falchener nodded in to set off an explosion of noise and send thousands of fists into the air in unison. If Viking win their final match on Sunday, back in their Stavanger home against Vålerenga, they are guaranteed a first league title in 34 years. Bodø/Glimt start one point behind with a vastly superior goal difference. Over the past decade, Viking have gone on an epic odyssey worthy of their name. In 2017, after years of heavy spending and lacklustre results, they were relegated from Eliteserien and ended up close to bankruptcy, surviving after a last-minute push from investors, sponsors and the local municipality. Relegation was an ice-cold wake-up call. There were wholesale changes in management and administration to the point that only a handful of staff remained, the majority of overseas players departed and a new ethos was put in place based on developing young, local talent and rebuilding the club's connection to the community. Since 2017, when they got relegated, the transformation of the club has been massive, says Eirik Bjørnø, Viking's CEO since 2020. We've had to adjust the whole strategy. From being that big team in the richest town in Norway, where you think that there is no bottom in the money bag and you can spend whatever you want, we just stopped and we changed the mindset. We said: 'We need to build this, take this step by step, and we need to create enough revenue to be able to survive on our own, not being dependent on any foreign or outside investments.' The first step was to make a swift return to the top division, a task handed to Bjarne Berntsen, a popular figure at the club; he had served in almost every conceivable position – from head coach to CEO to sporting director – going back to the 90s. He set about turning a team packed with inexperienced academy graduates into a winning machine, though it did require a dramatic run of four victories on the bounce for them to secure the title, and promotion, by a point on the final day. Going down and playing in the second tier was a big disappointment, but at the same time it gathered the people and the city around the club again, says Bjørnø, who worked in the marketing department at the time. They travelled with us to all these small places around Norway and we won football games … when you win games, it doesn’t matter what level it is at, you get this feeling of belonging again.