The short version
- Fourth division club Union Karl-Berner are preparing for their first round match against Valerenga in the Norwegian Football Cup.
- Former football agent Lars Peter Fosdal is a jack of all trades at the Etihad.
- He believes there is plenty of room for a new central team in Oslo – as well as in top-flight football.
- Although Al-Ittihad does not have a suitable stadium, the team’s ambition is to win the next match and continue further with the division system.
But the Karl Berner Consortium is not lacking in visions.
New fourth-tier club Oslo have a short but hectic run – which won't stop with NRK's first-round cup tie against Vålerenga.
Regardless of the result.
– I will not sit here and say that we are going to Eliteserien or Obosligaen. We want to win our next football match. It's pretty clear that the YMCA is garbage. But if a Team Nordstrand It could reach Eliteserien, then a central team in Oslo could do it, says Lars Peter Fosdal of Union Carl Berner.
You may have heard the name before. Lars Peter Fosdal has been a football agent for 20 years and has worked closely with clubs in the top flight and eventually with player transfers throughout European football.
Now the suit, shirt and VIP tickets have been replaced by a turtleneck sweater, hiking pants and worn-out artificial turf. He has moved on from the agency career to become the festival director in Over Oslo, but now it is the trophy ceremony that Fosdal will organize at the “football field” in Jordal.
Here, Eric Walcott, Union goalkeeper Karl Berner, crept into a few square meters of the field. The state of football facilities in Oslo offers no better setting for those who have played a match against the city's biggest club.
Two small cones form the “goal” in which Walcott stands in his extra session before the Valerenga match. The usual 11-man field at Jordahl Stadium is occupied by those with regular training time this evening.
-You can be creative or give up. I chose the first. That's Oslo football in a nutshell, Walcott smiles.
The two-year-old fourth division club also gave up “home advantage” in the cup match against Valerenga. If he exists for a team he is actually homeless.
Union Carl Berner was assigned a run at Rommensletta in the series, but took the initiative to go ahead in the game Inga country On Jordal.
The 'away fans' can therefore follow the football cup on the artificial turf and the hockey match in the ice hall immediately adjacent.
Lars Peter Fosdal is the man who repairs the training fields and schedules football matches for Union Karl-Berner. He is also Chairman of the Board, Director of Materials and Director of Sponsorship. All on charity.
The club's budget of NOK 220,000 represents 2 percent of the NOK 110 million that Vålerenga Football Elite plans to spend in the Obosliga this year.
Fosdal was also the founder of Union along with fellow festival makers Thorkild Gundersen and Kosta Tsesmetsis. Then it is appropriate to go back to the beginning.
– Our starting point was to create the best pub team in Norway in Karl Berner, according to the club man who has absolutely everything possible.
They replaced another team from the Oslo area, Fremad Famagusta. He was famous for having world chess champion Magnus Carlsen on the team.
Union Carl Berner's next step was relegation. In the fall of 2021, the club was at rock bottom and suffering from Corona, according to Fosdal.
– Which we should He plays Against Inga in the northern Mediterranean is a greater achievement than if we had He hits Not tonight. The “trade unionist” commented on the photo at the time, “We were nothing.”
But then came the visions and a fake Facebook event. Two years before it happened, Fosdal had specifically called for the first round of the cup against Valerenga. To show hairy purpose.
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This event and this digital “bulletin” were created by Union Carl Berner two years ago. The exact date was the only thing that didn't match. -
Now he has more in stock.
– This comes from our desire to bring a little change to football in Oslo. There is a lack of central strength, says the former football agent.
– If all the teams in the top three divisions played Oslo at home on the same weekend, around 12,000 people would come to watch the match. When we add Vålerenga, Kåffa, Lyn, Kjelsås, Grorud and Skeid together. In Copenhagen, Gothenburg or Stockholm, the figure is twice that. Overall, Oslo is a rather stupid football city.
– Now things are going very quickly for us. From dreaming of becoming the best pub team in Norway to thinking that now we want to use the momentum we have to build something.
– Is it to advance the division system?
– So, it's about winning the next match. And if we do that – all the time – we will end up in the third division in 2025. And in Olivale.
– But you have no ambitions for the Eliteserien – or do you?
– No, but that's the beautiful thing about football, then. There is no ceiling. I think most people involved in football think you have to move on. I can't sit and defend that if we move to the third division we will be happy and then it stops there, answers Lars Peter Fosdal.
Then he looks towards the center again:
– Most football cities in the world have central teams. Copenhagen Club, a new building. Paris Saint-Germain, St. Pauli and Union Berlin. Since I have been a football agent, I know that with good leadership and the courage to say things out loud – things can happen!
But first there is the cup. The Union Carl Berner team that will argue against Big Brother has no names and well-known faces in Fotball-Norge.
– This means that we have no defecting players, only hungry players. It is not correct to say that we “lucked out” in the first round. We really deserved it, says Lars Peter Fosdal.
“Infuriatingly humble internet trailblazer. Twitter buff. Beer nerd. Bacon scholar. Coffee practitioner.”
