Football Season Guide

Fredrikstad enjoyed a sensational first season back in the Eliteserien, taking the lead by storm right from the word and maintaining their level throughout and staying in the top six, even overcoming the loss of their inspirational manager mid-season. It was all topped off right at the last weekend of the campaign when they defeated Molde on penalties to lift the NM Cup and secure a ticket to the Europa League this year. It really cannot have gone much better for the Red and Whites, who have been to the wilderness of the third division just a few years ago, but are now enjoying the limelight and getting all the plaudits. Andreas Hagen and his squad will be fired up to prove that this was not just a one-time flash in the pan and will want to establish themselves as one of the better sides in the division that always sits right up there at the top end of the standings. It will be a challenge given the expectations that will be placed upon them but FFK have been quite active in the market, splashing north of 2 millions euros on new players and giving themselves real depth for the year ahead. Benjamin Farras comes back home from Belgium and is a major prospect while Rocco Shein, Jacob Hanstad, Oskar Øhlenschlæger are also young players with potential that could become very important players over the years. A few more experienced heads like Leonard Owusu and Emil Holten arrived as well and generally coach Hagen has some very good options now. Some pretty important players like Julius Magnusson and Morten Bjørlo have left, to be fair, but their departures do not feel that vital and harmful to the squad. One area of some concern is that Fredrikstad lacked a reliable, go-to goalscorer last season and the goals were shared quite a lot. That came down a lot to Joannnes Bjartalid being very much injured throughout but as long as he is more available this time around and Holten gets going early too, there should be an improvement in this area. All in all, things look very exciting for the club as they are moving upward with rapid speed and their squad looks like one of the most competitive in the league.