Football Season Guide

Kristiansund produced quite a good season in their first year back after promotion and were never really in serious danger of being swept aside in the battle for survival, getting enough points in the bag with a squad consisting of some rather untested young players. Amund Skiri will be focused towards another steady campaign in mid-table from his men but faces the challenge of having to cobble together a squad that is quite different from last year. No less than one third of the starting 11 from the last campaign have left for new clubs, most importantly winger Oskar Sivertsen and reliable right-back Håkon Sjatil. The experienced Andreas Hopmark, albeit not a key player by his last year, is an important departure as well. Kristiansund have been bold in the market though and brought in some pretty interesting new additions, among them young striker Mustapha Isah, who was excellent for Start in the second division last season, and big centre-back Alex Guessand, coming from Udinese. They also retain some good players like Alioune Ndour, goalie Michael Lansing, Marius Olsen and Ruben Alte and there is enough base quality in this squad for them to remain a pretty solid and capable side that will be able to hold their own this year and stay clear of trouble.