# 2026 Viking FK season
The 2026 [Viking FK](https://www.edgepedia.org/viking-fk) season is the [Stavanger](https://www.edgepedia.org/stavanger) club's campaign in the 2026 [Eliteserien](https://www.edgepedia.org/eliteserien), the Norwegian Cup, and the UEFA Champions League, played as the defending Norwegian champion. Viking won the 2025 Eliteserien to end a 34-year wait for the title, finishing one point ahead of Bodø/Glimt, and entered 2026 under head coach Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim, who has led the team since 2021 after five years as an assistant and academy director at the club.[1](https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/viking-fk/preview/viking-fk-vs-sandefjord-prediction-team-news-lineups_601345.html) • [2](https://as.com/futbol/internacional/el-historico-viking-termina-con-el-reinado-del-bodoglimt-en-noruega-f202511-n/) It is the club's eighth consecutive season in the Eliteserien and its 76th year in the top flight of Norwegian football.[3](https://vikingstadion.com/news/viking-lead-eliteserien-with-nine-wins-from-ten)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Defending champion | Won the 2025 Eliteserien with 71 of 90 possible points, ending a 34-year title wait[1](https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/viking-fk/preview/viking-fk-vs-sandefjord-prediction-team-news-lineups_601345.html) • [4](https://www.vg.no/sport/i/vrg5a5/vg-lupen-2026-viking) |
| League start | Lost the opening round to HamKam, then won nine consecutive Eliteserien matches to top the table[5](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e7qpla/viking-trenerne-foer-den-ville-hoesten-det-er-utelukkende-positivt) |
| Mid-season position | Top of the table at the summer break; second with 43 points from 18 matches in August[6](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e75dpg/eliteserien-viking-har-toppscoreren-men-spissproblemer) • [7](https://vikingstadion.com/news/second-and-surging-viking-fk-in-the-heart-of-the-title-race) |
| Notable European results | 3-3 home draw with Bayern München (13 October); 3-1 away loss to Stuttgart (9 September)[8](https://www.vikingfotball.no/resultater) • [9](https://norwegianleague.com/club/viking) |
| Norwegian Cup | Entered the first round away to Brodd on 22-23 August under the cup's new autumn-spring format, with the final in spring 2027[10](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/y5OK0J/oppsettet-klart-dette-blir-vikings-motstander-i-cupen) |
| Season end | Final league match at home to HamKam on 13 December 2026[11](https://www.vikingfotball.no/sok) |
## League season
Viking opened the campaign with two defeats: a loss to HamKam in the first league round, followed by a Norwegian Cup exit against Aalesund. From that point the team went unbeaten in the league through the spring, and the nine-match winning streak that followed carried Viking to the top of the table.[5](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e7qpla/viking-trenerne-foer-den-ville-hoesten-det-er-utelukkende-positivt) Early results included a 1-0 win at Vålerenga on 6 April, the third round of the season.[12](https://www.fotball.no/eliteserien/)
By mid-June Viking led the table with 27 points from ten matches, on a cumulative score of 29 goals for and 10 against.[13](https://tipsbladet.no/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260612_jaskld2a1.pdf) A 2-1 win away to [Kristiansund](https://www.edgepedia.org/kristiansund) on 24 May was the club's ninth straight league victory and sent Viking into the summer break as league leader with the best attack and defense in the division.[6](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e75dpg/eliteserien-viking-har-toppscoreren-men-spissproblemer) • [3](https://vikingstadion.com/news/viking-lead-eliteserien-with-nine-wins-from-ten)
**The streak ends.** The run stopped on 12 July, when Sarpsborg 08 beat [Viking 1](https://www.edgepedia.org/viking-1)-0 at Sarpsborg in round 13.[14](https://www.eliteserien.no/resultater) Viking responded by winning at [Lillestrøm](https://www.edgepedia.org/lillestr-m) (2-1 on 22 July) and beating Start 3-0 away on 1 August, and by mid-August the club sat second with 43 points from 18 matches, still in the title race.[14](https://www.eliteserien.no/resultater) • [7](https://vikingstadion.com/news/second-and-surging-viking-fk-in-the-heart-of-the-title-race) The heaviest result of the autumn came on 13 September, when Viking beat Kristiansund 8-1 at Lyse Arena in round 21.[14](https://www.eliteserien.no/resultater) A 2-0 win at Brann on 9 October kept the defending champions in contention in a season that closes with a home match against HamKam on 13 December.[14](https://www.eliteserien.no/resultater) • [11](https://www.vikingfotball.no/sok)
## Squad and key players
Pre-season coverage identified the defense, built around [Henrik Falchener](https://www.edgepedia.org/henrik-falchener), Stensness, Roseth, and Bertelsen, as among the strongest in the league, with Zlatko Tripic, Kristoffer Askildsen, Joe Bell, and Edvin Austbø central to the attack on a second straight title.[4](https://www.vg.no/sport/i/vrg5a5/vg-lupen-2026-viking) The striker position was the stated concern: top scorer Peter Christiansen, who scored 14 league goals in 2025, began the season injured, leaving Hilmir Mikaelsson as the only fully fit alternative in March.[4](https://www.vg.no/sport/i/vrg5a5/vg-lupen-2026-viking) By late May Christiansen was the league's top scorer and the only fully operational striker at the club, with the depth behind him described as thin ahead of the European autumn.[6](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e75dpg/eliteserien-viking-har-toppscoreren-men-spissproblemer)
Captain Tripic remained the team's creative talisman from the left flank, and no player in the 2026 Eliteserien registered more than his 13 assists.[1](https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/viking-fk/preview/viking-fk-vs-sandefjord-prediction-team-news-lineups_601345.html) In June, Bell and Falchener left to play at the World Cup with New Zealand and Norway respectively, and Viking did not play another counting league match until 12 July.[6](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e75dpg/eliteserien-viking-har-toppscoreren-men-spissproblemer) Coaches Morten Jensen and Aarsheim framed the congested autumn, roughly 30 matches in seven months across three competitions, as a squad-depth test that the spring had shown the team could handle through rotation.[5](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e7qpla/viking-trenerne-foer-den-ville-hoesten-det-er-utelukkende-positivt)
## European campaign
Viking entered the [UEFA Champions League](https://www.edgepedia.org/uefa-champions-league) qualifying rounds on the strength of its 2025 league title.
In the league phase Viking lost 3-1 away to [Stuttgart](https://www.edgepedia.org/stuttgart) on 9 September[9](https://norwegianleague.com/club/viking) and drew 3-3 at home against Bayern München at Lyse Arena on 13 October.[8](https://www.vikingfotball.no/resultater) The home European calendar continued into December, with [Feyenoord](https://www.edgepedia.org/feyenoord) visiting Lyse Arena on 8 December 2026.[11](https://www.vikingfotball.no/sok)
## Norwegian Cup
The Norwegian Cup was restructured before this season into an autumn-spring format: first-round matches were played on 22 and 23 August 2026, later rounds through the autumn, and the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final in spring 2027.[10](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/y5OK0J/oppsettet-klart-dette-blir-vikings-motstander-i-cupen) As reigning league champions, Viking were drawn away to Brodd at Midjord, a lower-tier Stavanger club that had not faced Viking since 2014 and whose managing director, Kyrre Sandven, had publicly hoped for the draw.[10](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/y5OK0J/oppsettet-klart-dette-blir-vikings-motstander-i-cupen) Viking had already suffered one cup defeat in 2026, losing to Aalesund in a pre-season tie before the competitive first round.[5](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e7qpla/viking-trenerne-foer-den-ville-hoesten-det-er-utelukkende-positivt)
## References
1. [Preview: Viking FK vs Sandefjord, Sports Mole](https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/viking-fk/preview/viking-fk-vs-sandefjord-prediction-team-news-lineups_601345.html)
2. [El histórico Viking termina con el reinado del Bodø/Glimt en Noruega, AS](https://as.com/futbol/internacional/el-historico-viking-termina-con-el-reinado-del-bodoglimt-en-noruega-f202511-n/)
3. [Viking Lead Eliteserien with Nine Wins from Ten, Viking Stadion](https://vikingstadion.com/news/viking-lead-eliteserien-with-nine-wins-from-ten)
4. [LUPEN 2026: Viking: Eneste laget som kan slå Glimt, VG](https://www.vg.no/sport/i/vrg5a5/vg-lupen-2026-viking)
5. [Viking-trenerne før den ville høsten: Det er utelukkende positivt, Aftenbladet](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e7qpla/viking-trenerne-foer-den-ville-hoesten-det-er-utelukkende-positivt)
6. [Tenker på dette hver dag, Aftenbladet](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/e75dpg/eliteserien-viking-har-toppscoreren-men-spissproblemer)
7. [Second and Surging: Viking FK in the Heart of the Title Race, Viking Stadion](https://vikingstadion.com/news/second-and-surging-viking-fk-in-the-heart-of-the-title-race)
8. [Resultater / Viking, vikingfotball.no](https://www.vikingfotball.no/resultater)
9. [Viking: fixtures, results and news, Norwegian League](https://norwegianleague.com/club/viking)
10. [Oppsettet klart: Dette blir Vikings motstander i cupen, Aftenbladet](https://www.aftenbladet.no/sport/i/y5OK0J/oppsettet-klart-dette-blir-vikings-motstander-i-cupen)
11. [Søk / Viking, vikingfotball.no](https://www.vikingfotball.no/sok)
12. [Eliteserien, Norges Fotballforbund](https://www.fotball.no/eliteserien/)
13. [Årgang 79, fredag 12. juni 2026, nr. 23, Tipsbladet](https://tipsbladet.no/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260612_jaskld2a1.pdf)
14. [Resultater / Eliteserien, eliteserien.no](https://www.eliteserien.no/resultater)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Association football › Football competitions and records › Seasons and editions › Club seasons*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license