Tromsø IL

Tromsø lies in Norway's far north, and the club carrying the city's name has always measured itself against the other football power of that coastline, Bodø/Glimt. Matches between the two are known as the Arctic Circle Derby, a rivalry built less on shared history than on geography — two clubs from Northern Norway, separated by hundreds of kilometres, cast against each other by little more than latitude.

Tromsø IL was founded on 15 September 1920. It plays in red and white, the home shirt cut with vertical stripes, and its supporters go by Gutan — the boys — though De Røde og Hvite, the red and white, circulates too.

The league title has never come to Tromsø. It finished second twice, in 1990 and 2011. It finished third five times, most recently in 2023 and again in 2025. The Norwegian Cup came twice, in 1986 and 1996, with a further final lost in 2012, and the club has twice won promotion from the second tier, in 2002 and 2020.

Sigurd Rushfeldt remains the name attached to the club's best years on the pitch — 140 goals for Tromsø, enough overall to leave him the leading scorer in Tippeligaen history. Bjørn Johansen holds the appearance record, 405 games in the shirt.

Home matches are played at Romssa Arena, formerly known as Alfheim, an all-seater ground holding 6,691.

Back-to-back bronze finishes in 2023 and 2025 have kept Tromsø within reach of the top of Eliteserien, still chasing the one finish that has eluded the club for over a century.