This week's UEFA Europa League semi-final, second leg against Bodo/Glimt may only represent our third competitive trip to Norway, but we’ve played numerous matches in the Nordic country down the years, going back almost 60 years to 1966.
As we travel back to northern Norway and the town of Bodo - just as we did when we faced Tromso in 2013 - our Head of Publications Jon Rayner takes a look through some of the more interesting adventures in Norway...
Snow joke in Tromso!
We’ve only faced two other Norwegian sides in competitive European action, the most recent being another trip into the Arctic Circle when we played Tromso IL in the 2013/14 Europa League.
The opening game of our Group K schedule saw Tromso - by the way, considered Bodo/Glimt’s biggest rivals - travel to White Hart Lane where we enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win. Jermain Defoe scored twice in the first half to reach 20 Euro goals in our colours, while Christian Eriksen marked his second Spurs appearance with a late third as we kept our sixth clean sheet in seven games from the start of the season.
Snow fell just before kick-off making conditions less than ideal on the artificial pitch, however we produced a professional performance to take the win. After the interval, an own goal from Adnan Causevic and a Mousa Dembele strike saw to it that a further three points were banked.
A win against Lyn
Lyn Oslo are one of the oldest clubs in Norway and became the first club from the nation to reach a European quarter-final when they lost 5-4 to Barcelona in the 1968/69 Cup Winners’ Cup.
The following season though, they were humbled 16-0 on aggregate by Leeds United in the European Cup, so we weren’t sure what to expect when we were paired against them in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 1972/73.
Bill Nicholson’s side were holders of the competition but might have feared the worst when Lyn took the lead just eight minutes into the first leg at the famous Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo. However, Martin Peters equalised almost immediately and we were 4-1 up by half-time as John Pratt and Alan Gilzean (2) put us in control.
The home side hit back with two more goals though and it wasn’t until a late double from Martin Chivers that we made the game safe with a 6-3 success.
Back in north London for the second leg, it was a different story as we made it 15 European games unbeaten with an easy 6-0 victory. The visitors held out for 20 minutes until we took control with Chivers hitting a hat-trick, Ralph Coates netting a brace and Jimmy Pearce also on target. We made it all the way to the semi-finals before losing on away goals to Liverpool.
Highlights | Tromso IL 0-2 Spurs | 2013
Inter the capital
Anyone remember the last time we played in Norway?
Head back to pre-season of 2016 and you might remember a trip to the capital of Oslo, where we placed Internazionale on a return to the Ullevaal Stadium. And our pre-season campaign ended in perfect fashion as we hit Inter for six.
It was an excellent all-round performance from Mauricio Pochettino’s team and we made the ideal start when Harry Kane fired home the opener from the penalty spot. A certain Ivan Perisic drew Inter level with a good goal midway through the first period, before Erik Lamela’s fine drive gave us a half-time lead.
The second half was all Spurs however, with Dele Alli and Kane adding to our tally before new-boy Vincent Janssen got his name on the scoresheet with our fifth and youngster Shayon Harrison rounded off the scoring with his first goal for the first team.
Friendlies galore!
Our very first Norwegian encounter came back in 1966 with a friendly against Sarpsborg in the far south of the country and since then, we’ve made numerous trips to Norway - mostly for pre and post-season friendly matches.
A double from Alan Gilzean and a goal from Keith Weller gave us a 3-0 win against Sarpsborg just six days after the conclusion of our 1965/66 campaign. The team included defender Ben Embery and forward David Gillingwater - two youngsters who were making their only ever appearance in our first team.
Just days after the end of the disappointing 1976/77 season which saw us relegated to Division Two, we headed off to Norway and played matches against Stord FC and Sogndal FC. With the pressure off, we recorded big wins in both games - goals from Keith Osgood, Gerry Armstrong, Chris Jones, Ian Moores and Peter Taylor giving us a 5-0 win over Stord, while we went one better against Sogndal with John Pratt, Steve Perryman, Armstrong (2), Jones and Taylor all on target.
We suffered a first-ever defeat against a Norwegian side the following year in May 1978, going down 0-3 to Hamar not long after securing our place back in the First Division that season. Two days later, we defeated Kvik Halden 2-0 thanks to a Taylor penalty and one from Neil McNab.
After a post-season trip to Trinidad & Tobago in May 1983, we were only back in London for a week before we headed off again to Norway to take on Aalesund, Garth Crooks scoring a hat-trick in our 3-2 win.
Highlights | Spurs 6-1 Inter | 2016
Mario magic!
One of the more interesting stories from our Norwegian encounters revolves around a World Cup Final goalscorer!
Mario Kempes had scored six goals for Argentina at the 1978 World Cup, including two in the final as the hosts defeated the Netherlands 3-1, and he had been invited to Spurs for a trial during the summer of 1984.
A good friend of our Argentine maestro Ossie Ardiles, Kempes impressed in his first appearance in a Spurs shirt when he scored a hat-trick in a 9-0 win over Norwegian side Stjordal Blink. He played two more friendlies on that tour, against IFK Ostersund in Sweden and back in Norway against Viking, failing to score in either and the club decided against signing him up. Incidentally, Crooks scored the only goal in our 1-0 win over Viking.
In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, trips to Norway were particularly common. Among them were two matches played during the season, the first of which came two games before the conclusion of our 1989/90 campaign. On that occasion, we were back in Oslo and played out a 1-1 draw with Valarenga, David Howells on target.
Five days before a Premier League trip to Old Trafford in October 1993, we made the trip out to Norway again to face SK Brann and fell to a 2-0 defeat, also losing to Manchester United on our return!