The World’s biggest Manchester United fan is… Norwegian?

Working at Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC, almost every shift I would find myself encountering at least a couple Norwegians. So why exactly is Norway – the land of skiing, mountains, and of course the Vikings, so intimately linked to the English Football Pyramid? 

The hook of the “4 PM Kick-off”

For Johan Holmefjord (60), Bergen is technically home, but a much larger part of him resides in Manchester. From age seven his obsession with “The Red Devils” took hold and hasn’t seemed to slip. 

– In Norway they only had one football match on TV every week, everyone picked a team, he explains.

For Holmefjord that team was Manchester United, simply because they were featured as the "4pm Kick-Off" team that day. 

This wasn’t the first English team Holmefjord fell for. Before becoming a United fan, his team was the lesser known Queens Park Rangers (QPR). 

– I picked QPR because my best friend was a fan, he admits.

Loyalty to QPR didn’t last long however. After a friendship “break-up”, Holmefjord was left looking to support anyone but QPR, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

The Football Flights 

Whilst his obsession began in childhood, it wasn’t until 2011 Holmefjord began the long commutes to Manchester. 

– I am getting close to 400 trips now, he smiles.

Acquiring a ticket to a match, let alone a season ticket, is tricky business these days, but Holmefjord acquired his 15 years ago and has been a regular at Old Trafford since. 

– I was there, by the tunnel, for Alex Fergusens last game, he recalls. 

Holmefjord is not alone in this. Norwegians currently represent the second-highest foreign fanbase in English stadiums, surpassed only by the Republic of Ireland. 

The popularity of English football among Norwegians, particularly in the North-West, has been so influential that it was partially responsible for altering travel routes. Back in 2011, Norwegian Air launched direct services to Manchester because of demand from Scandinavian football fans like Holmefjord.

A second home

For Holmefjord, Manchester provide more than just entertainment and a cheap pint; it provides a whole new family. 

– For five years in a row I have been invited to weddings, and just two years ago I was the best-man to someone I met in Manchester, he recalls. 

This love affair with Manchester eventually earned Holmefjord a free place to stay. After countless nights in expensive hotels, the manager, and of course now friend, of a working-class pub in Manchester offered him a solution:

– You are so stupid paying for hotels, you must stay upstairs for free!

Holmefjord admittes his closest friends now are people he has met at matches, with many hailing from not only England, but Austria, Denmark, and further a field too. 

A cultural parallel? 

Having attended matches in both Liverpool and here in Norway watching SK Brann, I have noticed a remarkable parallel between the two experiences. Whilst at home our football culture seemed distinctly "English", the Norwegian football fans have managed to reproduce a legitimate copy, so there is no wonder why the English football pyramid lends itself so well to a Norwegian fan base. The cheap beer doesn’t hurt either.