7 straight wins

Kongsvinger ended 2022 with a bang. Halfway through last year’s season, the team from the deep forests was well below the middle of the table, but in the autumn the arrows only pointed upwards. The autumn was so strong that Kongsvinger got up to 6th place and qualification. 6th place means only away games throughout the qualifiers, but Kongsvinger took turns taking care of Sandnes Ulf, YMCA and Start. In the play off against Sandefjord, however, there was a stop, the whalers won clearly and kept their place in the Eliteserien. 

Kongsvinger has taken the upswing from last year into 2023. After a somewhat variable start, and a weak start to the season in terms of results with 3 losses in the first 4, the team has woken up. The last 7 games have produced maximum results and Kongsvinger tops the table with a strong 30 points after 14 games. Last weekend they turned 0-1 to 2-1 at home against Start, the previous away game ended 1-0 against a hard-fighting Moss. 

Building stone on stone

Kongsvinger was down in the Postnord league in 2021 after a very surprising relegation in the Corona year 2020. They did so in short order and moved up at the first attempt. It is much of the same team that now leads the OBOS league. Players like Strömberg, Grodås, Holter, Vinjor, Langrekken and Güven were important pieces then, and are still important pieces today. General manager Espen Nystuen has now been at the club for over 10 years and has contributed to building a well-run club with solid finances that is one of the big favorites to play Eliteserie in 2024.

Former FFK player, Eirik Mæland, trained the team up from the Postnord league and almost to the Eliteserien. After last year, he gave up and instead became an assistant in Molde. Then long-time Mjøndalen coach Vegard Hansen came in and took over the baton from Gjemselund. Time will tell if the experienced coach manages to lead Kongsvinger up to the Eliteserien. 

The OBOS league is, as usual, an even and exciting affair, but with 8 points from promotion to non-qualification, it has actually been far more even in the previous season. As last year, only 5 points separated promotion and 9th place(!) in the table after 14 games. 

For FFK’s part, it has so far been 28 points, which gives 2 points on average and a good position in the table. The team is still developing well, which is not surprising considering a new way of playing, a new hard training regime and many new players who will find the relationships. 

Innocent Kingsley, still long-term injured, will be unavailable until the last game of the spring season. Henrik Kjelsrud Johansen and Thomas Drage are extremely doubtful. The rest are ready for battle! No player has more than two yellow cards and thus no one in danger of being suspended so far.