It was September 2008, when a group of Norwegians decided to form their own team. Based on the city of Lilhammer (known to the public since the 1994 Winter Olympics).
The goal was for the team to give opportunities to people from the city to play football. But how did this group connect with Cyprus and specifically Anorthosis?
Let's start at the beginning. Kristian Alver, Andreas Rønningen Sandbu, Steinar Næstad Moe and Håkon Jøndal Nakling had the dream of creating a new team in Lilhammer. The name they chose was Fremad. Their goal was very simple. A local team that will give the residents of the city the opportunity to compete. There was already a group in the city, but when a city has 28 inhabitants it may well have more than one group.
The application for the creation of the team named Fremad was sent to the Norwegian Football Federation. However, the response of the Federation did not give the final approval. It may have met the requirements for a union, but there was one point that needed to be fixed immediately. That was just the name. In Norway it is not acceptable to have only one word for a group name. How and why the Norwegian Federation has this provision is another matter. But the bottom line is that applying for Fremad was not accepted as another name was needed.
So the Norwegians immediately had to find another name. At the same time, Anorthosis had surprised Europe with its presence in the Champions League. He had essentially placed Cypriot football on the European map. Two draws with Werder Bremen, a draw with the great Inter, and the victory over Panathinaikos made Anorthosis known throughout Europe. So the Norwegians, after admiring the achievement of Anorthosis, and after learning some things about the history of the team, added the name of the team and Famagusta.
The Federation of Norway has adopted the name Fermad Famagusta and so on September 11, 2008, the Norwegian team was officially founded, inspired by Anorthosis. For the record, the team started from the 9th in a row in the Norwegian category.
To date, he has made leaps and bounds and is now 5th in the category called 4th Division. This is Norway's last non-national category. The goal for this year is to rise and Anorthosis fans would one day want to see this team star in the first division of Norway and why not find opponents in a European tournament.
Source: sportsroom.gr