Juventus' trip to Norway turned out to be not just an important Champions League match, but a full-fledged expedition beyond the Arctic Circle for the Turin side. The team finally picked up their first points of the 2025/26 group stage by beating Bodo-Glimt 3–2 in an entertaining shoot-out, but the journey home proved much more complicated than the game itself: biting cold, an iced-over runway and a disrupted recovery schedule before their next Serie A fixture.
First Champions League Win With a Polar Twist
For Juventus, the trip to Bodo became a long-awaited turning point in their European campaign. The Turin side, who had been lacking confidence in the opening rounds, dug out a hard-fought 3–2 victory over Bodo-Glimt and finally felt that their Champions League season could still be salvaged. However, there was little time to revel in the triumph: right after the match problems began that had nothing to do with tactics or team selection and were dictated entirely by the harsh Norwegian climate.
The match kicked off in a late slot, at 21:00 local time, so by the time the team was due to depart on their return flight, night had fully settled over the small northern town. It was at that very moment that it became clear the normal plan for returning to Turin was falling apart.
Icy Runway and an Extra Night in Bodo: Schedule Goes Out the Window
According to the original schedule, Juventus were supposed to take off from Bodo at 12:00, spending only one night in Norway. But the freezing weather interfered with those football plans. Because the runway had iced over, the flight was delayed by about an hour and a half – airport staff were forced to clear the surface of ice just to make it possible for the aircraft to take off.
Overnight, temperatures in the city dropped to -3°C, and during the day the thermometer barely climbed to +1. As a result, the plane carrying Juve's players and staff did not leave the ground until 13:30. For a team facing a Serie A match against Cagliari on Saturday, that means a very tight window for recovery and preparation. Luciano Spalletti still intends to squeeze a training session into that gap, but any chance of a proper rest has clearly been lost.
Interestingly, Bodo-Glimt have another high-profile European fixture lined up for the winter – on 20 January the Norwegians will host Manchester City. That game is scheduled to kick off at 18:45, so the English side will most likely avoid any late-night adventures at the snow-covered airport.
Airport of the Future: Hope Pinned on 2030
Local authorities in Bodo are already well aware of the infrastructure problems. Plans call for a revamped airport to open in 2030, located roughly one kilometre south of the current one. The new facility is expected to be much better equipped to operate in extreme winter conditions, meaning teams travelling beyond the Arctic Circle for Champions League games will be less at the mercy of the weather and runway conditions.
Spalletti Hardened by Russia, but Not Everyone Shares His Calm
The cold came as no surprise to Juventus – it had been discussed even before the match. At his pre-match press conference Luciano Spalletti responded to questions about the freezing weather with his trademark irony, reminding everyone that he had spent six years in Russia and even mentioning that his daughter was born there. For a coach who has lived through Zenit's winters, -3 in Norway felt almost like a holiday.
But not everyone at the club could treat the weather so lightly. For Juve directors Giorgio Chiellini and Damien Comolli, the trip to Norway turned into a full-on ordeal. Their flight left later than the team's, and as the cold set in, their plane was unable to land in Bodo. They had to divert to Sweden and cover the remaining distance to the Norwegian town by car. For the club officials, the journey turned into a genuine winter road rally.
Youth-Team Warning Sign: Snowstorm as a Prologue to the Big Night
That the weather might interfere with footballing plans had become clear even before the main game. In the UEFA Youth League, the youth teams of Bodo-Glimt and Juventus had already played their fixture, with the Turin side cruising to a 6–2 win. But the match was memorable not only for the scoreline: it had to be halted because of heavy snowfall, with around five centimetres of fresh snow piling up on the pitch.
That episode served as a vivid warning for everyone: in Bodo, winter football inevitably goes hand in hand with extreme weather. And while the youngsters coped and finished their match, it was the senior side who later had to deal with the fallout from the elements – both in terms of logistics and recovery.
Polar Lesson for Juve: Victory, Cold and a Long Road Home
In the final analysis, Juventus leave Norway with a vital victory and the clear sense that the tests there extend far beyond the 90 minutes on the pitch. The Turin side managed to beat both Bodo-Glimt and the Norwegian snow and icy runway – and the latter proved no less difficult than the former.
For the team, this is an away trip that will definitely stick in the memory: their first success in the 2025/26 Champions League, a disrupted build-up to the next Serie A round, night-time adventures at an Arctic airport and a coach whom Russian winters have made almost immune to the cold. The Arctic Circle has handed Juve an uncomfortable but valuable experience – and a reminder that in a European season you sometimes have to defeat not only your opponents, but the North itself.
