Manglerud Star Toppfotball - History

History

FK Oslo Øst (Oslo East) were founded on January 1, 2000. Five minor football clubs from the eastern part of Oslo decided to pool their resources into a single elite team, under the presumption that this one team would fare better at the higher levels of Norwegian football that what any of the clubs could ever achieve on their own. The five clubs were Oppsal IF, Abildsø IL, Rustad IL, Nordstrand IF and Manglerud Star Fotball. Nordstrand later withdrew from the project and were replaced by Hauketo Fotball.

Oslo Øst played their home games at Lambertseter stadion, a multi-use stadium in the borough of Nordstrand.

In 2001, Oslo Øst won promotion the 1st Division, and surprisingly managed to retain their spot in the league. The club was relegated in 2003 and struggled in the following year, but made a remarkable comeback in 2005 to once again earn promotion to the 1st Division.

During the six years in which Oslo Øst existed they were continuously hampered by financial problems. The lack of money played a role in the club's first relegation and it was also what ultimately caused its demise. With the prospect of greater economic burdens associated with playing in the 1st Division in 2006, the club faced imminent insolvency.

At the end of 2005, a solution was reached whereby Oslo Øst joined the multimodal sports club Manglerud Star, of which one of the five founding clubs, Manglerud Star Fotball, had been a subdivision. The name "Oslo Øst" was dropped and the clubs were merged to form a new subdivision, named Manglerud Star Toppfotball. The new club enjoys access to the extensive training facilities at Manglerud and shares some of its administration with the parent club, being able to maintain its focus on becoming a stable contender rather than trying to avoid bankruptcy.

Nevertheless Manglerud Star were bankrupted on April 4, 2011, and withdrew their two men's team and the women's team.