During the 1930s the club produced several of its best known players, most prominently Reidar Kvammen, who played in Norway's bronze medal winning 1936 Olympic team.

Long-serving goalkeeper Sverre Andersen was the most prominent player in this generation, while Edgar Falch also earned several caps for Norway.

Rolf and Kåre Bjørnsen, Asbjørn Skjærpe and Leif Nicolaysen were other prominent players, while a young Olav Nilsen began his remarkable Viking career in 1959.

Innovative 1972 manager Kjell Schou-Andreassen has been credited with laying the foundation for the success, with his ideas on cooperative behaviour and his revolutionary use of pacey, attacking full backs Sigbjørn Slinning and Anbjørn Ekeland.

They also finished runners-up in the league in 1981 and 1984, and in the cup in 1984, producing players such as Bjarne Berntsen, Per Henriksen, Erik Thorstvedt, Svein Fjælberg, Nils Ove Hellvik, Tonning Hammer, Isak Arne Refvik, Torbjørn Svendsen, Trygve Johannessen and Gary Goodchild.

Swedish manager Benny Lennartsson and players Kjell Jonevret and Per Holmberg arrived on large salaries to save the club.

The gamble paid off when charismatic striker Alf Kåre Tveit secured a controversial penalty in the 95th minute against Vard in the final league game of the 1988 season.

Arild Ravndal converted the spot kick to give Viking the victory and secure promotion, dubbed "the miracle in Haugesund".

Viking FK almost knocked the world famous side FC Barcelona, the second sports team with 100 million Facebook followers,[3][4] out of the European Cup.

The 1990s was also the era of player exports in Norwegian football, and Viking made substantial earnings from the sales of striker Egil Østenstad to Southampton for £900,000 in 1996 and goalkeeper Thomas Myhre to Everton for £800,000 in 1997, among others.

Gunnar Aase, Lars Gaute Bø, Magnus Svensson, Bjarte Aarsheim, Kenneth Storvik, Roger Nilsen and Ingve Bøe were other key players in this generation.

At the end of the 2005 season, Roy Hodgson quit his job as Viking coach to take over as Finland manager, and he was replaced by Tom Prahl.

Under new leadership, Viking won three of the first four games, jumping to tenth place in the standings, but were then defeated consecutively twice to once again fall into the relegation zone.

The season finale proved to be extraordinary, however, as Viking crushed league runners-up Brann 5–0 [5] at home to pass both HamKam and Odd Grenland in the standings and ultimately retain their spot in the Tippeligaen.

On 22 November 2006, Viking appointed Uwe Rösler (who was replaced by Tom Nordlie in Lillestrøm just one week earlier) as their new manager.

[14] On 19 December 2017, Bjarne Berntsen left his role as vice president of the Norwegian FA to take over the manager position at Viking.

[15] During the months of December 2017 and January 2018, Viking's financial difficulties reached a level where there was a real possibility that the club could go bankrupt.

[16] The club moved to a dual head coach model, with Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim jointly in charge of the team.

Despite a lot of initial public scepticism about this decision, the duo coached the club to third position in the 2021 Eliteserien, qualifying for the 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League.

The oak tree stump graphics were also changed, the year of foundation (1899) was moved and the name of the home city (Stavanger) was made slightly smaller.

[25] Viking's biggest rivals both locally and historically are Brann, Bryne, Haugesund, Sandnes Ulf, Start and Rosenborg BK.

[27] Source: UEFA.com Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.