COACHES from Norway

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Norwegian Coaches of all time. This list of famous Norwegian Coaches is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Åge Hareide (1953 - )

With an HPI of 48.76, Åge Hareide is the most famous Norwegian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages on wikipedia.

Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian football coach and former player who manages the Iceland national team. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich City in England. Hareide was capped 50 times playing for Norway. As a coach, Hareide has won league titles in all of the Scandinavian countries, In Sweden with Helsingborgs IF in 1999 and with Malmö FF in 2014, in Denmark with Brøndby in 2001–02 and in his native Norway with Rosenborg in 2003. Hareide was in charge of the Norway national team from 2003 to 2008. While at Malmö during his first time in charge at the club, he notably took the team to the modern-day UEFA Champions League group stages for the first two times in the club's history. He coached the Denmark national team to a Round of 16 finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and was appointed coach of Iceland in 2023.

2. Egil Olsen (1942 - )

With an HPI of 45.69, Egil Olsen is the 2nd most famous Norwegian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Egil Roger Olsen (born 22 April 1942), nicknamed Drillo, is a Norwegian former football manager and player. He is best known as a highly successful manager of the Norway national team. He later was manager of the Iraq national team, his departure from which caused considerable attention. In January 2009, he made a comeback as manager for the Norway national team.

3. Kjetil Rekdal (1968 - )

With an HPI of 39.53, Kjetil Rekdal is the 3rd most famous Norwegian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He was most recently the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Belgian Pro League. Playing as a midfielder during his time as a player, his 83 caps with the Norway national team makes him the seventh most capped player in the team's history. Rekdal previously managed Vålerenga from 2000 to 2006, during which he won both the cup and league title. He has also been in charge of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Lierse and Aalesund. During his time at Aalesund, the club earned two cup titles and saw a period of success previously unmatched in their history, which was attributed to Rekdal.

4. Per-Mathias Høgmo (1959 - )

With an HPI of 35.58, Per-Mathias Høgmo is the 4th most famous Norwegian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Per-Mathias Høgmo (born 1 December 1959) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He is the manager of J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds. He has previously been head coach of Norway women's national football team and the Tippeligaen sides Tromsø, Moss and Rosenborg. While being head coach of Tromsø he was working on a PhD in football at the university in Tromsø.