The Most Famous

SOCCER PLAYERS from Norway

This page contains a list of the greatest Norwegian Soccer Players. The pantheon dataset contains 16,923 Soccer Players, 117 of which were born in Norway. This makes Norway the birth place of the 30th most number of Soccer Players behind Australia and Chile.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Norwegian Soccer Players of all time. This list of famous Norwegian Soccer Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Norwegian Soccer Players.

1. Ole Gunnar Solskjær (1973 - )

With an HPI of 64.70, Ole Gunnar Solskjær is the most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 56 different languages on wikipedia.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈûːlə ˈɡʉ̂nːɑr ˈsûːlʂæːr] (listen); born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Premier League club Manchester United.Before he arrived in England, Solskjær played for Norwegian clubs Clausenengen and Molde. He joined Manchester United in 1996 for a transfer fee of £1.5 million. Nicknamed "the Baby-faced Assassin", he played 366 times for United, and scored 126 goals during a successful period for the club. He was regarded as a "super sub" for his knack of coming off the substitute bench to score late goals. In injury time at the end of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final, he scored the winning last-minute goal against Bayern Munich, with Manchester United having trailed 1–0 as the game passed 90 minutes, and winning The Treble for United. In 2007, Solskjær announced his retirement from football after failing to recover from a serious knee injury.Solskjær remained at Manchester United in a coaching role as well as in an ambassadorial capacity. In 2008, Solskjær became the club's reserve team manager. He returned to his native country in 2011 to manage his former club, Molde, whom he led to their two first ever Tippeligaen titles in his first two seasons with the club. He secured a third title in as many seasons, when his team won the 2013 Norwegian Football Cup Final. In 2014, he served as manager of Cardiff City, during which the club were relegated from the Premier League. In late 2018, Manchester United appointed Solskjær as caretaker manager, taking over from José Mourinho for the rest of the 2018–19 season. On 28 March 2019, having won 14 of his 19 matches in charge, Solskjær signed a three-year contract to take over as Manchester United manager on a permanent basis.

2. Jørgen Juve (1906 - 1983)

With an HPI of 63.33, Jørgen Juve is the 2nd most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Jørgen Juve (22 November 1906 – 12 April 1983) was a Norwegian football player, jurist, journalist and non-fiction writer. He played as a striker for Lyn, and also for the Norway national team. He is the highest-scoring player ever for Norway, with 33 goals in just 45 games. He was captain of the Norwegian team which won Olympic bronze medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He also had a career as a journalist for Dagbladet and Tidens Tegn, and wrote several books.

3. Alf-Inge Håland (1972 - )

With an HPI of 62.18, Alf-Inge Håland is the 3rd most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Alf-Inge Rasdal Håland (; anglicised to Haaland; born 23 November 1972), is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He notably played in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City, winning 34 caps for Norway. He also had spells in his home country with Bryne FK and Rosseland FK. His career initially ended due to a left knee injury, although he also suffered an injury to his other leg that was caused by an infamous assault by Manchester United captain Roy Keane; the pair had a history of clashes on the field.

4. Thorbjørn Svenssen (1924 - 2011)

With an HPI of 61.78, Thorbjørn Svenssen is the 4th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ole Thorbjørn Svenssen (22 April 1924 – 8 January 2011) was a Norwegian footballer, who played a then record 104 international games for Norway, and captained the side 93 times. He was one of the first footballers who played 100 international games for their country.

5. John Arne Riise (1980 - )

With an HPI of 60.58, John Arne Riise is the 5th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 51 different languages.

John Arne Semundseth Riise (born 24 September 1980) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a left back and a left midfielder. With 110 caps, he is the most capped player for the Norway national team. He was named in the Norway squad for UEFA Euro 2000 but did not play in the tournament. Riise scored 16 goals before his retirement from international duty in 2013. He spent seven years playing for Premier League side Liverpool, in which he won many honours, including the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, before moving to Roma in 2008.

6. Arne Brustad (1912 - 1987)

With an HPI of 60.28, Arne Brustad is the 6th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Arne Brustad (14 April 1912 – 22 August 1987) was a Norwegian footballer. He is regarded as one of the country's best players of all time.

7. Arnfinn Bergmann (1928 - 2011)

With an HPI of 59.83, Arnfinn Bergmann is the 7th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Arnfinn Bergmann (14 October 1928 – 13 February 2011) was a ski jumper from Norway. He won the individual large hill event at the 1952 Olympics and 1952 Holmenkollen ski festival and placed third at the 1950 World Championships. In 1956 he was awarded the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Borghild Niskin and Arne Hoel). As a junior Bergmann won the national title and the ski jumping competition in Holmenkollen in 1948. The same year he won the national football title with SK Freidig. Next year he started competing as a senior and placed third at the national championships. In 1950 he was included to the national team and unexpectedly won a bronze medal at the world championships. For the 1950–51 season he stayed in Canada, where he won his every competition. In 1952 he returned to Norway and won the Olympic gold medal, the Holmenkollen and the national championships. He defended his national title in 1953, but got injured in early 1954 and missed the season. He qualified for the 1956 Olympics, but withdrew due to a flu. In 1958 he was included to the 1958 World Championships team, after he unexpectedly won the national title, but he withdrew again, for unknown reasons. He retired in 1959 after placing third at the national championships. In 1956 Bergmann moved from Trondheim to Oslo, and for the next 30 years worked as a school teacher in Oslo and Bærum. After that he returned to Trondheim and spent the rest of his active life on maintaining the local ski museum.

8. John Carew (1979 - )

With an HPI of 59.65, John Carew is the 8th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

John Alieu Carew (Norwegian pronunciation: [jɔn ˈkɑ̀ːrɛv]; born 5 September 1979) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was capped 91 times, scoring 24 goals for the Norwegian national team.

9. Nils Eriksen (1911 - 1975)

With an HPI of 59.43, Nils Eriksen is the 9th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Nils Kristian "Påsan" Eriksen (5 March 1911, in Gjerpen – 5 May 1975) was a Norwegian football (soccer) player.At the 1936 Summer Olympics he was a member of the Norwegian team which won the bronze medal in the football tournament. He also took part in the 1938 FIFA World Cup. He was capped 47 times.On club level most of his career was spent at Odd, but he rounded off his career at Moss FK. He coached Moss FK.

10. Jørn Andersen (1963 - )

With an HPI of 59.01, Jørn Andersen is the 10th most famous Norwegian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Jørn Andersen (born 3 February 1963), sometimes written as Jörn, is a Norwegian-German football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Hong Kong national football team.

People

Pantheon has 117 people classified as soccer players born between 1897 and 1998. Of these 117, 106 (90.60%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living soccer players include Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Alf-Inge Håland, and John Arne Riise. The most famous deceased soccer players include Jørgen Juve, Thorbjørn Svenssen, and Arne Brustad. As of October 2020, 23 new soccer players have been added to Pantheon including Nils Arne Eggen, Henry Johansen, and Øivind Holmsen.